Out mag issue 22 issuu

AFRICA

M A G A Z I N E Issue 22, AUTUMN 2015

THE PERFECT BOTTOM

BEYOND DRAG!

ZAVION KOTZE OUT & PROUD 9 772 304 85 9004

R25.00 incl. VAT

14

C.T. PRIDE PROGRAMME INSIDE!

INSIDE THIS ISSUE

FROM THE EDITOR

FEATURES

H

i - Well its that time of the year again and Cape Town is a hive of activity with Cape Town Pride only a week away – every drag queen is dusting off her feathers ,the clubbers are getting their outfits ready, the arty crowd are waiting with anticipation to see what books are to be featured or what movies are on offer . The weeks Pride calendar is quite diverse and should have something for all tastes…We do also have the naysayers, whilst this is normally limited to a band of hecklers from some religious groups warning us of eternal damnation for having the audacity to love our fellow man (or woman), this year we have a more sinister adversary, from within. A couple of groups are so incensed that Cape Town Pride is actually being held in Cape Town and not in one of the high density areas or townships, that they have decided to host a protest event (strangely, it will take place in Cape Town).

One of the group’s spokespersons introduces herself as custodian of South Africa’s LTBGTIAQ Pride – a fine title, if just a little over the top – and I am sure there is room for a lot more letters – I don’t doubt that they all have a very worthy meaning but I was under the impression that Cape Town Pride was for the Gay people of Cape Town (Gay men & Women, regardless of race or religion), to CELEBRATE and be proud of who we are over the Pride week. These radical activist groups have just about killed Pride in Johannesburg and seem now to have their sights set on Cape Town. I for one intend to celebrate with all my Cape Town GAY friends over the festival and look forward to seeing you all at some of the weeks festivities. The City has worked well with Pride this year and it is hoped the street parade will once again be permitted through the city centre.

We also have a visitor from New York City, Choclatina, Queen of the Dessert, a former Miss Stonewall who will be making a guest appearance on stage.

Also in this issue is the Pride Grand Charity Auction, we must really thank our sponsors for their generous contributions...

Our cover this issue features Zavion Kotze another Out and Proud South African celebrity, just dripping with gold medals, We have a four page pull-out section with the Cape Town Pride Week programme of events as well as news from around South Africa and internationally for you... and much, much more…enjoy Tommy Patterson MANAGING EDITOR: Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358

ISSN 2304-859X Published by: Patterson Publications P.O. Box 397, Sea Point 8060 Tel/Fax: 021 418 3039 E-mail: Keith Coventry at outmagafrica@telkomsa.net outmagazine@mweb.co.za Advertising Sales: Robert Simpson 072 266 7051 Tommy Patterson 082 562 3358

Contributors: Daniel Dercksen, Liberty Banks, Matthew van der Westhuizen Rob Simpson, Father Musaals Additional Photography: TRIARC, Basil Deviant Printed by ABC Press, Cape Town

Copyright: All articles, stories, interviews and other materials in OUT Africa Magazine are the copyright of the publication or are reproduced with permission from other copyright owners.

All rights are reserved. No materials may be copied, modified, published or otherwise distributed without the prior written permission of OUT Africa Magazine.

The views, opinions, positions or strategies expressed by those providing comments in this publication are theirs alone, and do not necessarily reflect the views or opinions of OUT Africa Magazine or any employee thereof. OUT Africa Magazine and Patterson Publications cc., will not be liable for any errors, omissions, or delays in any information contained in the publication.

1. EDITORS COMMENT: 2. RIDING FOR LGBTI RIGHTS 3. NEW HEALTH CARE PRACTICE FOR MEN 4. MEET CHOCOLATINA, QUEEN OF THE DESSERT - New York drag comes to SA

6 6. LUXURY TRAVEL - Fit for a Queen 8. BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS - Gay Icons 10. A NEW GAY INSURANCE COMPANY IS LAUNCHED 11. A LOOK AT THE LIFE OF ALAN TURING 12. BEYOND DRAG - Matthew van der Westhuizen 18. SETTING THE BAR - Zavion Kotze is the perfect role model 20. DO WE STILL NEED GAY PRIDE 22. BILLBOARD WARS - SA man features on US bilboard campaign

4

8 11 18

23 - 26. CAPE TOWN PRIDE PULL OUT EVENTS CALENDAR

26. BID WITH PRIDE - Charity Auction 31. CONVERSATIONS - The talk of the town 32. BLEAK FUTURE FOR LGTBI’s IN AFRICA - Father Musaala 33. GALZ WINS DAVIT KATO AWARD 33. ONCE A HOMOPHOBE ...

34. THE BUZZ - Snippets of news 36. BUM BOYS - Perking up your bottom 38. MEN’S HEALTH - French Letters & Chocolate Hearts 40. FITTING IN - with Liberty Banks

36

FASHION 14 - 17 SA MENSWEAR WEEK -A look at whats trending on the catwalk

SCENE OUT

14

28 - 30 Who’s been spotted out and about on the party scene...

REVIEWS 42 OUT TO LUNCH: La Vie en Rose 43 OUT TO LUNCH: Mesopotamia 44 OUT ON DVD: With Daniel Dercksen 45 MUSIC MOVES: Bette’s New Album 46 OUT ON FILM: With Daniel Dercksen 47 CLASSIC GAY MOVIES 48 ON STAGE: With Daniel Dercksen

45

Cover: ZAVION KOTZE - SA’s Superman Mag 1

RIDING FOR LGBTI RIGHTS

By Anthony Waldhausen

There are a few us who have the courage and chutzpah to take on a project to highlight discrimination against the LGBTI community. Nate Freeman is one such person who has taken on the challenge to cycle form Cairo to Cape Town to draw attention to the lack of rights LGBTI people have on the African continent ...

B

eginning January 9, Nate Freeman has been cycling 12000 kilometres from Cairo to Cape Town to raise awareness and support for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Intersex (LGBTI)rights in Africa. Nate’s bicycle ride is part of the Out In Africa Rise Project, a larger initiative formed to promote LGBTI rights that was created by a group of former law clerks from the Constitutional Court of South Africa. The goal of the project is to identify and fund a number of local non-profit organisations across the continent that are fighting discrimination and advocating for the protection of LGBTI people. Nate’s four month cycle will be the initial fund raising spring-board for the project, and the group hopes to raise money from donors across the world. To date $1819 has been raised so far.

Nate’s ride will take him through 10 countries at a pace of about 120 kilometres per day. He will be riding with a group of over 30 international cyclists who are racing either as a personal challenge or for various causes.

Nate will be the only rider in the group who is riding for the Out In Africa Ride Organisation.

The cyclists will camp every night along the way and will take one or two rest days per week. The route will traverse the eastern part of the continent before heading west to Windhoek and then south to Cape Town where Nate will arrive on May 9th.

Nate had the idea to create the Out Mag 2

writing and by the example set by the judge as an openly gay and openly HIVpositive public figure. Nate arrived in South Africa last February and provided research and writing for the judge as a foreign law researcher through November. During that time he worked with other currency and former clerks of the court to develop the Out In Africa Ride Project.

In Africa Ride Project after coming to South Africa to work for Justice Edwin Cameron. Having worked on LGBTI issues in the United States, where he attended Whitman College and Yale Law School.

Nate was inspired by Justice Cameron’s

The organisations philosophy is to serve as a liaison between donors and local non-profits, to promote visibility for those non-profits, and to create dialogue and provide a forum in which new and existing non-profits can receive ideas, inspiration and support from other nonprofits across the continent.

NEW HEALTH CARE PRACTICE FOR MEN

G

entlemen’s Health is the first medical practice of its kind. Offering medical, counselling and cosmetic healthcare services in a facility adapted specifically for the needs of men. Our physicians are skilled in managing all male health concerns with comfort and ease, enabling all men to seek the healthcare they need without the stigma attached.

Our revolutionary medical practice provides luxurious and stylish consultation and procedure rooms with experienced and expert clinicians to address your needs with specialities including: general practice, non-surgical cosmetics, plastics, psychology and psychiatry.

Gent’s Health also prides itself on serving the niche needs required by our Gay and LGBTI communities. By understanding the nature of their problems experienced and focusing on addressing them competently in a world where the vast majority of healthcare providers are either unwilling, or unable to.

Our offices space is designed to ensure your comfortability while you wait, while our medical practitioners use state of the art iPad based record keeping software, removing not only the paperwork of an out dated practice model, but ensuring greater security and confidentiality of our patient’s information.

Opening our first practice doors on the 1st of April 2015 in convenient Green Point - Cape Town, with national expansion of services coming soon, Gent’s Health is be ready to assist you.

Bookings can already be arranged by visiting our website www.gentshealth.co.za, Facebook, Google+ or dropping an email to info@gentshealth.co.za. Our competent staff will then follow up ensuring you find a convenient time to seek whichever spectrum of our services you require.

Mag 3

Oscar night at Stonewall

A TASTE OF CHOCOLATE LIKE NEVER BEFORE!!!

A new drag performer has arrived in Cape Town. She hails from New York City, so hold on to your hats, you are about to be entertained by a real New York Drag Queen .... OUT magazine caught up with her at Beefcakes to find out a little bit more ...

Mag 4

M

artin grew up in Maryland in the United States, and whilst he had a conservative upbringing, his parents were open-minded and supportive of him when he came out, but it was his grandmother who had the biggest influence on him. She was out-going and glamorous and he wanted to be that kind of persona.

pastry concept which will be produced in South Africa and then marketed and packaged here for world-wide distribution. So here we are.

Being keen on the theatre, particularly musical theatre, Martin performed on stage in school and in amateur productions. I asked him whether drag had always been a goal, and whether he dressed as a woman going about his daily life. This isn’t the case and he drags for performances only and of course when he goes out to gay bars or clubs.

Oh yes, and they are very supportive as well.

How did your drag persona “Chocolatina” come about?

“I was invited to a benefit evening hosted by a friend - The evening was “For The Love Of Chocolate”. Some friends and I themed our table after “Priscilla, Queen of the Desert” - and Chocolatina, Queen of the Dessert was born.”

After this, he performed at benefit events, and now and again at local bars.

Chocolatina is a qualified pastry chef and he moved to New York City to further his pastry career. He is a born performer, and this side-line passion was satisfied when approached Lips, the city’s most famous drag venue, and ended up working there for four years.

I heard that you won a title, for which you are very proud?

Yes, I had been laid off from my regular job and a friend heard that the Stonewall Bar was doing a pageant to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Riots, which if you are aware was when the Stonewall drag queens took on the New York City police and the US Gay Liberation movement was born.

Well, I was coerced into participating and never having been in a pageant before was a bit like a duck out of water. I don’t know whether you’ve seen the movie “Little Miss Sunshine”, well I was in a similar situation to Olive Hoover (Abigail Breslin) ... I decided WTF “Lets do it!”.

There were three categories in the show: Presentation, Talent, Question & Answer.

For presentation I made my outfit in keeping with the theme to the TV series “The Brady Bunch” - you know the song ... “Here’s the story, of a lovely lady...” Well the other divas just paraded around looking fabulous, none had done anything as creative as me!

For talent I sang live and I chose “I can cook too” from the show “On The Town”, which by the way is currently playing on Broadway.

I had a bit of luck in the Q&A - my question was from the judge who was also a drag performer,(I didn’t know her), and she wanted to know whether it was more difficult to lip sync or sing live ... well singing live clearly, she agreed and before I knew it, my name, Chocolatina Queen of the Dessert was announced as the winner. I was crowned Miss Stonewall 2009!

Are your colleagues aware of your Chocolatina persona?

How long will you be here in Cape Town?

I can’t really say, I imagine for a while yet. I have actually been here since October last year but didn’t have any of my outfits so couldn’t reveal Chocolatina earlier.

Are you enjoying Cape Town?

It’s very beautiful, but coming from New York it’s very quiet and quite a lonely place to be but hopefully as I meet more people that will change. Also there are no gay bars. Somewhere where you can go sit at a counter and order a drink and meet other people. I find the gay scene very different. In New York I loved the piano bars. I haven’t seen any here and the Piano Bar isn’t what it says it is.

Did you perform at any of the New York piano bars?

Oh yes ... many times, especially open-mike nights. I performed at The Duplex and I live in Greenwich Village and The Duplex is in the village.

The Duplex is famous, didn’t Bette Midler perform there?

Lots of famous artists have been on stage at The Duplex. Joan Rivers, Bette Midler and Woody Allen etc.

You did a guest spot at Beefcakes, how did it go?

Quite well I think. Never having appeared before a South African audience before I’m not sure of their likes etc. For example I mentioned that I’d do “The Trolly Song”, you know from “Meet Me In St Louis”. It brings the house down in the States, but no one seemed to know it here. Judy’s big number, and no one knew it!

Well in America musical theatre is such a big thing.

I’ve been to bars where people sing along to musical numbers on a big screen You mean musical Mondays. Aren’t they great?

I was told that you’ll be performing here in Cape Town soon?

Yes, I will be on stage at Beefcakes Cape Town during March and we’ll see how it goes. I’ve also been asked to do a number or two at Cape Town Pride which I am looking forward to. That should be fun!

Well thank you for giving up some of your time - great to meet you ...

What has brought you to Cape Town?

And with that we made our way to the bar where we had a drink or two, met some of the Beefcakes hunky barmen and watched the start of bingo night.

I joined a company in New York which is owned by a South African man from Pretoria. We are exploring a coffee and

So make a date with Beefcakes to see Chocolatina, Queen of the Dessert on stage this March.

After that I worked at Stonewall, performing on stage once a week.

Mag 5

LUXURY TRAVEL FIT FOR A QUEEN

A

few years ago I had the opportunity to travel on Rovos Rail from Cape Town to Pretoria and what a wonderful experience it was. Recently a group of friends also boarded the luxury train and by all accounts had the trip of a lifetime.

On the 26th September 1985, Rohan Vos, with the help and encouragement of two train enthusiasts, purchased his first coaches at an auction. The following year he got permission to run a private train on the national rail network, and in 1989 once the first steam locomotive “Bianca” and seven carriages had been rebuilt, he embarked on the first journey and Rovos Rail was born.

Today the luxury train claims that its “the most luxurious in the world” and the wood panelling, attention to detail and first-class dining all work together to support this claim.

