Or did he? That’s the question that’s burning on the minds of Queerty’s editorial staff. Please reserve your judgements for the comments section, but hey, if you made it this far, that means you’re curious just like us.

This tip (just the tip) came via Gawker, where the diligent staff takes a much-needed closer look at one of the pictures James put up on his Instagram last weekend:

Indlæser

See if me and seth can make it, NAKED and AFRAID!!!! Wtf?! You’ll see……..

Se på Instagram

Not convinced? Gawker’s art director worked some magic to give you a clearer look:

There’s definitely something resting on James’ thigh, and we’re really on the fence here whether or not he’s flashing some peen.

Ever the investigative sleuths, Gawker went a step further to imagine the position he’d have to be in to achieve the shot:

What do you think? Is James showing off his franco or is it just time for us all to clock out for the weekend?

Swinging open those closet doors is almost always fraught with many personal challenges, but imagine growing up as a gay Mormon in central Texas. Davey Wavey recently learned about Conner, a depressed gay LDS living in the conservative southern state, via on the gay social network app Moovz and hopped in a car with fellow YouTube personalities Matthew Lush and Nick Laws, and Oriol Pamies, head of development at Moovz, for a road-trip to College Station, Texas to meet his fan.

In the clip Conner talks about the guilt he’s felt for being gay and checking out guys and how depressing the future seemed to him. As Davey adds, the internet has helped make gay youth feel less lonely by creating a community of friends online.

The video they filmed serves as a launch for Moovz’s initiative to encourage other people to share their own person coming out stories with #ComingOut in celebration of national coming out day Saturday.

Watch the meeting between Davey and Conner take place below.

Sexy entertainer Chris Salvatore also participated in the project. Witness his coming out story below.

Vote Now In The Queerties!

Did Supreme Court Justice Anthony Kennedy win our hearts and minds for not just striking down the horrid Defense of Marriage Act last year, but denying all of appeals of marriage equality rulings this year?

Or was it longtime pro sports equality activist Dave Kopay, who came out as a NFL player in the 1970s and has been working tirelessly on behalf of equality ever since? Or Dale Hansen, the sportscaster who makes homophobes look like a deer in the headlights?

Or Perhaps Sister Roma, who spearheaded the drag queen drive that forced Facebook to back down from allowing alternative screen names? Or perhaps the ever fierce Laverne Cox or even Hilary Clinton, who may one day become the most pro-gay president in American history.

We reported all year on these heroes. Now it’s your turn to select your favorites for the world to see.

VOTING IN THE QUEERTIES IS EASY: Just head over to the ballot page and click on your favorite nominees. We promise it’s a lot easier than voting in the November elections—and we’ve got sexier candidates, too.

You can come back and vote once every day until the contest closes on November 02, 2014, at midnight Eastern.

This week marked the 20th anniversary of the release of Madonna’s sixth studio album, the smooth, sleek, R&B-inspired Bedtime Stories. Despite selling more than 3 million copies in the U.S. (7 million worldwide), receiving a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Album, and featuring Madonna’s longest-running number-one single (“Take a Bow” spent seven weeks at the top of the Billboard Hot 100 chart), Bedtime Stories remains one of Madge’s most underrated, under-appreciated albums of all. She did not tour with the album, and rarely, with the exception of “Human Nature,” does she include any songs from it in her world tours. Ask any Madonna fan where Bedtime Stories falls on their list of favorites, and they’ll probably tell you it doesn’t rank particularly high. How come? We have no idea. It’s a great album, and one that deserves far more attention than it ever received.

Scroll down for 10 of Madonna’s most underrated efforts over the past 30 years.

Thief of Hearts

Why this banger was never released as a single from her 1992 album Erotica and yet the sappy, mid-tempo “Bad Girl” was still baffles us to this day. “Thief of Hearts” opens with the sound of a glass shattering and Madonna shouting “Bitch!” What follows are five frenetic minutes of Lady M slut shaming the woman who tried to steal her boyfriend, calling her a criminal and a whore, and threatening to break her legs. “You’ll be sorry!” she warns. “No one ever takes what’s mine!”

