GAYLETTER

In one of my first dance classes, the instructor told us never to open our mouths when the choreography called for a head cast back or something of the sort. I still hear her snarling, “mouths open are ugly!” Olly Alexander, in Years & Years new music video for ‘Worship,’ completely disregards this formality. Instead, he throws his head and his mouth wide open, bringing it within inches of another man’s, in the suggestive latest music video from the electronic trio.

Worship, off of the band’s 2016 album Communion, is light on the surface, but the lyrics and video reveal a love rooted in a dark place (literally, “Gotta keep my lips shut / I’ll do what you tell me to / Cause in darkness I follow you”) that functions below. The video, taking place in a grimey parking lot and parking garage sheds light on these darker moments hidden in the song.

Throughout the video, Olly is on some kind of kick. He seems vengeful; trying to bring some form of justice to himself while an older man sits motionless in a car before him. However, he also seems horny… Olly thwarts several hot guys (the one with the mustache drove me nuts with that trade look) away from him and instead, manipulates their direction to what I assume to be the oppressive-daddy character in the car. Whether Olly is seeking vengeance or a good fuck might be not so important. Both sex and retribution are indiscernible here, mostly because, like any kind of worship, these feelings operate on the fine line between a sickness and a healing. …

“My name is Moises Serrano. I’m queer, undocumented, and unafraid.” With these words, Moises Serrano (pictured) came out publicly as both gay and undocumented, a second kind of closet most of us can’t even image having to grapple with. Forbidden: Undocumented and Queer in Rural America is a documentary by Tiffany Rhynard, that follows the life of 23 year-old Moises as he struggles growing up in North Carolina. He is impossibly sweet and works tirelessly to raise awareness for migration reform.

Throughout the movie we follow his relationship with his boyfriend and his journey applying to college. What the film does best is what Moises often tries to do with his activism; it puts a face to a number. Undocumented immigrants are not simply a statistic we can throw around for the sake of a political argument. They are real people, facing serious problems, while also going through the ups and downs of life.

The film begins with the sound bite of Donald Trump’s racist hate speech regarding Mexicans, throwing us right into the thick of our current bleak political situation. There were over 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the United States as of 2014, with obviously a significant portion of them belonging to the queer community. There is wide misinformation being constantly spread by politicians and the media about undocumented people. They work hard and contribute to society (and yes, they pay taxes), yet aren’t eligible for food stamps or medicaid, not to mention living in a constant state of fear. …

The past few days have been so saturated with horrific news stories that most of us can only sit and scroll through Facebook with a blank stare. We had barely wrapped our heads around the PULSE shooting and now we’re faced with two more murders, Alton Sterling and Philando Castile, this time at the hands of police officers. The question arises, how do we prioritize tragedy?

The good news is that no one is asking you to chose only one cause, only for you do something. And there is something you can do. There is still something to celebrate. There are still those among us striving to create in the wake of such destruction. Max Vernon is one of these people. The self-identified “composer/lyricist, faggot w many bedazzled blazers, and GAYLETTER subscriber,” is producing a one-night only concert of his musical, The View UpStairs, to raise money for Equality Florida.

The View UpStairs was inspired by the UpStairs Lounge Fire, an arson attack on the New Orleans gay bar in 1973 that resulted in the deaths of 32 people. Until the events at PULSE, the UpStairs Lounge Fire was the deadliest attack on a gay club in U.S. history. “With this concert we will honor the memories of those affected by PULSE and UpStairs, use music to combat homophobia and hatred, celebrate the power of community, and raise money for Equality Florida.” Equality Florida provides financial support directly to survivors and families of the victims of the Orlando tragedy. …

I discovered the 22 year old artist Daniel Marin Medina on Instagram months ago, we chatted online, then he drew me. After that we stayed in touch and I asked him to do a drawing for the last printed issue of GAYLETTER. I am so happy for him that he’s having his first solo show in NYC titled ‘Journal Entries’ which is opening this week, July 8th. “The process of drawing these became similar to writing in a journal. Something would happen and I’d jot down my thoughts in the form of a drawing. They’re coded passages in a diary, which is kind of fun to think about. Along with these drawings, I will be showing figure drawings done of some of the most interesting people in my life.” We had the chance to chat with Daniel about this show and other fun stuff.

Why is the show called Journal Entries? The process of drawing these became similar to writing in a journal. Something would happen and I’d jot down my thoughts in the form of a drawing. They’re coded passages in a diary, which is kind of fun to think about.

How did this show came about? A friend reached out, said she liked what I was doing, and offered me the space. The universe at work!