Carrying a maximum of 72 passengers, the air-conditioned train carries travels a number of routes: Rovos Rail operates the following routes: Pretoria to Cape Town or vice versa Pretoria to Durban or vice versa Pretoria to Victoria Falls or vice versa Cape Town to Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and vice versa Pretoria to Swakopmund, Namibia or vice versa as well as golf safaris and private train charters. They also offer a Cape to Cairo experience every two years using private aircraft and lake cruisers for part of the journey.

The trains consist of restored Rhodesia Railways (NRZ) coaches with two lounges, two restaurant cars, private sleeping compartments, each with private en suite facilities. There are three types of accommodation on board, the smallest being a Pullman, at 76 square feet; the largest is the Royal Suite, which is half a train car, and 172 square feet. All types of cabins have en suite shower, sink and toilet and the Royal Suite has a Victorian-style bathtub.

Prior to departure a sense of occasion is created with a welcome Mag Mag 66

glass of champagne whilst a red carpet leads to the train and a violinist treats passengers to sophisticated background sounds as one is introduced to staff and fellow travellers. Unfortunately Cape Town station is no great shakes, unlike Rovos’s own station in Pretoria, but we were soon settled on board and leaving the station behind. As the train rolls through the Cape, with table mountain disappearing in the distance, it travels through winelands, with vistas of mountains, seemingly endless rows of vines and white Dutch-gabled farm houses as it climbs through the spectacular Hex River mountains heading towards the Great Karoo.

We stopped at Matjiesfontein founded when the Prime Minister of the Cape, John Molteno, decided that a railway line was needed that would connect Cape Town’s port to the diamond fields of Kimberley, and on 1 February 1878 a station was built and named Matjiesfontein as the last stop before entering the great Karoo. The name was derived from a type of sedge, used by Khoekhoen to make mats (matjies) employed in the construction of their huts. The town is fascinating with a small intriguing museum, a transport museum and the Lord Milner Hotel, an authentic tribute to Victoriana,in the heart of village. The hotel is beautifully furnished with antiques and accounts of the settlement’s fascinating history. Like the fact that Lord Milner Hotel Matjiesfontein

ROVOS RAIL, “PRIDE OF AFRICA” RAIL SAFARIS ARE SYNONYMOUS WITH LUXURY. CALLED THE MOST LUXURIOUS TRAIN IN THE WORLD ROVOS RAIL CERTAINLY LIVES UP TO THIS REPUTATION - AN ACCOLADE THAT IS WELL-EARNED AND DESERVED ...

After a hearty breakfast, (being a full breakfast with dishes cooked to order and a buffet selection of cold meats, croissants, pastries, fresh fruit, yoghurts, cereals and preserves.) we retired to the Club carriages to relax, chat over tea and watch the Karoo pass by. The observation car is right at the back of he train and has panoramic windows and an open air viewing deck Rovos Rail snakes its way through Africa the hotel served as Headquarters of the Cape Western Command during the Anglo-Boer war; the author Olive Schreiner lived in a simple cottage in Matjiesfontein for five years and published her book “Story of an African Farm”, which brought her instant fame; the first international game of cricket played in South Africa was at Matjiesfontein on 13th March 1896 and so on ...

Back on board the train, a gong summonses guests for a 7.30pm fine dining experience with a different South African wine accompanying each course – the menu is diverse -for lunch and dinner there is a starter and a choice of fish, meat or vegetarian dishes, followed by a tempting dessert. Traditional dishes are served and game meat is a speciality with fresh local ingredients being used wherever possible. The Victorian and Edwardian dining cars are superbly restored and evening attire is formal – for men a jacket and tie is a minimum requirement, which adds to the glamour of the experience. As night falls over the Karoo and the train heads north towards Kimberley, with a few after dinner drinks under our belts we retired to the compartment and a well-deserved sleep with the gentle rat-tat-tat of the train’s wheels on the track.

We had a “Pullman” Suite which was tastefully appointed, with a double bed, wood-panelling, two easy chairs and plush carpeting.

There is also a bar fridge filled with beverages of the passengers’ choice and room service is available 24 hours a day. Our en-suite bathroom had original fittings which were combined with the modern day necessities of a hot shower, hair dryer and shaver plugs.

Club Car on Rovos Rail

Our next stop on the journey was the historical mining town of Kimberley. Kimberley is famous for its diamond mine which brought men and women from all corners of the globe to seek their fortunes in the 1800’s, such notables as Cecil John Rhodes and Barney Barnato made their fortunes here and the De Beers diamond company was established in the town. On arrival we met by coaches which took us off to the Kimberley Mine Museum.

The Kimberley Mine Museum offers a trip back in time to when diamonds were first found in South Africa in 1866, near Hopetown in the Northern Cape. A snippet of those early days has been captured by the Kimberley Mine Museum, with various displays and exhibitions detailing what life was like for the fortune-seekers who converged on the area hoping to strike it lucky and of course one can gaze in to the Big Hole from a lookout point. The hole itself is 225m deep with a surface area of 17ha and a perimeter of 1.6km.

It ceased production on 14 August 1914 when the lower reaches were flooded.

Getting back to the train we sat down to a welcome high tea as the train departed for the final leg of the trip to Pretoria.

After another fabulous dinner, a restful night and a huge breakfast we made our way through the gold fields of the Witwatersrand and arrived at the station in Capital Park, Pretoria around noon.

Rovos’ station is an absolute delight. The building is a gracious colonial-style railway station and is Rovos’ head-office as well as the departure and termination point of each journey. The property boasts an ever-expanding railway museum in addition to its other comprehensive facilities and will, with the addition of semaphore signals and a footbridge, recreate the atmosphere of a fully fledged railway system. It is intended that, with time, this facility should become the foremost working train museum in the world.

We were loathe to disembark. The train is so luxurious and the staff so attentive that all too soon our journey had come to an end. Everyone involved with a Rovos Rail Safari and the attention to detail and luxury reminiscent of a more glamorous past are recreated to make this train live up to its reputation as the most luxurious in the world.

The attention of rail enthusiasts will be drawn to the vast carriage and locomotive sheds where teams of dedicated personnel keep the rolling stock in perfect order. Rovos Rail boasts five vintage steam locomotives. There’s a story behind all of the Rovos Rail locomotives, their acquisition and restoration. Each one has a distinctive character and charm.

Mag 7

BREAKING DOWN BARRIERS AND PAVING THE WAY Now and again high profile personalities do or say something that rocks the establishment and suddenly barriers begin to fall. We bring you a few of those gay trailblazers who have made life a little better for us all...

I

n 1997, Ellen Degeneres made world headlines and had everyone glued to their televisions, when her character, Ellen Morgan on the hit show Ellen, came out to her therapist. The episode became one of the most anticipated episodes in the history of American TV, When therapist, played

by Oprah Winfrey, asked Ellen, “Has there ever been anyone you’ve felt you clicked with?” Ellen nodded ... “And what was his name.” America held it’s breath, then Ellen replied softly “Susan”. With this momentous outing she became the first gay lead character on TV. Afterwards she said in an interview that her coming out was the greatest thing that ever happened to her. For a while, every time she’d say “I’m gay,” in rehearsal, she would sob; she’d never said it aloud before.

around this sadness inside,” she said. It was a relief to come out.

When Oprah sat down with Ellen to talk about her coming out, Ellen said she’d known she was gay since she was a little girl, but that she’d grown up sheltered and ashamed. “I was just carrying

Her courage in the face of discrimination and hatred has had an amazing impact on people everywhere, and as actor Jane Lynch said, “The reverberations are just huge for humanity.”

After coming out, Ellen received death threats, and bomb threats were called into the show. Advertisers balked, and in 1998, the show was cancelled. Still, Ellen kept writing and acting and in 2003, she became the host of The Ellen Degeneres Show, which became a big hit with daytime viewers. The show has gone on to be phenomenally successful, syndicated worldwide and winning numerous awards and accolades over the years. She’s also hosted the Oscars, the Emmys, and the Grammys.

In 2008, she married her long-time girlfriend, actress Portia de Rossi.

In addition to her stand-up, film, and television career, Degeneres is also the author of several books, including My Point ... and I Do Have One (1995) and The Funny Thing Is... (2004). She’s also the beloved voice of Dori the fish from Finding Nemo.

Described by some as a “moment in history when the earth stood still”, Ellen’s coming out has without doubt helped hundreds of young gay girls and guys say to themselves, “Hey, it’s OK to be gay, I’m not alone in this, I can be gay and successful.”

As a constant campaigner for gay rights, Ellen Degeneres has earned her place in lesbian and gay history as one of the trail blazers.

Mag 8

T

alking trail-blazers, 30 year’s ago four women launched a show on TV which took the world by storm. They were The Golden Girls, Dorothy (Bea Arthur), Blanche (Rue McClanahan), Rose (Betty White) and Sophia (Estelle Getty). The show, which premiered in 1985, remains one of the most popular sitcoms within the LGBT community — particularly among gay men. (The pilot episode featured a flamboyantly gay cook named Coco who was played

by Charles Levin). Some credit the raunchy humour, quick repartee and female characters for its appeal (surely part of the equation), However, its enduring power speaks to something larger. Its pervasive themes are innately queer, which is why the show has been and continues to be a comfort to men who are gay or just questioning.

A

s one of the first openly gay sports figures, Martina Navratilova has been a vocal advocate for equal rights and a strong supporter of many charities benefitting the LGBTI community. She has received numerous awards from many of the most influential organisations within the LGBTI community.

Martina Navratilova was born in Czechoslovakia (now the Czech Republic) and defected to the United States in 1975. She became a US citizen in 1981 and in an interview that year to the New York Daily News she came out as a bisexual, revealing that she’d had a sexual relationship with the author Rita Mae Brown, but asked the journalist not to publish the article until she was ready to come out publicly. However, the newspaper published the article on July 30, making her one of the first sports-women to come out publicly in the USA. Navratilova and Nancy Lieberman, her girlfriend at the time, gave an interview to Dallas Morning News where she reiterated that she was bisexual. She has since identified herself as a lesbian.

Martina’s tennis career soared and she has become a living legend in the sport. She won her first professional singles title in Orlando, Florida in 1974, at the age of 17. She won her first major singles title at Wimbledon in 1978 aged 22 and went on to become one of the best tennis players of all time (ranked 2nd to Stefi Graf). She amassed a record nine Wimbledon singles titles in her prime years and secured 59 majors in total. In doubles, she was majestic, winning a record 177 titles across her career.

She is the only player to have won at least one tour event for 21 consecutive years and won the singles and doubles at the same event a record 84 times. Her career singles match win total of 1,442 is the most during the open era. – an absolute icon in the sport which acknowledged her in 2000 when she was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Way before gay equality was even considered a possibility the show embraced gay issues - for example, the episode when Blanche’s brother comes out to her, or the episode when he announces that he is getting married - they were serious, unspoken issues which were cleverly dealt with, with a touch of sadness but good humour, bringing gay issues in to the living-rooms of homes all over the world including South Africa.

They’re queerly coded — women who live together without men, who are even, in the hilarious episode “Goodbye, Mr. Gordon,” mistaken for lesbians.

Outside of the sitcom Bea Arthur, who played Dorothy was even rumoured to be a lesbian. However, she was a activist for LGBT issues. She died in April 2009, bequeathing $300,000 to the Ali Forney Center, a New York City organisation that provides housing for homeless LGBT youths The show was about friends creating their own family and their own circle of friends out of the people around them, creating a family that’s nontraditional. The Golden Girls was just that, a show about the construction of a chosen family rather than a biological family, a very queer concept.

Even in 2015, being gay in a predominantly straight world isn’t always easy. It helps to have true friends by your side, the kind who won’t judge you for taking an extra slice of cheesecake or going home with the wrong guy..

Check out Season 4 Episode 9 “Scared Straight” and Season 6 Episode 14 “Sister of the Bride” on YOU TUBE - they’re funny, gay and will have your ordering the box set ....

She was also been honoured by the LGBT community when in 2013 she was among the first class of inductees into the National Gay and Lesbian Sports Hall of Fame.

Since her retirement from playing tennis Martina has written books, has been an outspoken gay activist and last year proposed to longtime girlfriend Julia Lemigova at the US Open.

They married on December 15 2014. Late last year she agreed to take on her first major coaching role with world number six Agnieszka Radwanska.

Mag 9

BRAND NEW GAY INSURANCE COMPANY LAUNCHED Five years ago, an idea was born out of frustration with a world that did not understand or care about the needs and requirements of the LGBTI community. Today we have Triarc, Africa’s very first LGBTI Insurance Provider, and the culmination of many thousands of man hours of hard work by a very dedicated bunch of people!

A

lthough excellence and value to the LGBTI community is Triarc’s first and most important priority, (they set themselves the goal to ensure that no LGBTI person would get a better quote anywhere else), they have a higher purpose.

There is a need amongst the LGBTI community that must be addressed. There are members in the community that need help to get a fighting chance in life, there are beautiful people that have a hard time getting what others take for granted. Triarc will make a difference in people’s lives and force the world to respect the LGBTI community for their potential and ability to deliver.

But, to do more Triarc needs to generate more, and for that it needs every LGBTI person to know about the Triarc suite of Life Insurance products that were designed and developed for the LGBTI community by the LGBTI community.

Underwritten by Guardrisk and re- insured by SCOR, it is clear that Triarc did not compromise when it comes to financial stability. With the backing of these giants, Triarc developed its Life Insurance suite that includes Death Cover, Disability Cover, Critical Illness Cover, Functional Impairment and Income Protection.

HIV+ clients have Death Cover, Functional Impairment and Critical Illness products to choose from at a very competitive price and the application and underwriting process has been streamlined to ensure an awesome brand experience.

Within each product there are various options and the Triarc agents are trained and experienced to explain them and advise each client on the best combination based on individual needs.

Triarc has huge ambitions for the future, and wants to eventually offer a host of financial services to the market. To start this journey it registered as brokers on the medical aid side for Momentum, Discovery and Medihelp.

This should not be confused with the Triarc Life Insurance Mag 10

products that were designed and developed from scratch by Triarc for the LGBTI, but by offering brokerage services on medical aid Triarc is able to take away much of the frustration that many clients experience by assisting with queries, claims and authorizations, or advising and quoting on the many options available.