Time Stood Still

Despite her efforts to convince people otherwise (as exampled by 1995’s compilation album Something to Remember), ballads have never been Madonna’s strong suit. But every now and then she manages to record a convincing one. Time Stood Still was written for the soundtrack to the 2000 film The Next Best Thing. The movie may have been a complete and utter disaster, but the song was pure gold. It’s an orchestra-driven ballad that has Madonna reflecting on a relationship that simply wasn’t meant to be. Had this song actually been promoted by her record label (and had the accompanying film not flopped), we’re convinced it could have been a hit.

Spotlight

Initially rejected during her True Blue album recording sessions, “Spotlight” was included on Madonna’s 1987 remix album You Can Dance. It’s a bouncy, synth-heavy dance number about how “everyone is special in their own way.” Cheesy? No doubt. But that’s part of its charm. The song didn’t impress critics and was never released as a single in the U.S., but it still managed to find a spot on Billboard‘s Airplay chart in early 1988, and it was a minor hit in Japan. Today, “Spotlight” epitomizes ’80s dance music, and serves as an unexpected reminder of why we fell in love with Madonna in the first place.

Animal

When this Timbaland-produced outtake from 2008’s Hard Candy leaked online in 2010 it had many fans wondering: With so many throwaway tracks on that album, why the hell didn’t this one make the final cut? It’s catchy, it’s danceable, and it’s far superior to assaults like “Dance 2Nite” or, worse, “Spanish Lesson.” “If you want, I’ll treat you like an animal,” the Queen talk-sings in the three-minute, whip-cracking,  S&M-themed anthem. To which the only appropriate response is: “Yes, master!”

Supernatural

While we’re on the subject of Madonna outtakes, “Supernatural” was a previously unreleased track included as a B-side to 1989’s “Cherish” single. It was originally recorded during the True Blue sessions, but it didn’t make the final cut because, well, we’re not entirely sure. It’s a great song. It has a spooky/Halloween/haunted house sort of vibe to it. In it, Madonna details a late night bedroom rendezvous with… a ghost? Yes, a ghost. “Made your acquaintance late one night,” she sings. “You were floating around/You know you gave me quite a fright.” So what exactly is sex with a ghost like? According to Miss Ciccone, it’s some of the best lovin’ she’s ever had. “I’d say that your skills as a lover are very refined,” she coos. “You know just what I want and I don’t have to ask/Are you reading my mind?”

‘Til Death Do Us Part

Perhaps one of Madonna’s most honest and vulnerable songs ever, “‘Til Death Do Us Part”, from 1989’s Like A Prayer, was rumored to be inspired by her abusive relationship and subsequent divorce from actor Sean Penn. “The bruises they will fade away/You hit so hard with the things you say/I will not stay to watch your hate/As it grows,” Madonna sings, her voice laced with heartbreak and shame. Unfortunately, the track gets overshadowed by some of the other powerhouse songs on the mammoth of an album.

Gambler

Originally recorded for the soundtrack to the film Vision Quest (along with one of our all-time favs “Crazy For You”) “Gambler” is an fast-paced, synth-disco track that’s 100 percent classic Madonna. In it, our lady asserts her independence, a theme she would often revisit (and eventually exhaust) throughout her career. “You can’t stop me now,” she proclaims. “‘Cause I’m a gambler, I only play the game my way!” The song reached the top-ten in seven different countries and Madonna shot a music video for it, but she only ever performed it once, during her 1985 Virgin Tour. But these days, we’d be surprised if she even remembers “Gambler” anymore. It’s been forgotten about by pretty much everyone, eclipsed by her bigger hits from the mid-80s. Still, we love it.

Gone

Anyone who’s ever doubted Madge’s songwriting abilities needs to sit down and listen to “Gone,” track 10 on 2000’s Grammy-nominated Music. At the time of its release, Slate praised the song for being “possibly one of Madonna’s best performances,” calling it “the most human she has ever been.” The song is stripped down and introspective, offering a thoughtful close to an otherwise upbeat and ebullient mid-career album.

Pretender

At first listen, “Pretender” may sound like just another banal ’80s filler track included on Madonna’s second studio effort Like A Virgin to satisfy record execs who wanted the album to include nine songs rather than eight. And it was certainly treated as such. “Pretender” was never released as a single, never had a music video, and has never been included in any of Madonna’s live shows. But 30 years later, after songs like “Like A Virgin” and “Material Girl” have been played to death, “Pretender” sounds surprisingly fresh and fun. Today we find ourselves skipping over those more famous hits just to get to this diamond, er, rhinestone in the rough.