When did you start drawing? I like to joke that I’ve been drawing since before I was born, having done Lascaux-style cave paintings in my mother, but no one really finds that as fun as I do. …

I’m just so upset. My hashtags on Facebook feel stupid, but they help with combating any other bullshit that wants to be on my feed today. It is important that black lives matter drowns out everything else on the Internet, especially today. People of color are literally dying while in the process of trying to be heard. A man was murdered in front of his four year old daughter and girlfriend. This is irreversible. This is not right.

I have several links open on Chrome, each one reporting the same atrocities America calls familiar. “I think he was just black in the wrong place,” Philando Castile’s mother said. This is the basic, terrible truth. What else is left to be said, really? It’s not safe to be black in America. These stories — Alton Sterling, Philando Castile — prove this yet again.

But some people still want to rebuttal this fact. They want to partake in some kind of shallow defensive where the dead are criminalized and placed on the offensive, placed in the wrong. If these men who die in savage ways are so wrong, then why is this officer who shot Philando Castile “four or five times” while he reached for his wallet not? Tell me: what is right in that sentence? Why am I watching a man get murdered in a parking lot? Why are some people still not seeing things fucking clearly?

Until black men stop dying, there will be “no justice, no sleep,” as activists in Minnesota have taken to chanting. …

My memory is pretty bad. I can’t remember names; I never even try with phone numbers, and I have one of those unconsciously narcissistic memory banks that tends to sway a lot of things in my direction (like making me the false origin of a joke). This isn’t an apology as much as it is a statement of the obvious. However, my memory slays when it comes to lyrics! It’s what usually sticks out to me in music primarily, and I dissect the instrumental later. One thing I can say, having been a fan of Blood Orange for the past few years, is that Dev Hynes masterfully composes the lyrical and the musical into one immersive listening experience that is incomparable. My head never wants to separate his words from his instrumental, instead, it completely soaks me.

In tandem with a surprise release of his third album, Freetown Sound, Dev Hynes released the video for his song  ‘Augustine,’ last Wednesday. With the help of Hyne’s retro, R&B feel,  Augustine sounds and looks like a New York not-so-far gone. The 80’s rhythm, avant-garde dancers, and shots of Hynes playing piano in an empty, sunlit dance studio produce a nostalgia ripe, with emotional undertones.  The song pays partial tribute to Saint Augustine, an African Bishop of Hippo (modern-day Annaba, Algeria), born in 354, who was a great writer, and also Nontetha, the South African prophet and seer “who fought for unity and the cessation of fighting and feuds in the [South African] region. …

I don’t listen to the radio because this is the age of the aux-cord, duh! I also don’t listen to the radio because Taylor Swift and Ed Sheeran are boring, but if radio stations played Megan Vice (which they should!), I would listen a helluva lot more. Her latest single, All of the Time, off her new EP out July 15th is “reminiscent of an early Janet Jackson, [it has a] Lisa Lisa Cult Jam sound.” With a steady synth beat and Vice’s sultry tone, “All of the Time” calls to be played on repeat at a pool party, or something in the sun. “I wanted these songs to take a spunkier, gutsier turn from some of my previous material… I was born at the wrong time… I should have been dancing with Downtown Julie Brown on the platform stages of Club MTV!” That said, Vice’s sound fits in perfectly with the retro synth take many alternative pop artists are taking. This new take on a synth melody strikes a nostalgic chord with Millennials whose knack for a synth record comes from a generation of parents who peaked in the 80s. I owe half of who I am to my Mom and her need to play Soft Cell’s Tainted Love more often than not…

“The album’s first single, ‘All of the Time’, is about being into someone and owning the attraction with every fiber of your being.  ‘It’s inspired by a relationship I had with a friend where there was a lot of sexual tension,’ explains Vice. …

Society has debated for decades whether or not men follow their cocks over their hearts. The fashion brand Cockheart is here to tell us that the two are more intertwined than one might think. They combine two of the body’s most influential organs in a simple, playful cartoon and then proceed to put the image on every piece of clothing imaginable. Shown here are their pink and grey t-shirts.

Cockheart was founded in 2014 in the heart of the East London queer scene by East London queers. The logo was designed by Bence Baranyai who wanted to create “an iconic symbol, and a brand, that encompassed a union of traditionally masculine and feminine traits in one image.” Cockheart is not just for cisgendered males but for anyone looking to subvert what the image of a penis can mean. “Whatever your interpretation of the symbol, we want our clothes to inspire you, we want you to look- and feel- good wearing them, and we want you to have fun. We seek to challenge heteronormative values and rituals by creating a icon-based identity queer people can congregate around.”

Cockheart is wholeheartedly dedicated to the future of the queer community, and last year came out with a special shirt for World Aids Day. All proceeds from the shirt go to The Terrence Higgins Trust, a British organization that fights for the destigmatization of those living with HIV/AIDS and works to promote sexual health and safety within the UK. …