To succeed, Triarc needs your support! It is in the process of acquiring Brand Ambassadors around the country to help spread the news and at the same time creating opportunities for young and old to earn some extra cash. Triarc has also been involved in hundreds of LGBTI events and initiatives around the country in the last year proving that they are active in the community and not just talking about it.

Why not give them a call to make sure you are getting the best deal possible. And don’t think Triarc won’t be able to give you a better deal because of your rewards and other discounts with your current Insurer, because they have done so for many other clients already!

ALAN TURING Alan Turing is the subject of a brilliant film which has been receiving accolades all over the world. Benedict Cumberbatch, who plays him in “The Imitation Game” has been nominated for an Academy Award and the film itself could win the Oscar for Best Picture ...

A

lan Turing was born on June 23, 1912, in London. In his seminal 1936 paper, he proved that there cannot exist any universal algorithmic method of determining truth in mathematics, and that mathematics will always contain undecidable propositions. That paper also introduced the “Turing machine. His papers on the subject are widely acknowledged as the foundation of research in artificial intelligence.

After school, Turing enrolled at King’s College, University of Cambridge in England, and studied there from 1931 to 1934. As a result of his dissertation, in which he proved the central limit theorem, Turing was elected a fellow at the school upon his graduation - a high honour.

In 1936, he delivered a paper, “On Computable Numbers, with an Application to the Entscheidungsproblem,” in which he presented the notion of a universal machine (later called the “Universal Turing Machine,” or the “Turing machine”) capable of computing anything that is computable: The central concept of the modern computer was based on his paper.

Over the next two years, Turing studied mathematics and cryptology at the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton, New Jersey, receiving his Ph.D. from Princeton University in 1938. He returned to Cambridge, and took a part-time position with the Government Code and Cypher School, a British code-breaking organisation.

During World War II, Turing was a leading participant in wartime code-breaking, particularly that of German ciphers - most notably breaking the Enigma Code. He worked at Bletchley Park in England, where he made five major advances in the field of cryptanalysis, including specifying the bombe, an electromechanical device used to help decipher German Enigma encrypted signals.

His contributions to the code-breaking process helped to shorten the 2nd World War, saving many thousands of lives. However, he didn’t stop there: He also wrote two papers about mathematical approaches to code-breaking, which became such important assets to the Code and Cypher School that the GCHQ waited until April 2012 to release them to the National Archives of the UK. In the mid-1940’s Turing moved to London, and began working for the National Physical Laboratory. Here, he led the design work for the Automatic Computing Engine and ultimately created a ground breaking blueprint for store-program computers.

Though a complete version of the ACE was never built, its concept has been used as a model by tech corporations worldwide for years, influencing the design of the English Electric DEUCE and the American Bendix G-15—credited by many in the tech industry as the world’s first personal computer .

Turing went on to hold high-ranking positions in the mathematics department and later the computing laboratory at the University of Manchester in the late 1940’s. He first addressed the issue

of artificial intelligence in his 1950 paper, “Computing machinery and intelligence,” and proposed an experiment known as the “Turing Test”—an effort to create an intelligence design standard for the tech industry.

Homosexuality was illegal in the United Kingdom in the early 1950’s, so when Turing admitted to police—who he called to his house after a break-in—in January, 1952, that he’d had a sexual relationship with the perpetrator, 19-year-old Arnold Murray, he was charged with gross indecency. Following his arrest, he was forced to choose between temporary probation on the condition that he receive hormonal treatment for libido reduction, or imprisonment. He chose the former, and underwent chemical castration through injections of a synthetic estrogen hormone for a year, which eventually rendered him impotent.

As a result of his conviction, Turing’s security clearance was revoked and he was barred from continuing his work with cryptography at the GCHQ in 1946.

Unable to cope with the humiliation, he committed suicide on June 7, 1954. Following a postmortem exam, it was determined that the cause of death was cyanide poisoning. The remains of an apple were found next to the body. The autopsy concluded that the cause of death was asphyxia due to cyanide poisoning and ruled it a suicide.

His contribution to Britain has been recognised posthumously.

Shortly after World War II, Alan Turing was awarded an Order of the British Empire for his work. In June 2007, a life-size statue was unveiled at Bletchley Park. A bronze statue was unveiled at the University of Surrey on October 28, 2004, to mark the 50th anniversary of his death. Additionally, the Princeton University Alumni Weekly named Turing the second most significant alumnus in the history of the school.

Time magazine named him one of its “100 Most Important People of the 20th century,” saying, “The fact remains that everyone who taps at a keyboard, opening a spreadsheet or a word-processing program, is working on an incarnation of a Turing machine.”

He was also ranked 21st on the BBC nationwide poll of the “100 Greatest Britons” in 2002. By and large, Turing has been recognised for his impact on computer science, with many crediting him as the “founder” of the field.

Following a petition started by John Graham-Cumming, thenPrime Minister Gordon Brown released a statement on September 10, 2009 on behalf of the British government, posthumously apologized to Turing for prosecuting him as a homosexual.

The Peter Tatchell Foundation is spear-heading a campaign to have all homosexuals convicted for their sexuality to be pardoned by the Queen. Alan Turing is an example of why we need gay pride, why we need to hold on to the rights we have and to continue to fight for total equality.

Mag 11

BEYOND DRAG

By Matthew Van Der Westhuizen

Gay Pride is almost upon us and again we will celebrate the huge strides gay people have made over the years in the constant battle for equality, not only legally but in socially as well. However, there are a group of people who are constantly discriminated against, sometimes even within the gay community - its time to take a look at ourselves, our attitudes and our own homophobia ....

I

t’s a Friday night and you have a booked a table at, what everyone considers, the most popular burger joint in Cape Town. The waiters are dishy and the drag queen is hilarious.

As you sit at your table, you wonder how she/he manages to pull off such a performance and look like a woman at the same time. Yes, a lot of work goes into the entire performance but when the heels are off and the make-up is washed away, the drag queen transforms back into the man he is without most people noticing. He leads a normal life, working a 9 to 5 job and entertaining as his female alter ego in the evenings.

His female alter ego, however, does not dominate his life and he appreciates being a man. A question that he is constantly asked is, “do you want to be a woman?” The answer is always the same: no.

The misconception that drag queens want to be women creates a difficultly for those individuals who identify as transgender or transsexual.

It places them in the same spot light as a drag queen or king but the difference lies in the fact that they are individuals who live their lives as the opposite gender that they were assigned at birth. Whilst drag queens are slowly but surely being accepted by society as entertainers, trans individuals are still having difficulty trying to fit in as they are not playing dress up and entertaining but are rather identifying themselves differently. It is stated that an individual should be proud of who they are but once a change as drastic as gender is brought to the forefront, most individuals reject the idea brushing it off as insane. This in itself is one of the great contradictions of human beings.

Despite religious views on the take, the concept of a man transforming into a woman is something that is still Mag 12

taboo in most societies and communities. While most people think it is a simply a surgical process, it goes beyond what the physicality of the individual is.

Most transgender and transsexual people have felt different since they were children and have also felt trapped inside the wrong body and, therefore, are not able to express themselves in their entirety.

Transgender celebrity, Amanda Lepore, stated that she couldn’t understand why her parents dressed her up like a boy when she strongly identified from a young age as a girl. This is the general feeling of most transgender and transsexual individuals.

How they differ from individuals who are gay and lesbian is that a gay man accepts his gender as male and a lesbian as female.

They also differ from being drag queens or kings which, as aforementioned, is more for entertainment value than wanting to identify as the opposite sex.

The tragic reality for most transgender and transsexual individuals is that they are not well accepted by most people. They are Amanda Lepore viewed as experimental beings rather than human beings which is what they truly are. Sadly, some of them commit suicide because of the rejection they receive from society and those who are close to them. Living in a world where almost everything is based on image, it is already difficult trying to fit in but for a transgender or transsexual individual, it becomes a living nightmare because they are first trying to accept themselves and transform themselves before trying to gain the acceptance of other individuals. This process is more psychological than what it is physical even

though it is only the physicality that is viewed by others.

It seems strange to live in a world where if an individual is unhappy about a physical feature, plastic surgery is able to adjust that physical feature whilst the individual is still accepted as the person who they were before their change. Even those individuals who undergo drastic plastic surgery are accepted.

Why do we find it difficult to accept individuals who identify differently by gender and sex if we are willing to accept individuals with plastic surgery? Majority of the time, individuals who have undergone cosmetic plastic surgery have not done so because of psychological reasons as opposed to individuals who are transgender or transsexual.

It’s time to start realising that life is beyond what the eye can see and that transgender and transsexual individuals are beyond drag.

Entrance to “the Playground� - R35

Mag 13

Lucky Luke

Photographer: Simon Diener - SDR Photo

South Africa’’s Menswear week took place over four days earlier in February and following in the footsteps of international trends where menswear collections are gaining greater recognition and are thought to be the next major growth area in fashion. This year’s menswear collections showcased designs by the country’s established menswear designers including Craig Port, Csquared, Augustine, Naked Ape, Ailinda Sawe, Jenevieve Lyons, Rich Mnisis, Lukhanyo Mdingi and those featured here.

Mag 14 Mag 14

X&O

Mag 15 15 Mag

MARTIN KADINDA

Mag 18 Mag 16

CHULAAP

BY CHU SUWANNAPHA

BASTION MENSWEAR

Mag 17

Hi Zavion, tell our readers a bit about your background – where you grew up, went to school? etc.

Born in JHB and grew up in KZN - my step dad was a teacher at Kearsney College, so we were blessed to grow up on a beautiful school ground. I first went to Hillcrest Primary but then got into Highbury in grade three as they then only had space for me.. My primary school years were filled with culture and sport where I excelled in almost every sporting field - I have such a passion for all sports, pity I can’t do them all ! I then attended Kearsney College in high school where I had some great achievements, on and off the sporting field .. School was honestly the best part of my life ! (For more info see www. zavionkotzeeventscompany.com under “about”) Have you had a passion for sport from an early age?

Absolutely! I played and took part in everything I possibly could !

What do you think drives you to excel in physically demanding activities such as rugby, athletics and do you have the same drive at work?

I think it’s a combination of things that drives me, one of them being extremely competitive.. I must get that from my family..

Never play monopoly with us, dangerous water! I also have a commitment to excellence that I not only learned from all my parents but my schools. Never give up and always fight till the end !

When did you first realise that you were gay?

Early early days I knew I was different.. We don’t choose it..

We born this way Was the coming out process an easy one for you?

My dad got news that he had cancer when I was 21 and I decided to talk to them all then.. It was a stress free and wonderful experience.. My family supports me and loves me just the same..

I’m very lucky !

SETTING THE BAR Multi talented and drop-dead gorgeous, Zavion Kotze is a perfect role model in the gay community. He runs a successful events company, has achieved the highest sporting honours, participated on Survivor South Africa and is an accomplished pianist. OUT magazine got to know him a little better ...

Mag 18

As a young man you were 4-times SA Student Decathlon Champion. Were you openly gay when you competed in these championships?

For the first one I wasn’t - but after that I was In your competitive sporting career and the experience on survivor SA, did you ever experience any negative reactions, comments or homophobia from other participants/ contestants/team members?

No never.. In school sometimes, but we all know kids can be mean! On survivor people are starving and sometimes say things completely out of their characters.. So I brushed one or two incidents off As an openly gay man, what made you enter Survivor SA – which essentially outed you to the whole country?

Purely the adventure of it! Always wanted to do it and I will always want to do it again! No regrets at all!

Did you receive any adverse publicity, emails, texts etc from viewers because you were gay?

Aw man a couple of tweets but nothing too serious.. It’s usually insecure people that have negative reactions towards us Gay people

Last year you competed in the Gay Games in Cleveland, Ohio, USA. Which sports did you compete in?

Zavion the businessman

I did track and field. I did about 12 events !

You walked ay with 8 Gold Medals, 3 Silver Medals and 1 Bronze Medal. An awesome achievement – congratulations!

Thanks ! It was an amazing experience ! Hopefully we can get the games here to South Africa in the future !

Apart from the obvious pride in winning all the medals … what did you most enjoy about the Gay Games?

The pure love and acceptance all around me.. There was NO discrimination at all.. Everyone was happy and there to compete or to support their loved ones.. It truly is an amazing competition..

The next Gay Games are to be held in Paris in 2018, will you be competing again?

Absolutely!!

I read somewhere that you will be a delegate with the South African bid for the 2022 Gay Games to be held here. Which city is to be selected as the host city? Bearing in mind that from a participants point of view the Gay Games has more than the Olympics.

I would love to get involved in the delegation but nothing is official yet ! If we don’t get it here in 2022 then most definitely the next one! Cape Town would have to be the city - I believe it’s beautiful and the public will come out and support the games.. They also have all of the facilities that would be needed ! Patricia and I need to chat!

Gay sports groups in South Africa seem to be pretty fragmented. How will one get word out to form a more cohesive sporting body, which would enable South African teams to get sponsorship and take part in the various sporting events around the world – like the Gay Games, the Gay Rugby World Cup etc.

I believe it would just take a couple of us to get a movement going in that direction.. So if there is anyone out there willing to get involved I urge you to get in intact with me !

You are clearly a sports fanatic, even having played rugby 7’s with the Sharks –has competing in a “straight” sporting world been a challenge for you?

My business is my main focus at the moment.. I have also started training again and will see where that takes me.. This year is all about pushing myself further than I have before What advice do you as a role-model have for younger gay sports people struggling with coming out for fear of being ridiculed or rejected because of their sexuality?

Silence them through your performance .. That will get them to be quiet very quickly.. You are no different other than liking the same sex.. Don’t let them hold your sporting ability back!

Are you in a committed relationship?

Yes - he’s absolutely amazing and I’m the luckiest man alive !

On the lighter side … Have you ever done drag?

Nope ! But maybe one day ?

What do you do to relax and unwind?

Music is my passion .. So playing the piano helps me chill ..

What are your resolutions for 2015?

Drink more wine !

I’ll drink to that! Thank you Zavion.

Zavion the athlete

When you struggle with your identity then it can be challenging.. But competing in a straight world is no different to a gay world.. We all human and can achieve great things regardless of our sexual orientation..

Your business as an events planner, particularly a wedding planner seems at logger-heads with the “butch” sporting side of your character. How do you marry the two?