Don’t Stop

We’ll be the first to admit that this is a silly song. It really isn’t about anything (other than “moving” and “grooving”), and the music kinda sounds like the soundtrack to a bad porno, but there’s still something totally infectious about Don’t Stop. Maybe it’s the unabashedly awful lyrics? “Feel it in your body,” Madonna croons, “Sing la-de-da-de.” One can’t help but wonder what the hit maker was thinking when she wrote that. Or if she was thinking at all. Then again, we can’t remember a time when we didn’t sing “la-de-da-de” at that part.

Erotica/You Thrill Me

25 years into her career, Madonna proved she still had a few tricks up her sleeve, er, leotard, when she performed this remixed version of her 1992 hit “Erotica” during her wildly successful Confessions Tour in 2006. The performance featured additional lyrics from the song’s original demo, which were not included in the final version, and the results were simply divine. By toning down the explicit sexual nature of the song, Madonna made it even sexier. Of course, the tasteful white bodysuit and flawless choreography also helped.

I’ll Remember

Recorded for the film With Honors and released in 1994, “I’ll Remember” was a radical departure for Madonna, who had spent the previous two years being lambasted by critics for her book Sex, her album Erotica, and her erotic thriller Body of Evidence. The single was Madge’s attempt at repairing the damage that her over-sexed image had caused to her career. And it worked! “I’ll Remember” reached number two on the Billboard Hot 100 and was nominated for both a Grammy and Golden Globe. And then it was forgotten. Ask any casual Madonna fan what they think of “I’ll Remember” and they’ll probably look back at you with a blank expression on their face. But for us die hards, the song remains one of the many hidden gems in our queen’s illustrious and ever-growing catalog.

Related stories:

This Is How Madonna Was Introduced To The World 31 Years Ago

Happy Birthday, Madonna! 56 Reasons Why We Love The Queen Of Pop In GIFs

From “Madonna” to “MDNA”: All 12 Of Madonna’s Albums Ranked By Greatness

Happy National Coming Out Day! Gay men and women across the country and breaking down their closet doors and proclaiming their sexual orientations to the world.

National Coming Out Day is celebrated each year on October 11 because that’s the anniversary of the 1987 National March on Washington, when gay rights activists gathered to demand the government offer them the same rights and privileges as everyone else. Over 200,000 people turned out for the march.

With same-sex marriage now legal in more than half the states in the U.S., and with a new celebrity or public figure coming out seemingly every other day, society has come a long way since 1987 in its acceptance of gay people. But that doesn’t mean coming out has necessarily gotten easier. It can still be totally awkward and uncomfortable, even if your family is cool with it.

There are lots of great ways to come out to your family. But here five ways you definitely shouldn’t do it…

At your Great Aunt Winifred’s funeral

From a practical standpoint, coming out at your Great Aunt Winifred’s funeral may seem like a great idea. After all, the entire family is gathered in the same place, so you can just make one sweeping announcement to everyone all at once, rather than sitting them each down individually. But from a realistic, more human standpoint, coming out at your Great Aunt Winifred’s funeral could prove to be absolutely disastrous. People will already be upset and emotional. You don’t want to add to their stress by suddenly saying “Surprise! I’m gay!” Not to mention, it would be discourteous to overshadow Aunt Winnie’s final send-off with your own big news.

In a moving vehicle

Think about it: High speeds. Close quarters. Potentially shocking news. Not a good combo. If, for some odd reason, you’re absolutely intent on coming out in your parents’ car, at least do it while the vehicle is parked.

In a text message

There are some things that are just better said in person rather than in a text. Informing someone of the death of their beloved pet, for instance. Or breaking up with them. Also, coming out.

Picture your mom standing in line at the grocery store. All of a sudden she gets a text. She opens up her phone and sees the words: “Hey, Ma. I’m gay. Love you! XOXO.” Even if you have the coolest mom in the world, she’s probably not going to appreciate having that kind of news sprung on her while she’s out running her daily errands.

At your crazy cousin Connie’s wedding reception

Similar to your Great Aunt Winifred’s funeral, refrain from coming out at your crazy cousin Connie’s wedding reception mainly out of respect. And because she’s crazy. There’s no telling how she might respond. Let the woman have her day. Unless, of course, you want her to hate you for the rest of her life, scowling at you from across the room at every future family get together, because you’re the jerk who ruined her dream wedding by stealing her spotlight, damn you!