Opposites attract right ?? Hehe.. No - I’ve just always had a passion for both and being artistic is what I love .. So I’m blessed to be able to do both..

2013 & 14 have been big years for you … What plans do you have for 2015 that will top your past achievements?

Mag 19

IF WE HAVE EQUAL RIGHTS, DO WE STILL NEED GAY PRIDE?

By Francois Lubbe and Shiraaz Chaim Sidat London Pride 2014

W

hen the first Gay Pride March was held in New York, on 28 June 1970, it was not so much a fun celebration, but rather a protest against what happened a year earlier at the Stonewall Inn in Greenwich Village, when the LGBT community spontaneously rioted against reoccurring police raids at the Stonewall Inn. A few months after the riots, at a meeting for the Eastern Regional Conference of Homophile Organizations (ERCHO), Craig Rodwell, his partner Fred Sargeant, Ellen Broidy, and Linda Rhodes (in all earnest, the Founders of Gay Pride) proposed the first Gay Pride Parade to be held in New York City.

In Atlanta and New York City the marches were called Gay Liberation Marches, and the day of celebration was called Gay Liberation Day. It was the birth of the Gay Pride movement, which, at the time, served to inspire the growing LGBT activist movement and gradually more and more annual marches started up in cities across the US and throughout the world.

In an article in 2012, UK human rights campaigner, Gay Rights activist and the organiser of the first London Pride, Peter Tatchell said: “My most memorable Pride was Britain’s first one, in July 1972. I helped organise it and we had no idea what to expect. We were surprised to have 700 people turn up, but not surprised to be subject to heavy-handed policing. “The reactions of the public were an eye-opener: about a third was overtly hosMag 20

tile — we got pelted with beer cans and coins, but the majority of onlookers seemed just confused and bewildered to see so many openly gay people declaring their sexuality and marching for freedom.”

In South Africa, the first gay pride march took place in 1979 in Hillbrow in Johannesburg. The few marchers walked with paper bags over their heads so as not to be recognised by the apartheid security police. Today, Pride parades take place in Johannesburg, Pretoria, Cape Town, Durban, Polokwane, Port Elizabeth and Knysna - the very fact that we have rights is reason enough to celebrate.

It’s 45 years since the first Gay Pride marches took place in the streets of New York and Atlanta and we now celebrate Pride Month in June every year across the globe. In 2011, US President Barak Obama said: “I call upon all Americans to observe this month by fighting prejudice and discrimination in their own lives and everywhere it exists.”

Times certainly have changed and in particular for the younger LGBT generation in countries like the South Africa, UK, US, Israel, The Netherlands and France (to mention but a few where Gay Pride is celebrated freely), where experiencing heavy-handed hostility and being pelted with beer cans during the celebrations will be unthinkable.

However, many people will be forgiven for feeling that Gay

Pride is no longer a march, but that it has turned into a parade of sexual hedonism taken over by wig-swinging Drag Queens, roller-skating nuns and men with their backsides hanging out.

This begs the question: why do we still celebrate Pride?

Members of the Jewish LGBT community were asked what their sentiments were are over the Pride celebrations, and found that in the majority of cases, Pride is still an embedded part of our unbreakable LGBT spirit.

Uganda pride march 2014

Evidence of this fact is the nearly 500 Gay Pride events that took place globally in 2014. Nine out of ten were held in Europe or North America. São Paulo’s, the world’s largest Gay Pride, attracts more than 3-million participants and around $75-million in tourist revenues annually.

Perhaps more inspiring, is the 500+ LGBT people who marched in Taiwan’s first Gay Pride in 2003, many wearing masks. Nine years later 65,000 joined the same event, which was as festive and shirtless as those in New York or San Francisco.

In 2012 activists rode through Minsk, Belarus, in a tram festooned with Gay Pride rainbow flags and Albanians took to their bikes for the Tirana Gay (P)Ride. Rallies are banned in China, so Shanghai’s event features a Pride Run instead and in Europe, Cyprus celebrated its first ever Gay Pride on 31 May 2014.

Yet, much as we show ourselves and as much as attitudes are changing, the so-called ‘liberal sentiments’ of countries like the UK, US and South Africa are not shared everyone. Despite the pulling-power of São Paulo’s Gay Pride, Brazilian advocacy group Grupo Gay da Bahia, reports that 338 people were murdered in homophobic hate crimes in Brazil in 2012.

Last October the first Pride parade in Podgorica, the capital of Montenegro, had almost 2,000 police protecting 150 LGBT marchers from ten times as many protesters. Ukraine’s first Pride, in May 2013, also featured a heavy police presence.

When Birgitta Ohlsson — Sweden’s Minister for European Union Affairs — spoke at the 2013 Lithuania’s Gay Pride, she was pelted with eggs. In Serbia, 2013 was the third consecutive year that authorities refused to allow a Pride march, fearing a repeat of the violence that marred Belgrade’s first, in 2010.

The fact remains that in many places Gay Pride marches are almost unthinkable. In 2012 only seven marches took place in the 87 countries that are the most hostile towards LGBT people.

A case in point is the LGBT Ugandans, who publicly marched together for the first time in 2012 while their parliament mulled over imposing the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.

By contrast the main threat for revellers in the Washington Gay Pride — nearly 40 years old and one of the city’s biggest attractions — is the summer heat.

For those of us who can freely celebrate, the tone and reason for joining the fray and fanfare might have changed since 45 years ago.

However we need to be mindful of the fact that Pride will always be so much more than just another street party.

For the sake of those who are still silenced and pushed back into the closet, our solidarity is part of their liberation.

Being visible on the streets is pivotal in exposing, challenging and defeating those people who would, if they had half a chance, keep us down for ever and a day.

New York Pride 2014 Mag 21

BILLBOARD WARS Anti-gay campaigns and rhetoric continue to flourish, it’s when they are challenged and make then back down that we earn another stride in our march for equality and acceptance ...

R

ecently a friend sent me a link to a homophobic website which featured a bill board which has been erected on the Interstate 95 highway near Richmond, Virginia, USA. The bill-board featured two identical photos, supposedly twins and a homophobic message saying that “NOBODY IS BORN GAY”.

issue. He believes that, “History through the ages illustrates that homosexuality is a human condition, in the same way as heterosexuality ... and is fortunate to be living in a country that constitutionally respects and upholds gay rights, and among family, friends and colleagues who accept and respect my lifestyle” he said.

What caught my attention is that I knew the person pictured, and know that he is gay, and he doesn’t have a twin, and he is a local Cape Town man.

Coming forward and the media storm that followed clearly caused the PFOX campaign huge embarrassment and humiliation, “exposing their dangerous therapy and dubious practices.”

We contacted a local Richmond gay group and before we knew it CNBC TV has contacted the “twin” and in a Skype interview which was aired across the States, outed the organisation PFOX for having used a stock photo of a South African out and proud gay man in its bigoted anti-gay crusade.

The billboard has since been taken down.

The story went viral - appearing in the Washington Post, The New York Times, the Sydney Morning Herald, the Guardian in London, the BBC and numerous other internationally recognised newspapers all over the globe. Whilst it took a while, it was eventually picked up by the Sunday Times here in South Africa.

Kyle Roux, did a photo shoot some years back and whilst he wasn’t concerned about his photo being used, it was the usage in an anti gay campaign bordering on hate speech that was the

In the past few weeks Planting Peace, an organisation which campaigns against injustice by countering the messages of hate groups like this together with the Equality House, contacted Kyle with a view to erecting a billboard in the same place carrying a positive gay message, opposing the homophobia of the previous bill board.

A spokesperson for Planting Peace, Aaron stated that this was an opportunity for “countering another anti-gay group’s message and turn[ing] this into an opportunity for something positive.”

He continued that “if the press picks this up, there is a chance we might set up a fund raising site to keep the campaign going.”

Their most recent campaign was to counter Pastor Steven Anderson, an anti-gay pastor from Tempe, Arizona who made headlines after expressing that HIV/AIDS could be eliminated by Christmas if all gays were executed. “We launched a fundraiser to benefit HIV/AIDS charities and stated that he was officially on our “naughty list,” and for every donation we received we would send a lump of coal to him on Christmas Eve. We raised more than $18,000 for that campaign.”

Mag 22

The new billboard (pictured above) is ready to go up - this time with a positive message for all those haters out there.

RY

FEBRUA

20

FRIDAY: PINK PARTY R30 entry to all bars and clubs in the gay village - 8pm till Late. (R20 surcharge at Crew)

CAPE T GAY PRIDE FE EVENTS C RY

FEBRUA

22

SUNDAY: SPORTS DAY & BEACH PICNIC

Y

R FEBRUA

21

Camps Bay, 3:30pm - Free of charge donations appreciated

RY

SATURDAY: Ms CAPE TOWN PRIDE R60 General, R120 VIP, Cape Town Aquarium 7:30 for 8pm

FEBRUA

24

TUESDAY: MOVIE NIGHT

PRIDE Mag 24

8:00 for 8:30pm Pink Flamingo Open Air Theatre, Grand Daddy Hotel - R70

Lionel from hand Pride

F

RY

FEBRUA

TOWN ESTIVAL 2015 CALENDAR FEBRUARY

26

n l & Stefa PRONK years dled this e PR

28

SATURDAY: PRIDE PARADE & MARDI GRAS - Cobern/Liddle/Napier Roads, De Waterkant. Tickets: R40

THURSDAY: DIVA’S, DAME’S & DRAGS 8:00 for 8:30pm Beaulah Bar - R60 Matthew van as - this year’s Pride festival dire ctor

RY

FEBRUA

25

WEDNESDAY: PRIDE BOOKCASE

at Alexander Bar, 76 Strand Street, 7:00 - 7:30 - FREE

RY FEBRUA

27

FRIDAY: CAPE TOWN PRIDE KING OF QUEENS

- Beaulah’s 7:00 for 7:30 - R30

PRIDE Mag 25

WITH

Bid Pride

OUT AFRICA MAGAZINE ONLINE PRIDE CHARITY AUCTION The auction for Cape Town Pride / The Pride Selter Trust will accept bids from the 21st February to the 15th March, 2015.

All you have to do is fill out your bid amount for the item you wish to bid on and together with your contact details, send an email to the following email address: bidforpride@gmail.com You may bid for as many of the items you want. Each bid is separate.

Out Africa Magazine assures you that all personal details will be kept highly confidential.

Bidders on higher value items will be notified by email if they have been out-bid prior to closure.

ROVOS RAIL DURBAN SAFARI FOR 2 VALUE: R45 800.00 The trip is a 3-day journey. Departing from Pretoria to Durban or visa versa Trip includes: Deluxe suite aboard the “Pride of Africa” All meals & alcoholic and other beverages Off train excursions - 24 hour room service The trip does not include flights or transfers.

Valid to 30 September 2015

BID REFERENCE: RR001 Reserve price: R20 000 (minimum bid.)

Email your name, email address, contact tel. no., & Bid amount to bidforpride@gmail.com with the BID REFERENCE: RR001 in the subject line.

HAND CRAFTED, SIGNED TIFFANY-STYLE ITALIAN-GLASS PLATE

O on KLOOF BOUTIQUE HOTEL & SPA, CAPE TOWN

VALUE: R7 000.00

VALUE: R4 000.00

From Fine Arts Portfolio Size: 500mm diameter

Suite for 1 night for 2 incl: breakfast,

BID REFERENCE: FAP02

BID REFERENCE: OK03

Reserve price: R2 500 (minimum bid.)

Mag 26

Reserve price: R1 000 (minimum bid.)

GRANDWEST CASINO & HOTEL Enjoy 1 night at the hotel for 2 people Dinner for 2 at the Quarterdeck Restaurant in the Casino 2 tickets to the show at the Roxy Revue Bar VALUE: R4 000 Flights and transfers not included

BID REFERENCE: GWH04 Reserve price: R2 000 (minimum bid.)

GALLILEO OPEN AIR CINEMA AT V&A WATERFRONT

THE WHEEL AT THE V&A WATERFRONT

VALUE: R500.00

VALUE: R200.00

Tickets for 4 people incl; blankets & chairs

Ride on the big wheel for 2 people

BID REFERENCE: GAL05

BID REFERENCE: V&A06

Reserve price: R200 (minimum bid.)

Reserve price: R100 (minimum bid.)

PHOTO SHOOT from RENO HORN PHOTOGRAPHY

BELL’S WHISKY COLLECTIBLE CERAMIC DECANTER

Incl: Hairstyling, makeup, styling & post editing

VALUE: R6 000.00 Boxed. Commenting marriage of Prince & Princess of Wales 1981 - Full

BID REFERENCE: RHP07

BID REFERENCE: BLD08

VALUE: R4 000.00

Reserve price: R1 000 (minimum bid.)

Reserve price: R2 500 (minimum bid.)

PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS (2)

PERSONAL TRAINING SESSIONS (2)

VALUE: R500.00

VALUE: R500.00

Christopher Marsh Virgin Active, Sea Point.

Tom Van Zyl Zone Fitness, Green Point.

BID REFERENCE: CM09

BID REFERENCE: TZ10

Reserve price: R300 (minimum bid.)

BE PROUD OF WHO YOU ARE. WISHING THE LGBTI COMMUNITY A HAPPY PRIDE 2015.

USE LUBRIMAXXX™ YOUR PASSPORT TO website: www.lubrimaxxx.com PLEASURE

HAVE A WONDERFUL AND SAFE PRIDE WEEK CAPE TOWN T: 021 425 6463 www.the pinkbox.net

Reserve price: R300 (minimum bid.)

THE PINK BOX WISHES THE CAPE TOWN LGBTI COMMUNITY A HAPPY AND SAFE CAPE TOWN PRIDE 2015 T: 021 425 6463 www.the pinkbox.net

BOYZTOWN in the

of the Village

HAVE A FABULOUS PRIDE CAPE TOWN! 12- 14 Cobern Street De Waterkant Mag 27

SCENE OUT

BEARFEST - PRETORIA

EVH AWARDS - CT

Mag 28

Photo’s - courtesy of TRIARC.

MCQP CAPE TOWN

Photo’s -TRIARC

YOUR ONE STOP ADULT SHOP

THE ONE & ONLY. Specialists in a unique range & the largest Selection of Gay DVD’s, Toys, Aphrodisiacs, Stimulants & More...

Half Price on all DVD’s EXCHANGED & NEW STOCK. CHOOSE 4 DVD’s FOR R200

*****UNBEATABLE PRICES*****

TREASURE ISLAND New Stock: 2014

ADDRESS: 38 GRANT AVE, Cnr DOROTHY RD, 205 TARQUIN HOUSE, NORWOOD, JOHANNESBURG

OPEN: 09H30 TILL 22H30 Monday - Saturday

TEL/FAX; 011483 1919 CELL: 076 390 4069

TREASURE ISLAND New Stock: 2014 Mag 29

OUT & ABOUT IN THE VILLAGE

THE WHITE PARTY

Mag 30 Mag 30

Photo’s - Basil Deviant

Conversations ...at Protea Hotel President, 28 January 2015.

Photography by Luke Jansen from Without A Blink Productions.

THE TALK OF THE TOWN IN CAPE TOWN AND JO’BURG

A

n influential networking and social event targeted at both men and women in the gay community is making waves in South Africa’s two largest cities.

The event, called Conversations, is a gathering for gay professionals – male and female – living and working in and around the Mother City and the City of Gold. Once a month, it provides them with a space at upmarket, gay friendly venues where they can have face-to-face conversations with like-minded people, be it for business or social networking purposes.

Conversations was founded in Cape Town in 2013 by British expat, Andrew Howard. Driven by his desire to make a positive impact in his newly adopted home, Andrew hosted his first event at The Glen Boutique Hotel in Sea Point on 9th October 2013. And Conversations has gone from strength to strength since then. To date, sixteen events have been held in fifteen different venues stretching from Bantry Bay to Woodstock, with the event in January this year at the Protea Hotel President attracting a massive turnout of over 130 guests.

Andrew said: “I am really excited that Conversations in Cape Town has had

such an impact. On a social level, so many people have made new friends through the events. And from a business perspective, many new business relationships have been struck up, aided by the creation of the Conversations business contacts database last May. And Conversations itself has also formed successful business partnerships with four corporate entities, three of which are ongoing”.

Given the success of Conversations in Cape Town, Andrew launched Conversations in Johannesburg on 5th November last year at the Southern Sun Hyde Park Sandton. Since then, two more successful events have been held at Ten Bompas in early December and on the stunning roof terrace at 54 on Bath in early February.

Given Andrew’s background in NGOs in the UK, he was also determined to make Conversations socially responsible by using the events to raise money for and awareness of local charities. In Cape Town, he initially raised R19,000 for

the Pride Shelter Trust (www.pridesheltertrust.com) from October 2013 – May 2014. Since June last year, he has also raised over R25,000 for Goedgedacht (www.goedgedacht.org), a charity supporting disadvantaged rural children and their communities. In Johannesburg, Conversations is currently raising money for Transgender and Intersex Africa (www.transgenderintersexafrica.org.za).

In addition, at each event in both cities, a different NGO is given a platform to talk about their work to the guests.

The seventeenth Conversations event in Cape Town will be held on Wednesday 25th February at OYO Restaurant at the V&A Waterfront. This will be followed by events at The Grande Kloof Boutique Hotel in Fresnaye on 25th March and at Vineyard Hotel in Newlands on 29th April. Andrew is looking at The Mount Nelson for May. The fourth event in Johannesburg will be held on 12th March at House of Pharaohs in Bryanston.

‘Like’ the Conversations Cape Town and Conversations JHB Facebook pages at www.facebook.com/conversationsza and www.facebook.com/conversationsjhb respectively to receive updates and event invitations.

Mag 31

BLEAK FUTURE FOR LGBTI’s IN AFRICA IN 2015 Father Anthony Musaala - Nairobi, December 2014.

Dr Father Musaala follows up on his essay which we printed in our last issue. His concern, understanding and out-spoken support of the LGBTI community has made him a target of discrimination. In fact been suspended from priestly duties and cannot return to his home-country Uganda for fear of persecution...

L

GBTI’s in Africa, as self-identifying, sub-cultural groups, will continue to find little acceptance in Africa in the coming years. In order to survive, individual LGBTI’s will mostly have to end up ‘’going it alone’’ and playing hide and seek with the authorities. Groups (and individuals) will constantly be under threat and their leaders and members persecuted.

Although this sounds pessimistic, one must look at the political reality of Africa.

First of all, sexual orientations and gender-identities, are perceived as highly individualised pre-occupations, and only tangentially associated with human rights discourse.

This seems to be in conflict with the African national ‘’communalism’’ mentality of the day, which has become the intellectual ‘’default-setting’’ for most thinkers and non-thinkers alike, especially when ethical questions arise which are likely to put African regimes (and individuals) on the spot. ‘’Oh we as Africans do such and such in this way, and believe such and such”, as though that in itself was an excuse or a proof of anything.

This mentality is nothing more than some vague sense of Africanness; some similar interests and outlooks, but without any particular understanding of how they are related or indeed what they are at all.

One only has to say ‘’we Africans’’ and then one justifies almost anything.

The problem is that it is all forgotten and gone with the ‘’old Africa’’ so to speak; so that the new mind of Africa is now shaped by the world religions, notably the Abrahmic faiths, namely Judaism, Christianity and Islam, either directly, or indirectly through westernisation.

Africans have inherited the corporate moral system of levitical sexual-purity laws from the Torah, based on essentialist notions of pure and impure ‘’acts’’. All this is being fused into the new politics of the ‘’African communal view’’, which may actually have little to do with the ‘’old Africa’’ itself which was highly diversified with regard to sexual mores.

Now LGBTI’s don’t buy all this new-found pan-African communal ethic, because it seeks to oppress them in the name of ‘’African culture’’ which has actually become highly politicized. They seem not terribly interested in this never ending game of pan-African nationalism. They seek an identity apart from the ‘’communal one’’, or so it seems.

LGBTI’s are becoming a noisy discernible sub-group, and to make matters worse - with foreign backing. One is not sure what they represent, or how powerful they are, since they are increasingly vociferous and unyielding.

They also seem difficult to manipulate politically. LGBTI script doesn’t fit into any other of the ‘’communalism’’ ones, which are a function of the populism easily crafted by politicians who espouse certain religious ‘’values’’ when they are politically bankrupt, which ‘’values’’ can be easily used as props for shady and diversionary political activity.

Politically speaking, this new found pan-African ‘’communalism’’ is perhaps a midway-place between traditional ethno-nationalism and modern multi-ethnic nationalism. It is a highly defensive and ambiguous position, fighting against whatever appears to threaten the somewhat unfinished business of a pan-African nationalism and identity. Now onto this stage steps LGBTI’s, demanding freedoms unheard of. Individual freedoms. They seem to want identities away from the ‘’communalistic’’ one. How then are they to be controlled, if they are of other mindsets?

That is why LGBTI’s in Africa will continue to be unaccepted in African countries, not so much on account of their ‘’deviant sexual practices’’ which are considered taboos, since Africans, thankfully like most, know how to get around their taboos when they want to.

This however was not a problem in traditional Africa.

This is very rare in African politics. It has implications for the redundant status quo of African ‘’communal’’ politics based as they are, on dominating the masses, by lying to them about government, about who they are, denying personal freedoms where necessary, squandering vast amounts of the national resources and blaming the lack of development on ‘’poverty’’ caused by the exploitation of Africans by others.

Variant sexual orientations and gender identities were catered for in traditional African societies, sometimes in highly creative ways. They were absorbed into the general cultural milieu, seamlessly to the point that there was nothing ’’deviant’’ about them. Anthropological studies have already shown this.

Mag 32

LGBTI’s and their ‘’rights agendas’’ are to be opposed because of the nature of the freedoms they demand which rebound to personal integrity. Some sort of integrity and seriousness is being called forth by these very weird people, who won’t take no for an answer and would rather die or go to jail, than be what they are not.

GALZ’ ONCE A HOMOPHOBE MARTHA WINS AWARD ALWAYS A HOMOPHOBE

G

ALZ is delighted to announce and congratulate Ms. Martha Tholanah, GALZ Chairperson, for winning the David Kato Vision & Voice Award of 2015. The David Kato Vision & Voice Award is presented to an individual who demonstrates outstanding courage and leadership in advocating for the rights of LGBTI individuals, particularly in challenging circumstances and unsupportive policy environments.

David Kato - human rights activist, friend, and colleague - was murdered in his home in Kampala, Uganda on 26 January 2011.

Inspired by his work, the award recognizes the leadership of individuals who strive to uphold the numerous dimensions of sexual rights for LGBTI people.

Sexual rights are an evolving set of entitlements related to sexuality that contribute to the freedom, equality and dignity of all people, and are an important aspect of human rights.

The realisation of these rights is also an integral element to a meaningful HIV response among these marginalized groups” Martha Tholanah is a Zimbabwean feminist openly living with HIV. Martha participates in national, regional, and international advocacy, and activism revolving around the rights of people, particularly LGBTI people, people living with disabilities, women and children living with HIV. She is passionate about issues of women’s rights; access to HIV related treatment, disability rights, and functional health systems.

A trained family therapy counselor, qualified in medical rehabilitation, Martha established and headed both the health program at GALZ and the Network of Zimbabwean Positive Women (NZPW+). She has implemented programmes that focus on key populations such as sex workers around access to health issues. She has also worked with the national network of people living with HIV, leading the positive women’s network. Martha also gained experience through working as a humanitarian programme officer - a United Nations Volunteer (UNV) position - and advocacy advisor with Zimbabwe AIDS Network (ZAN), the national network of AIDS-service organisations.

Being Chairperson of GALZ, Martha has demonstrated courage and outstanding leadership in advocating for the sexual rights of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex (LGBTI) people, particularly in environments where these individuals face continued rejection, marginalization, isolation and persecution.

Martha has also worked in organising communities in amplifying voices for strengthening visibility to achieve social change. “This award strengthens my work with organizations such as GALZ and NZPW+. On the day I receive this award, my wish is that the violence and discrimination in Zimbabwe finally stops, and that all people will come together to end discrimination against marginalized communities worldwide,” said Martha.

Frank Mugisha, Chair of the David Kato Vision & Voice Award and Executive Director of Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG), presented Martha with the award on stage at the Teddy Award ceremony in Berlin.

By Milton Allimadi

S

am Kutesa, Uganda’s corrupt and homophobic Minister of Foreign Affairs, who last year became President of the United Nations General Assembly, does not seem to learn any lesson at all now referring to the LGBT community as “frogs” as reported in Ugandan media.

He barely survived making it as President of the General Assembly even though he should have been disqualified due to his ties to corruption and embezzlement and homophobia. His hostility towards the LGBT community goes against everything the United Nations is supposed to stand for -- the protection of human rights for all regardless of race, national origin, gender, ethnicity, and sexual orientation.

Recently while visiting his home country, Uganda, which is still trying to re-introduce the homophobic law that calls for life sentences for members of the LGBT community after it was struck down by a Ugandan court on a technicality last year, the leading homophobe, Sam Kutesa, had this to say about the LGBT yesterday as reported in Uganda’s leading independent newspaper The Daily Monitor, in reference to the LGBT community: “No matter how much noise the frogs make, they cannot stop a cow from drinking water.” http://www.monitor.co.ug/News/National/Kutesa-lashes-outat-pro-gay-activists/-/688334/2604322/-/tpfcj8/-/index.html In other words the LGBT community is so inconsequential that it can croak as much as it wants (like frogs) but it had no bearing on his getting the job of President of the General Assembly (“drinking water.”)

Well there is still time for you to show Kutesa how serious you are about the campaign to eject him as President of The General Assembly. In addition to his homophobia the United Nations has been protecting Kutesa over a scandal whereby he illegally enriched himself by billing the United Nations nearly $30 million without disclosing that while Uganda’s foreign minister he was also Chairman of a vendor, ENHAS co., that had a multimillion dollar UN contract which was reported on The Black Star News. The UN has never cancelled the contract or tried to recoup the millions from Kutesa’s company). http://www.blackstarnews.com/us-politics/news/samkutesas-private-company-made-30-million-from-unitednations-contracts-is-un The Black Star will continue reporting on the UN’s cover-up of how Kutesa illegally enriched himself through UN contracts.

Mag 33

THE BUZZ BRUCE JENNER TRANSITIONING TO A WOMAN However, never one to be left out of the limelight, the monumental life change is being filmed for a new reality show set to air at some time in 2015. “It will air when he is ready to be open about his transition,” said a source.

T

he latest news eclipsing the goings on of the ever-irritating, talentless, limelight-grabbing Kardashian family is that exstep-dad Bruce Jenner is transitioning to become a woman.

Jenner, who shot to fame when he represented the USA in the 1972 Munich Olympics decathlon event,finishing in tenth. At the next Olympics in Montreal, Canada, he won the gold medal in the same event and set a new world record.

He returned to the States a hero and proceeded to follow a career in pretty much anything that came his way.

Eventually starring in a leading role in the 1980 disco movie Can’t Stop The Music.

(Another main-stream gay movie which is celebrating its 35th anniversary) The movie was a disco-era comedy about the singing group The Village People. The movie was a flop and Jenner was nominated for the 1980 Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Actor for his performance. That was the end of his theatrical movie career until he appeared in 2011’s Jack and Jill in a scene with Al Pacino as an actor in a play.

Both Can’t Stop The Music and Jack and Jill won the Golden Raspberry Award for Worst Picture, making Jenner two for two in his movie career.

Of course he appeared in the seemingly endless shenanigans of the tiresome Kardashians and finally after 23 years of putting up with them he announced his separation from Kris in October last year.

The divorce was finalised in December, but will not be official until March this year.

Since the divorce Bruce has embarked on a totally new life – that as a woman!

A Jenner-Kardashian family source told People Magazine. “He is finally happy and his family is accepting of what he’s doing. He’s in such a great space. That’s why it’s the perfect time to do something like this.”

Mag 34

UNITY IN LEATHER MR & MS SA LEATHER 2015 Photo: Patty Patty

As a celebrity the decision to transition couldn’t have been easy. It has taken a lot of soul searching, and enormous courage, in the face of what will be unprecedented media attention, to do what he’s doing. Kudos to him!