By simply introducing your folks to your boyfriend

Seriously, it’s just rude. Not only are your parents going to have to quickly absorb the news that their child is gay, but then they’re going to have to sit and make small talk with someone who, up until five minutes ago, they didn’t even know existed. And your poor boyfriend! Meeting the folks is nerve-racking enough, but to then be used as a surprise coming out tool is just disrespectful, and could very likely result in him no longer being your boyfriend by the day’s end.

Related stories:

16 Of The Best And Worst Coming Out Stories From Anonymous Sharing App “Whisper”

12 Toothsome Cakes And Cards For Coming Out Of The Closet

10 Great Coming Outs Of 2014 And It’s Only June

Being a hands-on politician is generally a good thing. Not so in Carl DeMaio’s case. The openly gay Republican nominee for Congress in San Diego is being accused of distinctly un-Congressional behavior: masturbating in front of a male staffer.

The staffer, Todd Bosnich, claims that DeMaio repeatedly made unwelcome sexual advances toward him. It all began one evening after DeMaio drove Bosnich to his car following a staff get-together.

“We were making small talk on the way back. And when he pulled up to my car, he reached over into my lap and grabbed my crotch. And I flipped out. And I pushed his hand away,” Bosnich told CNN. “I just was shocked because I’d never had anyone do something like that to me, especially in a position of authority and trust. And, at the time, I just figured, well, maybe he was drunk and blew it off.”

But Bosnich, who is also gay, says that the behavior escalated, reaching a climax (so to speak) last April. DeMaio called Bosnich to his office. What Bosnich says he saw there was not the usual political glad-handing.

“I came over to his office, door was open. And he was masturbating,” Bosnich said. “I saw his hand, his penis in his hand and he had a smile on his face. And as soon as I came over he was looking at me.”

Bosnich says he talked to DeMaio’s campaign manager, Tommy Knepper, about the behavior. Bosnich says Knepper responded, “That’s just the way Carl is.”

Bosnich claims he eventually confronted DeMaio about his behavior. Soon afterwards, Bosnich was fired, but not before he says he was offered a new position and $50,000 if he would sign a confidentiality agreement.

DeMaio is offering an infuriated rebuttal. “This is an individual that was let go by our campaign manager for plagiarism,” DeMaio says, claiming that Bosnich subsequently broke into the campaign office and smashed computers.

“He’s clearly troubled,” DeMaio says of Bosnich. “He got caught for the damage that he did to the campaign and now he’s manufacturing in essence a cover story to explain away his actions.”

DeMaio says that Bosnich is currently under police investigation and offered to share documents with CNN to prove Bosnich was lying and had broken into the campaign office. But DeMaio only let CNN look at the documents without reporting on their content. CNN’s succinct (and damning) summary: “On its own, the material did not appear to refute Bosnich’s claims.”

In fact, CNN tried for over a week to get DeMaio’s campaign to respond to specific allegations. Instead, the network was led on a merry chase through fields of obfuscation and obstruction. Politico, which originally broke the story,

Unfortunately for DeMaio, this is not the first time that he’s been accused of pressing the flesh inappropriately. Last year, Ben Hueso, who serves with De Maio on the San Diego City Council, says he twice caught DeMaio playing with himself in a restroom stall.

Councilwoman Marti Emerald ran into Hueso right after he left the men’s room. “He said DeMaio was in there (masturbating),” Emerald said. “And I said do you want to grab a police officer and have him arrested? Because this is a violation of the (city) code. He said no, but he was pretty upset.”

DeMaio denied that allegation too, telling CNN that he took a polygraph test that proved his innocence. Still, he wouldn’t provide the polygraph results to the network.

DeMaio is in a tight race to unseat freshman Democrat Scott Peters–or at least it was tight until Bosnich’s story became public. DeMaio had been anointed a “new generation Republican” by the party establishment, which is desperate to shed its ultra-right image. He’s received checks from House Speaker John Boehner and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.

In fact, Boehner is scheduled to hold a fundraiser for DeMaio today. He may want to consider bringing along some hand sanitizer.

A new batch of White House documents from the Clinton presidency have just been released, and they confirm what was long suspected: the discussions that ultimately resulted in the Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell policy were rife with homophobia.