He is great role model for others who perhaps are not as confident to go through with it and for those who have difficulties in facing who they really are.

Talking about Can’t Stop the Music – it was panned by the critics and public alike. Those readers who lived through the heady disco days of the Village People will enjoy those parts but as one critic said, “A fun, cheesy, musical about the Village People! Whether or not you like the band, if you like fun 80’s movies that are a little cheesy, you’ll enjoy this movie like I did. Of course, it could be a little better, but it’s pretty good.” – not too bad. I enjoyed it too.

The general consensus however included comments like “The Village People, along with ex-Olympic decathlon champion Bruce Jenner, have a long way to go in the acting stakes.” Or “A wretchedly substandard score from Jacques Morali and production numbers of exceptional tackiness round things off.” Another said, “A hilarious cult experience!”

Having said that, I saw it first time round and liked it, I saw the Village People at Sun City – they were fabulous!

- so gay in a time when it wasn’t OK - I guess you’ll have to get your hands on a copy and make up your own mind.

T

he Mr & Ms SA Leather Awards were held in Cape Town on the 6th December in front of a panel of international judges and a crowd of international guests which included the original Mr Leather Chuck Renslow and the current, very hot, Mr Leather International, Ramien Pierre as well as Patty, current holder of the Ms International Leather title.

Despite load shedding putting a dampener on the evenings entertainment in that there were no lights or music Jaco Lourens and co-hosts did a remarkable job at holding it all together.

There were only two contestants in each category and the winner of the Mr SA Leather who will be travelling to Chicago later this year to take part in the Mr Leather International is Herman Groenewald.

The Ms SA Leather was won by Selogadi Mampane who will represent the country in Los Angeles at the Ms Leather International.

Congratulations go to all the contestants who had the courage and the inclination to compete.

It seems sad that the leather community in South Africa is a dying breed ... perhaps it is time to re-invigorate interest in this subculture which thrived through the 70’s, 80’s and 90’s.

“At Health4Men they understand me.

I am not ashamed of my sexual health.”

Simon

Health4Men services include: • HIV and STI testing • Access to PEP • Free lube and condoms

Go to h4m.mobi

BUM BOYS A number of surveys have been done with both men and women regarding which part of the body has the most appeal when checking out great bodies. Time and time again a good butt is the number 1 turn on... I dare say that us gay guys are no different, a great butt will have mens heads turning ...

In this article we bring you a few exercises that will get results and you’ll be the best bottom in town ....

Source: Health24 Mag 36

D

on’t neglect your bottom in your workout routine. What other guys are looking for is a cute, firm, round and eminently slappable little behind. Big, floppy bottoms or that flat, no-bum-inpants look are definite no-nos.

yourself upward, makes for a great butt-firming activity. To increase the intensity, hold a dumbbell in each hand, arms extended on the side of your body, palms facing inward.

Of course you can always do this exercise by accident by choosing to take stairs instead of lifts and elevators. Walking up an incline, whether it’s a hill or a treadmill angled at 10 to 15o degrees, is equally good.

Most guys tend to concentrate a little too much on their abs and biceps in their exercise regimes.

Of course a good six-pack and smoking upper arm guns are sexy – just don’t forget about you butt while you’re working out.

4. Buttock squeezes

To remedy the situation here are a few of the most effective exercises to get your glutes into shape.

These are easy and can be done just about anywhere: Stand up straight and really squeeze those cheeks and hold for as long as you can without cramping up.

Release and repeat.

The three main muscles in each of your butt cheeks are the gluteus maximus, gluteus medius and gluteus minimus.

5. LEG ABDUCTIONS Remember that these workouts will only have the desired effect if you combine them with a healthy diet and a goodly amount of fatburning aerobic and cardiovascular exercise. Bum muscles of steel hidden below a thick layer of flabby fat still make for a big butt.

1. SQUATS Squats of all varieties make for a great all-body workout that engages various muscle groups, but they are especially effective for shaping your bum muscles.

Stand up straight with your feet about shoulder-width apart, toes pointing forward, arms crossed in front of you.

While keeping your head up and your back straight and without letting your knees extend over your toes, squad down as if you were about to sit on a chair until your thighs are almost parallel with the floor.

Slowly stand up again concentrating on using your bum, thighs and hips instead of your legs.

For variety you can hold dumbbells in both hands - arms along the side of your body - palms facing inward, while doing your squads, or you can do jumping squads, jumping up from the squatting position each time.

2. GLUTEUS KICKBACKS Get into the doggy position: on your hands and knees with your head slightly raised.

Slowly and in turn lift each of your legs backwards, raising the foot above head level while keeping the leg bent 90 degrees at the knee until the thigh is parallel with your torso and hold it there for a few seconds.

The trick is to really squeeze your buttocks hard while lifting your leg.

Stand up straight, legs hip-width apart and toes facing forward.

Slowly raise one straight leg outward to the side as high as you can while balancing carefully. Hold steady for a few seconds while squeezing your bum cheeks.

Lower and repeat with the other leg.

6. SINGLE-LEG PELVIC LIFTS Lie on the ground with your knees bent, feet flat on the floor and your arms at your sides, hands flat on the floor.

Cross your left leg over the right so that the ankle rests just above the knee.

Slowly lift your pelvis up towards the ceiling until your back is straight, but not arched upward, clenching your butt while doing so.

Hold for a few seconds, slowly lower your torso back to the ground, swap legs and repeat.

7. LUNGES From a standing position step forward with one leg while bending the knees and lowering the back knee towards the floor.

Keep your torso straight, your abs in, your front heel on the ground and the knee directly over the foot.

Push up through the front heel to a standing position, but don’t lock your knees at the top of the movement. Hold a dumbbell in each hand to increase the intensity.

Q: How many times should I do these exercises a week, and when will I see the results?

A: Try doing each set 10 reps and 3 sets daily you will see the results.

3. STEP UPS Repeatedly stepping onto a raised platform, alternating legs and concentrating on using both your legs and your bum to push

An eye-catching bubble butt will make you look great in your Speedo and I dare say, up your popularity stakes at the steams I say this tongue-in-cheek - haha - enjoy your workout.

Mag 37

FRENCH LETTERS AND CHOCOLATE HEARTS

By Bruce J. Little

D

espite being the shortest month of the year, February can be a testy month for many of us. This is because, if you’re single, the 14th of February can seem like a hungry mosquito whose imminent and no doubt aggravating arrival cannot be stopped. Valentine’s Day practically spits glitter into the single gay man’s eye.

It feels as though annoying couples have romantic dinners booked weeks in advance so they can crop up everywhere on this one particular day. They conspire to sit and fawn over one another in public places; to sigh and “suckface” in order to gloat at all the lonely hearts looking on, longingly.

Valentine’s Day, love it or hate it, has become a massive monetary phenomenon, with tons of chocolate, red roses and “Just how I truly feel” cards, exchanging hands at inflated prices.

Even if you’re not single, you may scrunch your eyebrows and sneer your lips at the madness of this commercial racket and the insanity of measuring your worth by the amount of red foiled chocolate you receive. However I must also confess that if someone turned up at my door on that dreaded day, with some flowers and a cardboard container of processed fat and carbs, then I would, no doubt, find a traitorously goofball smile, lingering on my previously scrunchy face. This is because I cannot help but appreciate any token that signifies that I am quite possibly loved or lovable, however cheap and mass produced this token or gesture may be.

Perhaps it’s a crazily fortunate coincidence that the week of “V-Day” is also Condom Awareness Week. Yes, those gummy rubber border patrols in the battle against venereal diseases and infections… This is their time to shine and be celebrated in all of their glory too.

Although they make quite an ambitious, or even presumptuous Valentine’s Day gift per se, I can see why these two things may share this auspicious time of the year. If you happen to land your Valentine with just the right gift to pluck his heartstrings, you may just have cause to make use of one of these rolled up force fields.

You can enjoy condoms in a variety of ways over and above presenting them to your Valentine, and there is such a variety out there that there is generally a condom for every type of person. So if a ribbed, yellow, glow-in-the-dark, piña colada flavored condom tickles your fancy, it should be celebrated for at least a week. Heaven knows our forefathers had no such selection to choose from.

“Domes”, “rubbers”, “French Letters (FLs)”, whatever you call them, have been around for a long time. Egyptians used a woven linen condom that must have “exfoliated” their manhood like hell. During the 1700’s and 1800’s, men used animal intestinal Mag 38

casings (that stuff used to give “boerewors” its shape) as makeshift protection. Really? (The whole ‘sausage’ pun thing is too easy, so I won’t even go there.)

The very first manufactured condoms were made of the same orange rubber as a bicycle inner tube and had the same thickness and lingering non-sexy smell.

(Brings a whole new meaning to the descriptive, “He has a ‘pap’ tire”.) Only much later did we discover the marvel that is latex, and begin to enjoy prophylactic use with any real kind of sensation and flexibility.

Every year thousands of singles head out into the “cruel coupled world” on Valentine’s Day, to dance and drink their woes and disappointments away, or even just to defy the stupidity of this sentimental day. This is when a lot of desperado.uhoh.co.za decisions are made and irresponsible and potentially dangerous sex takes place. You may think a plastic rose and a cheesy card may be wack things to get on Valentine’s Day, but what about genital warts, syphilis or gonorrhea? It’s also worth mentioning that HIV is not the only serious infection out there either; hepatitis can be even more dangerous in some instances. Then there’s the possibility that you may get more than one of the aforementioned “gifts” on the same night.

So even if nobody does give you an “I heart you” mug or a plastic rose that lights up with batteries, you can still give yourself something really cool that’s got you covered, like a “French Letter”. Keep it in your pocket, in case things do get romantic on that special night.

Bruce J. Little is a contributing writer for Health4Men. Health4Men is a project of the Anova Health Institute NPC, funded by USAID through PEPFAR. This article represents the contributing writer’s personal views.

Health4Men would like to hear from you too! Gay and bi men from throughout South Africa are welcome to submit articles about their own lives, primarily regarding sexuality, sexual health and relationships. Selected articles, like this one, will be published in print and online. For submissions please mail media@health4men.co.za.

MARCH diary Friday 6th Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Tuesday 3rd Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 13th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 20th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 27th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · APRIL diary Thursday 2nd Bad Thursday Party Come Be Your Baddest · Friday 3rd Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Thursday 5th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 10th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 17th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 24th Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Sunday 26th Freedom Day Party - Set Your Lust Free · Thursday 30th Workers Day Party - Come Work It MAY diary Friday 1st Leather Night Free entrance with leather gear · Monday 4th Full Moon – Celebrate hedonism with free libation wine · Friday 8th Long Schlong Night Free entrance for 20cm + · Friday 15th Fetish Night – Indulge your fantasies · Friday 22nd Public Pigz Night Be a pig on the bar counter for an entrance refund · Friday 29th Fire Crotch Night – Free Entrance with Red Pubes Also, Mondays: Daddies & Toy Boys - R30 entrance between 6 & 9 for under 20s and over 50s Thursdays: Student Night. Free entrance 6-9, R30 thereafter with student card.

SOCIAL INCLUSION AT INSTITUTIONS OF HIGHER LEARNING ... Where do we fit in?

By Liberty Banks (Glenton Matthyse)

S

ection 9 of the Constitution, the celebrated equality clause, does not allow one to be discriminated against based on his/her ‘sexual orientation’. The Alteration of Sex Description and Sex Status Act of 2003 also prohibit discrimination based on a person’s ‘gender identity’. In the context of advocating for social inclusion, a critical question needs to be asked… ‘What must be done to ensure that my right not to be discriminated against based on my sexual orientation and/or gender identity is not violated’?

How can we ensure that our institutions of higher learning are aware of their responsibility of respecting and protecting our bodies and integrity.

women, the LGBTIAQ community, persons with disabilities and students from rural and disadvantaged backgrounds is seen as being very progressive. However, ‘action speaks louder than words’. The true test will be whether or not this Draft Policy will be able to effectively address the institutional social inequalities when implemented. Will it be able to amongst others, reduce and ultimately eradicate the discrimination and prejudice faced by students who either identify as being LGBTIAQ or students who are perceived as being part of the LGBTIAQ community? Or will it be instrumental in building up a façade of ‘social inclusion’ to the extent that we will be silenced into not speaking about our concerns anymore?

It is 2015, 21 years into democracy, and the fight against homophobia and transphobia still continues. Aside from the fact that we still continuously have to fight for our rights to find legal protection and understanding, there is still a social realm that the law struggles to reach. In this social realm there still remain the deeply held personal beliefs of people about homosexuality, bisexuality and being transgender, asexual and intersex. With this said, it is encouraging realising that the Department of Higher Education and Training has opened itself up to addressing the social challenges that the LGBTIAQ (lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, intersex, asexual, queer or question) community face within higher education in South Africa. In 2014 the Minister of Higher Education and Training, Blade Nzimande, presented a Draft Policy for discussion and comments by institutions such as public colleges, public adult education and training centres as well as public universities.

These institutions were tasked with the responsibility of recognising and promoting integration, fostering a culture of human rights with a particular respect for human dignity and cultivating an atmosphere of unity in diversity (difference) by developing their own social inclusion policies. Consequently, these policies that are to apply to both staff and students are also strategically aimed at ensuring that quality education and training is accessible to all South Africans.

The draft version published in the Government Gazette on 21 August 2014, expressly acknowledges the outburst of homophobic violence plaguing South African communities. It also went further by expressly tasking colleges, universities and adult education centres with the responsibility of ensuring that all people who are different or perceived to be different to the norm, including the LGBTIAQ community, are able to express who they are without fear of intimidation or harassment. The Department places a duty on the higher education sector to ensure that advocacy campaigns advocating for the elimination of homophobia and transphobia are undertaken and is included under the Department of Higher Education’s Calendar of Significant Days. This calendar must be observed by all public colleges and universities. The Draft Policy also recommends that certain institutional stakeholders such as the SRC (Student Representative Council), transformational forums and gender units be utilised in advocating social inclusion for amongst other communities, the LGBTIAQ community. In addition to this, the Department has expressly stated that all public colleges and universities must also submit periodic progress reports to the Department, reporting on the implementation of their social inclusion policies.

The Draft Policy which promotes the ‘social inclusion’ of Mag 40

The reality is that there are many forms of discrimination within society at large and institutions of higher learning are not immune to this. In fact, they are just microcosms of

society. At times, more than one form of discrimination may simultaneously face a person. Hence, the lived reality of such a person can lead to a person becoming quite disempowered, especially when he/ she is located within an institution that does not take all forms of discrimination seriously.

I have encountered students within higher education who are LGBTIAQ identifying, who are black and who come from poorrural backgrounds who are subjected to the ‘everyone is equal’ mentality that has been negating the importance of difference. The truth is everyone is not equal.

For these students the expectation is that they need to perform at the same level academically as their counterparts who are not faced with the same social and economic challenges.

It is here where the rhetoric ‘we are all equal’ encourage the privilege ones to jump onto the ‘bandwagon of oppression’ which fuels paternalism. The fact that we have all managed to get into institutions of higher learning does not mean that we are now equal. The need for the Social Inclusion Policy speaks to that.

At times it is worrying seeing ‘the privileged ones’ persistently speaking on behalf of those who are oppressed. Point in case, heterosexual people with heteronormative ideals sit in powerful

positions with the ability of setting agendas that often seeks to undermine who we are as LGBTIAQ people. Their interpretation for the inclusion of the LGBTIAQ often remains deeply prejudiced. We run the risk of remaining oppressed and marginalised. As a former student leader who identifies as being gay and a person who absolutely loves playing with gender expressions, I have experienced that many people sitting on these powerful decisionmaking platforms do not always share the enthusiasm of creating inclusive campus-spaces for LGBTIAQ people.

With this said, the saying ‘nothing about us without us’ rings oh so true! In the broader implementation of what is hopefully soon to be the Social Inclusion Policy for institutions of higher learning, the question becomes ‘where do we fit in’. As mentioned in the Draft Policy, our education system is the key driver in challenging poverty and eradicating (social) inequality in society. But do we know who these drivers will be within our institutions of higher learning? And how instrumental do we ourselves become in informing the institutional transformational agendas to be set by our respective institutions of higher learning?

Mag 41

OUT TO LUNCH SECRET GARDEN - IN THE PINK

By Rob Simpson

LA VIE EN ROSE

and shoe-string fries - ABSOLUTELY DIVINE!

SECRET GARDEN EXPERIENCE

Dessert, my favourite was “Careless Love” (Pink blend hybrid tea 1995) - Toblerone chocolate wrapped in phyllo pastry and flash-fried, served on berry mint coulis and cream. My partner went for the “Hugs & Kisses” (Pink blend miniature 1999), delectable whoopie pies of white chocolate and cranberry, gingerbread and lemon cream on salted caramel, decked out with a trio of ice cream - both were sensational.

La Vie en Rose is a delightful, calm, exclusive place - a secret garden where one can relax and unwind at the end of the day. A spot where you can get comfortable and unwind, indulging your senses away from the hustle and bustle of the city, and above all it’s a wonderful eating experience.

The sublimely fusion-inspired menu gives one the option of indulging in your favourite comfort food, or tucking into something light (with a delectable twist) or taking the high road in to luxurious decadence.

At a recent birthday celebration I was treated to a luncheon at this little gem situated in Illovo, surrounded by pink roses. It is breathtakingly beautiful and very camp.

Each dish on the menu is named after a rose - My partner started with “VOGUE” (Pink-blend floribunda 1951) which was chicken livers, pan fried in a home-made Moroccan-style Napolitana sauce with a dash of cream and crispy ciabatta, whilst I settled for the “Nearly Wild” (Medium Pink Floribunda 1941) - Ostrich carpaccio with Parmesan shavings, fresh rocket, caper berries, extra virgin olive oil and a zesty lemon squeeze - both very tasty!

Mag 42 Mag 42

Also available are burgers, wraps and pasta. The restaurant is open for breakfast with a variety to choose from for those watching their waistlines.

A table salad was ordered - the “Freckle Face” (Pink blend shrub 1976) - made up of crispy brinjals with goats milk cheese and roasted pine-nuts on a pillow of fresh sweet basil and coursely-chopped mint savoured and enjoyed...

For the main course I chose “Player” (Pink blend hybrid tea 1999) - juicy rump skewers, lightly grilled in whole-grain mustard, garlic and olive oil, adorned with crisp, shoe-string fries and a fresh salad. My lunch partner chose the “Lord Don” (Pink blend shrub 1993) - a gently spiced and delicately coated chicken schnitzel, served with Israeli salad

They say that mom’s kitchen is the best place to learn and this is where Rony Ezerzer, owner and operating partner acquired her foodiness. And in combining a Moroccan background with extensive experiences of India, Germany and New York, Rony has conceived a new form of fusion for La Vie en Rose. Yanky Wolfs’s, the other owner and operations partner, idea of the perfect eatery is an unpretentious, relaxed environment with a “mi casa es su casa” vibe. This restaurant is a must do experience.

Booking is advisable for lunch and dinner.

LA VIE EN ROSE 48 MELVILLE ROAD ILLOVO Tel: 011 268 6144

OUT TO LUNCH KURDISH DELIGHTS IN THE MOTHER CITY MESOPOTAMIA An exotic restaurant in the heart of Cape Town situated on the corner of Long & Church Street in Cape Town.

T: 021 424 4664 Recently I went to Mesopotamia with four friends to sample the exotic delights of South Africa’s first Kurdish restaurant.

We were shown to our table which was a low round copper tray table where we were seated on kelim cushions. After ordering our drinks we were given the menu and the waitress went though the evenings specialities.

The restaurant is richly decorated with genuine hand-made kilims and Kurdish artefacts that create the ambience and conviviality of Mesopotamia. There is a choice of 13 Meze starters on the menu, I chose the Zozan - sweet and sour chicken cooked with herbs which was mouthwateringly delicious. Others shared a meze platter which has samplings of all the meze dishes on offer. One of our group was vegetarian and she settled for Jagik (homemade yoghurt with cucumber, garlic & herbs). As we settled into our starters accompanied with large garlic and cheese naan breads, and the strains of authentic Kurdish folk music played softly in the background adding to the ambience.

For my main course I chose the Iskender - small pieces of roasted leg of lamb served on a small bed of naan bread with garlic, yoghurt and tomato sauce. Simply awesome. Our vegetarian dinner partner had the Badeljane Tijikiri (aubergines stuffed with vegetables and served with a garlic yoghurt sauce). The others tried the Chicken Guvech (oven baked chicken breast with mushrooms, green pepper and cheese served in a clay pot) and the Haran (lamb cooked with spiced chilli and spinach also served in a clay pot). The meal was delicious, servings were adequate but so tasty that I could have had more.

We had the Baklava with ice cream to round off the meal. And I think it was possibly the most delicious that I’ve ever tasted.

After dinner the waitress tried to get us to try a Hookah pipe, but none of us were that adventurous.

We were there mid-week and there was no belly dancer to entertain us, however I was assured that there is a belly dancer most evenings. We didn’t have to book but I am told that it is advisable to book.

The exotic atmosphere and great food make Mesopotamia an unusual and dinner venue for those wanting something out of the ordinary.

Mag 43

OUT ON DVD LET’S WATCH DVD’S WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN The not-to-be-missed The Imitation Game is an intense and haunting portrayal of a brilliant, complicated man, and follows a genius who under nail-biting pressure helped to shorten the war and, in turn, save thousands of lives. Featuring a captivating performance by Benedict Cumberbatch as the tortured gay mathematician, cryptanalyst and war hero Alan Turing, Norwegian filmmaker Morten Tyldum’s gripping story scripted by New York Times bestselling author Graham Moore is one that will change your worldview. It’s the unforgettable story of a man’s whose passion was devoured by his passionate secret; a tragic tale set in 1952 when British authorities entered Turing’s home to investigate a reported burglary and ended up arresting Turing himself on charges of ‘gross indecency’, an accusation that would lead to his devastating conviction for the criminal offense of homosexuality – little did officials know, they were actually incriminating the pioneer of modern-day computing. “It’s an amazing life story,” marvels Moore. “It’s one of those which, if you’d made it up, wouldn’t have been believable: that one person lived through so many dramatic things, that one person is a genius, a war hero, invented the computer, was prosecuted by the Government for homosexuality and committed suicide – it’s all these movies in one. It’s shocking that it’s true. “ The must-have first season of HBO’s Looking offers non-stop viewing from start to finish. It’s good to find a series that is honest in its telling and sincere in its passion.

Created by Michael Lannan, the series revolves around three 3-something friends living in San Francisco, who explore the exciting, sometimes overwhelming, options available to a new generation of gay men.

Fans dubbed the series as the “gay version” of Girls and Sex and the City with a BBC reviewer Keith Uhrich opined that Looking “is one of the most revolutionary depictions of gay life ever on TV – and that’s because it makes it totally ordinary.” Jonathan Groff is super sexy as a 29-year-old video game designer who has his eye on his boss, played by super hot Russell Tovey.

When high school senior confesses to his best buddy that he is gay in the delightful Date and Switch, the game is on as Michael (Nicholas Braun) tries to find out to come to terms with the news, and Matty (Hunter Cope) hoping the find a Mr. Right that is just your normal guy-next door.

Chris Nelson offers an amusing tale of friendship and coming of age that is funny and charming.

Home is where the heart is for two best pals returning from duty in Afghanistan to their lifelong residence in Leith, just outside Edinburgh, and kindle romances old and new in this charming Scottish musical Sunshine on Leith.

Into the Woods is an enchanting musical from Rob Marshall (Chicago) that will cast its magical spell on you. It’s one of those Mag 44

musical gems that’s easy to fall in love with; besides its gorgeous melodies, witty lyrics and amusing storyline, it’s a humorous and heartfelt musical that follows the classic tales of Cinderella (Anna Kendrick), Little Red Riding Hood (Lilla Crawford), Jack and the Beanstalk (Daniel Huttlestone), and Rapunzel (MacKenzie Mauzy), all tied together by an original story involving a baker and his wife (James Corden and Emily Blunt), their wish to begin a family and their interaction with the witch (Meryl Streep), who has put a curse on them. This highly anticipated big screen adaptation of a musical that gripped the imagination of the world since its first Broadway staging in 1987 was well worth the wait and delivers in spades, proving that wishes do indeed come true. Don’t hesitate to take a journey into these magical woods.

Crazed obsession and fame and fortune clash head on in Maps to the Stars, David Cronenberg’s modern Hollywood Gothic about the ravenous 21st Century need for fame and validation -- and the yearning, loss and fragility that lurk in the shadows underneath. It connects the savage beauty of writer Bruce Wagner’s Los Angeles with the riveting filmmaking of director Cronenberg and a stellar ensemble cast to take a tour into the darkly comic heart of a Hollywood family chasing celebrity, one another and the relentless ghosts of their pasts. Cronenberg deceptively lures you into the intimate world stardom and balances this explosive mindbender on a razorsharp line between comedy, horror and invigorating honesty.

Pride is a film that will most definitely change your life and how you see the world.

It follows two very different communities who found strength by standing together.

You will laugh, you will cry, but most of all, you will never forget this super film that will break your heart and proudly shows how important it is for communities to unite in peace.

Take an extreme journey into the crazy mindscape of an actor in the masterful Birdman, an exceptional film by Mexican filmmaker Alejandro G Iñárritu, which showcases the craft of storytelling and the art of filmmaking.

From Oscar-winning director Roman Polanski comes Venus in Fur, a drama comedy focusing on Thomas Novachek (Mathieu Amalric), a writer-director of a new play. After a long and unsuccessful day trying to cast his leading lady, he is about to head home when actress Vanda Jordan (Emmanuele Seigner) arrives in a whirlwind. and convinces him to let her audition for the part of Wanda.

Visit Let’s Watch DVDs on Facebook or visit www. writingstudio.co.za

MUSIC MOVES Bette Midler Takes On Girl Groups

B

ette Midler’s new album, a tribute to girl groups, is titled It’s The Girls.

Since she was a little girl, Bette Midler has delighted in listening to and singing along with girl groups. On her new album, It’s The Girls!, she takes a crack at her favourites, from the tight harmonies of the ‘30’s and ‘40’s to the powerhouse Motown era, all the way to a fairly recent song — “Waterfalls” by TLC. Midler says for her, this album is a love story: She fell in love with music through these songs.

“Each one of them meant something to me, for some reason,” Midler says. “[The Boswell Sisters’] ‘It’s the Girl’ was the first 78 record I ever owned as a kid, and I had never heard music like that. I was very, very young — maybe 5 or 6 years old — but the sound of it was just mesmerizing to me.”

For those familiar with the Broadway version of Hairspray, the sound of It’s The Girls might be familiar. Marc Shaiman, who wrote Hairspray’s music, is Midler’s collaborator on these recordings and many others; she says they’ve been learning from one another since before he was even a legal adult.

“He came to me when he was 16 years old,” Midler says. “He knocked on my door and he said, ‘You don’t know me, but I’m a musical prodigy,’ or words

to that effect, “and I have to be in your world. ... When I heard your first record, it lit a fire under me that nothing had ever done before, because you were singing so many different kinds of music that I had never experienced. And I immediately went out to the record stores and gave myself a musical education.’ “ Midler says part of the fun of making It’s The Girls was re-contextualising classic songs in ways that would surprise the listener. Giving The Supremes’ “You Can’t Hurry Love” a country-western twang was Shaiman’s idea, but turning TLC’s “Waterfalls” into an aching piano ballad was a reflection of how Midler had always taken the lyrics to heart.

“The first time I heard it, I burst into tears,” she says. “I understood it at a

different level than maybe a lot of people heard it, because I had lost a lot of friends in the AIDS war. I felt that it was the song of a mother, when there really, literally is nothing you can do. And there’s nothing sadder. And that’s really my benchmark: If I cry when I hear a song, I don’t care who tells me I’m not gonna sing it. I’m gonna sing it.”

For Bette Midler fans this album is right up there with the best, her voice is as strong as the earlier albums and it is her 25th!

For those of us old enough to know the songs the fist time round, the Divine Miss M has excelled herself in bringing these songs with their strong harmonies back to life. I can already see drag queens donning big bee-hives and lip syncing to pretty much all of the tracks on this album.

When you finally embrace the gift of your sexual orientation it IS the end; the end of shame, fear and oppression. You leave the darkness of the closet and begin a life of honesty, authenticity and freedom. – Anthony Venn-Brown Why is it that, as a culture, we are more comfortable seeing two men holding guns than holding hands? - Ernest Gaines Mag 45

OUT ON FILM

E

LET’S GO TO THE MOVIES WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN

xperience the best of live theatre on the big screen with the NT Live season at Cinema Nouveau. The new season kicks off on March 14 with Yaël Farber’s staging of Arthur Miller’s American parable The Crucible that attacks the evils of mindless persecution and the terrifying power of false accusations; David Hare’s adaptation of Katherine Boo’s Behind The Beautiful Forever is screened from April 4. It’s a window into the lives of India’s poorest, focusing on the Husain family, who make their meager living sifting through Mumbai’s prodigious accumulation of rubbish; a stellar cast led by Mark Strong (The Imitation Game) can be seen in Arthur Miller’s dark and passionate A View from the Bridge (from April 25); and Tom Stoppard returns to the National Theatre with his highly-anticipated new play The Hard Problem (from May 16), directed by Nicholas Hytner, telling the story of a young psychology researcher at a brainscience institute, who is nursing a private sorrow and a troubling question at work, where psychology and biology meet. If there is nothing but matter, what is consciousness?

Opera lovers can indulge in the Met Opera’s intriguing double bill of Tchaikovsky’s Iolanta and Bartóks erotic psychological thriller Bluebeard’s Castle (from March 21), with soprano Anna Netrebko as the beautiful blind girl who experiences love for the first time in Iolanta, while Nadja Michael is the unwitting victim of the diabolical Bluebeard, played by Mikhail Petrenko. Both operas are directed by Mariusz Trelinski, and conducted by Valery Gergiev. From April 11 bel canto superstars Joyce DiDonato and Juan Diego Flórez join forces for La Donna del Lago, this Met premiere production is conducted by Michele Mariotti. Opera’s most enduring tragic double bill Cavalleria Rusticana and Pagliacci returns on May 23 in an evocative new production from Sir David McVicar, who sets the action across two time periods but in the same Sicilian village. Met Principal Conductor Fabio Luisi is on the podium. The operas are screened at Cinema Nouveau and selected cinemas nationwide.

Ballet buffs can indulge in a new season from the Royal Ballet, with Christopher Wheeldon’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland (From March 28), with Joby Talbot’s score combining contemporary soundworlds with sweeping melodies that gesture to ballet scores of the 19th century. Bob Crowley’s wildly Mag 46

Visit Let’s Go to the Movies on Facebook or visit www.writingstudio.co.za

Al Pacino is Danny Collins imaginative sets and costumes draw on puppetry, projections and masks to make Wonderland wonderfully real; Anthony Dowell’s glorious interpretation of Swan Lake (from May 2) uses classical choreography created by Lev Ivanov and Marius Petipa for the ballet’s revised 1895 version and dramatic costumes emphasize the contrast between human and spirit worlds, while glowing lanterns, shimmering fabrics and designs inspired by the work of Peter Carl Fabergé create a magical setting.

MARCH HIGHLIGHTS Based on the 1987 true story, McFarland, USA follows novice runners from McFarland, an economically challenged town in California’s farm-rich Central Valley, as they give their all to build a cross-country team under the direction of Coach Jim White (Kevin Costner); inspired by a true story, Al Pacino stars as aging 1970s rocker Danny Collins, in the film of the same name, who can’t give up his hard-living ways, but when his manager uncovers a 40 year-old undelivered letter written to him by John Lennon, he decides to change course and embarks on a heartfelt journey to rediscover his family, find true love and begin a second act. From 20 March South Africans will, once again, as in the 1980’s, have the opportunity to experience the nostalgia of Ballade vir ’n Enkeling with Armand Aucamp as a popular writer whose disappearance leads to suprising revelations...

APRIL HIGHLIGHTS The absolutely delightful new Afrikaans film Strikdas is a romantic comedy with Kaz McFadden as a geeky bunny-hugger with a good heart who is about to set off for Stellenbosch University, and falls under the spell of a spoilt and pampered daughter of a wealthy wine estate owner (Leandie du Randt) whose life changes when she introduces him to her family as her new boyfriend; Marvel Studios presents Avengers: Age of Ultron, the epic follow-up to the biggest Super Hero movie of all time. Uneasy alliances and unexpected action pave the way for an epic and unique global adventure; In Unfinished Business a hard-working small business owner (Vince Vaughn) and his two associates (Tom Wilkinson and Dave Franco), travel to Europe to close the most important deal of their lives. But what began as a routine business trip goes off the rails in every imaginable – and unimaginable – way, including unplanned stops at a massive sex fetish event and a global economic summit.

MAY HIGHLIGHTS From Disney comes the riveting, mystery adventure Tomorrowland, A World Beyond starring George Clooney. Bound by a shared destiny, former boy-genius Frank (Clooney), jaded by disillusionment, and Casey (Britt Robertson), a bright, optimistic teen, embark on a danger filled mission to unearth the secrets of an enigmatic place somewhere in time and space known only as “Tomorrowland.”

At the height of his power, King Louis XIV (Pierce Brosnan) believes that the only way to protect the future of France is by securing his reign for all of eternity in The Moon and the Sun; Far from the Madding Crowd stars Carey Mulligan, Matthias Schoenaerts, Michael Sheen, Tom Sturridge, and Juno Temple and is an adaptation of the 1874 novel by Thomas Hardy; Child 44 is set during Stalin’s Soviet Union, in which a disgraced MGB Agent Leo Demidov (Tom Hardy) is tasked with uncovering a strange and brutal series of child murders; Tom Hardy can also be seen in the post-apocalyptic action film Mad Max: Fury Road; the local film Treurgrond is based on the painful story of the South African farming community trying to survive the many farm attacks; it digs deeper into the world of relationships, regret, revenge and forgiveness all brought together by one circumstance from which hope and heeling rise, and boasts a stellar cast, which include Steve Hofmeyr.

Over the years a few iconic main-stream movies have been made which could be classified as either “gay” movies or had strong gay themes - La Cage Aux Folles, Brokeback Mountain & The Birdcage immediately spring to mind. Well this year we celebrate the anniversaries of three great films - Longtime Companion, An Early Frost and To Wong Foo ...

L

ongtime Companion, a movie is about the lives of a group of gay men living in New York City at the start of the AID’s crisis in the 1980’s. Released in 1990, the film was one of the first to tackle the issue of AIDS in the gay community and 25 years later it is still topical, relevant and makes for great viewing. The film deals with a group of gay men and their straight female friend as they confront the spread of AIDS. Personal trainer Willy (Campbell Scott) watches the epidemic grow, advocating for awareness. Willy’s friend John (Dermot Mulroney) is the first to be infected, but soon it becomes clear that a pandemic is underway in the gay community. Willy’s, boyfriend Fuzzy (Stephen Caffrey) and his adopted sister, Lisa (Mary-Louise Parker), look on as their friends and loved ones succumb to the disease. The film also stars Bruce Davidson who’s powerful performance earned him an Oscar nomination . He won the Golden Globe Award, an Independent Spirit Award, a National Society of Film Critics award, and a New York Film Critics Circle award for Best Supporting Actor for his role.

As the first wide-release film to have AIDS as its main subject, Longtime Companion is a powerful mix of historical realism and bittersweet drama. The title came from the words The New York Times used to describe the surviving same-sex partner of someone

who had died of AIDS during the 1980s. The film received overwhelmingly positive reviews from critics - Peter Travers from Rolling Stone magazine commented “Funny, Touching and Vital, Longtime Companion is the best American movie so far this year. ” - If you haven’t seen it this is a movie to put on your list of “must sees”.

A

nother movie to dealing with the AIDS crisis in the gay community is An Early Frost. Released 30 years ago, the film was a landmark 1985 TV movie, and the first major film, made for television to deal with the topic of AIDS. Directed

by John Erman, the film starred a young Aidan Quinn as Michael Pierson, a Chicago attorney who goes home to break the news – that he is homosexual and has AIDS – to his parents, played by Ben Gazzara and Gena Rowlands. A very human, gut wrenching story, highlighting the difficulties gay people experience coming-out to their parents. The film was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Television movie and won Sylvia Sidney the Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress in a Series, Miniseries or a TV Movie. It also won the coveted Peabody Award. Essential viewing....

O

n a lighter note and way more popular was the iconic To Wong Foo, Thanks for Everything! Julie Newmar the movie is a light-hearted romp across America with three drag queens. Celebrating its 20th anniversary ... the movie which starred hunky Patrick Swayze as Vida, muscle-Mary Wesley Snipes as Noxeema Jackson and John Leguizamo as the camp Chi‑Chi, finds the three drag-queens stranded in a small rural back-water ... although clichéd and predictable the movie has delighted gay audiences for years.

All three movies mentioned here are great viewing and as main-stream movies helped educate and entertain viewers and are well worth hunting out.

Mag 47

ON STAGE Lingenfelder as the Emcee, Claire Taylor is Sally Bowles, and Daniel Buys is Clifford Bradshaw. The Fugard Theatre looks forward to welcoming audience members to the infamous Kit Kat Klub, where the Emcee, Sally Bowles and the raucous ensemble take the stage nightly to tantalise the crowd and to entice them to leave their troubles outside. Book at Computicket.

The ultimate feel-good Mamma Mia! will be on the Teatro at Montecasino from March 24 to April 19, and the deliciously wicked Little Shop of Horrors will be on at Theatre on the Bay from 24 April to 6 June, with Allan Comittie as Seymour Krelborn. Book at Computicket.

Roland Perold in You Bet Your Life

There’s also the Durban Passion at the Playhouse Drama from 39 March to April 19, with cast of 120. It depicts Jesus’ last days on earth, based on the Biblical Gospels that the Oberammergau script is based on. Book at Computicket.

MUSICAL THEATRE LET’S DANCE

C

ape Town is in for a treat with the local premiere of South African musical You Bet Your Life! at Alexander Bar’s Upstairs Theatre from 5 to 21 March (except Sundays) at 7pm nightly. It’s a rib-tickling ride on a TV game show with a twist, featuring catchy original show tunes that are guaranteed to get feet tapping. Performed by fresh young talents Amy Trout, Roland Perold and David Fick, it tells of poor recently deceased Jonny (Fick), who finds himself trapped in a rather unconventional gameshow where scenes from his life are replayed with purgatorial relish. Hosted by the charming Timothy Radcliffe (Perold), the audience is introduced to Jonny’s neurotic mother, his crazy ex-girlfriends, a ferocious Russian drag performer and a host of other characters who all seem bent on keeping Jonny in limbo as Timothy tries to manipulate things to secure his own redemption. Bookings can be made at www.alexanderbar.co.za Kander, Ebb and Masteroff’s scintillating Tony award-winning musical Cabaret will be on at The Fugard Theatre in Cape Town from March 10, with Charl-Johan Mag 48

C

rown of the Russian Ballet’s 175th Tchaikovsky Anniversary Celebrations will jeté and pirouette onto local stages from April 25 to May 9 2015. Dance lovers will once again be given a window into the world of fine Russian culture when the 4-city tour kicks off at the Theatre of Marcellus at Emperors Palace on 25 April for 3 performances before moving to the Playhouse Opera in Durban for performances on 28 and 29 April. The company returns to Gauteng for 4 performances at the State Theatre from 1-3 May before closing their tour in Cape Town with performances at the Baxter Theatre from 6-9 May. The programme has been specially prepared for South African audiences by the artistic director Anatoly Emelianov and is certain to thrill classical ballet enthusiasts of all ages. Book at Computicket.

Cape Town City Ballet’s much anticipated production of the spectacular ballet, Carmen, is choreographed by South Africa’s foremost ballet choreographer, Veronica Paeper, and will be on at Artscape in Cape Town from 25 to 31 March. The production will feature Laura Bösenberg with Thomas Thorne and Kim Vieira with Ivan Boonzaaier in the leading roles of Carmen and Don José. Audiences can also look forward to seeing the awardwinning couple, Tracy Li and Daniel

For more information, visit Let’s go to the Theatre on Facebook or visit www.writingstudio.co.za

WITH DANIEL DERCKSEN Rajna, appear as guest artists in these roles at selected performances. The role of the dashing toreador, Escamilio, will be danced by Jesse Milligan, Daniel Szybkowski and Conrad Nusser and that of Micaela, loyal and trusting fiancée of Don José, by Jane Fidler, Frieda Mennen and Elizabeth Nienaber. With original music

by Georges Bizet arranged by Michael Tuffin, the Cape Town Philharmonic Orchestra, conducted by Allan Stephenson, will accompany the dancers at all six performances. Book at Computicket For the first time Joburg Ballet brings to life the ultimate classic, Swan Lake, danced by South Africa’s own stars and stars from top companies around the globe. A tale of love triumphant over the forces of evil, this is ballet at its most sublime, an event of classical beauty and an expression of shimmering perfection, and will mesmerise audiences at the Joburg Theatre from 17 April to May 3. The legendary St Petersburg Ballet Theatre returns to Montecasino in Johanneburg, offering three full-length classical ballets Swan Lake, Giselle and Don Quixote performed with the backing of a full orchestra. The company comes to South Africa in May 2015, before touring to Cape Town, Singapore, Perth and Melbourne and which culminates in a major UK season at the London Coliseum in August. You can see all three productions at the Teatro at Montecasino, with Giselle from May 6 to 8, Don Quixote on May 9, and Swan Lake from May 12 to 13; in Cape Town, Swan Lake will be performed at the Artscape Opera from May 19 to 23. Book at Computicket.

Grant van Ster and Shaun Oelf have fast become two of South Africa’s rising young dance talents making a name for themselves and their company, Figure of Eight Dance Collective, which they established in 2014. They will present their acclaimed pieces Couch and Architecture of Tears in Cape Town at the Baxter Flipside from 9 – 18 April. Book at Computicket.

At the Auto & General Theatre on the Square, Six Dance Lessons in Six Weeks is a comedy with music and dance, and runs from 17 March to April 4, with Judy Ditchfield as a formidable retired woman who hires an acerbic dance instructor (Jose Domingos) to give her private dance lessons. What begins as an antagonistic relationship blossoms into an intimate friendship as these two people from very different backgrounds reveal their secrets, fears, and joys.

Bookings at www.theatreonthesquare. co.za