As his first act in the White House, Clinton promised to lift the military’s ban on gay service personnel. Instead, he ran into a military buzzsaw. In a meeting held in the White House just five days after Clinton moved in, the Joint Chiefs of Staff, led then by Gen. Colin Powell, rejected Clinton’s decision out of hand.

“Homo[sexuality] is a problem for us,” Powell said, according to the notes taken at the meeting. He also recited all the same bogus fears that led to DADT, including the old predator canard; the notes say Powell was “concerned about forced association and immaturity of 18-year-old.”

The most offensive remarks came from Marine Commandant Carl Mundy, who 16 years later was still urging the president (now Obama) not to repeal DADT.  According to the notes, Mundy said that the statement “I’m gay” was the “same as I’m KKK, Nazi, rapist.” Coming out “fractures teamwork” and tells the world “I commit [an] act Amer[ica] doesn’t accept.”

Mundy wasn’t moved by the experience of other nations either. “It doesn’t matter what the Dutch have done,” he said. “We’re the best.”

Clinton was prone to stereotypes as well. “People I would like to keep [in the military] wouldn’t show up at a Queer Nation parade,” the president said, referring to the activist group.

The person who comes across best in the meeting is then-Vice President Al Gore. Gore challenges Powell directly when Powell insists that race is just one of several “benign characteristics” while “sex[uality] is different.” (Powell did come around, supporting the repeal of DADT in 2010 and the legalization of marriage equality in 2012.)

Gore objected. “Assuming you have a soldier born w/ [a] predisp[osition] + patriotic…if that person sep[arates] due to status then that person in a way is discriminated against in a way similar to black[s.]”

After the meeting, Gore also told Clinton, Secretary of Defense Les Aspin and the other White House attendees that Mundy was “borderline” in his remarks, taking particularly offense at the Nazi comparison. No one else was as pointed in their criticism–at least not in the notes.

Just one more reminder of how the first decade of the century might have been different if Gore had become President.

Zach Rance, the straight Big Brother houseguest who helped set a new standard of gay/straight integration in the BB house this summer, told former winner Rachel Reilly it felt “great to be a straight gay icon” in an exit interview after the show’s finale.

Zach became one half of the first gay/straight showmance in the show’s history this summer, forming an intimate bond with gay houseguest Frankie Grande and establishing a post-gay mindset among all the other houseguests.

In an interview with Out this week, Zach opens up about defining his sexuality (and why it doesn’t matter), his continuing friendship with Frankie, and his family’s reaction to the legendary #Zankie showmance.

What have people said to you [about the showmance]?

People have been telling me a lot of stuff. When people bring up Zankie, or Frankie, I talk about him in a good light, and that’s the end of the subject. People aren’t like, “Oh, are you gay? Oh, have you come out? Were you bisexual?” That’s never a topic of discussion. And a lot of people are telling me some of the bad stuff he said about me, but it doesn’t matter to me. I know he’s my friend. We’ve talked a lot since we’ve been out of the house. He’s always going to be my friend no matter what happened in the game. It’s just a game.

Zach, who says he plans to travel to Africa to build schools with Frankie in the future, also spoke about the support from his family:

My whole family loves Frankie. My mom, my dad, my brother, my cousin—they all love Frankie. I feel like I did inspire some straight people to embrace gay people. You can be straight and have a gay best friend. It doesn’t matter. My family’s extremely proud of me because of how I approached that. I didn’t see his sexual orientation at all. That doesn’t define him. As far as the game goes, as far as my relationship with Frankie, my personality, my character—my family is very proud of me.

On “setting the record straight”:

One thing I think that should definitely be on record is that it doesn’t matter if someone’s gay or straight. It doesn’t matter. People don’t need to judge anyone from their sexual orientation, and we need to move on from that. Everyone in the world. It doesn’t matter if you’re gay or straight, it doesn’t matter what you wear, it doesn’t matter what you look like, we’re all people in the world, and we all have feelings.  I think that’s the main thing to me. I don’t see Frankie’s sexual orientation at all—it doesn’t define him. He’s a great person. He’s a great human being. He’s extremely smart, he’s extremely funny, and to me that’s all that matters. He’s a very kind person. I just want that to go on record—sexual orientation doesn’t matter, and the whole world needs to move on. That’s just what we need to do.

Check out Zach’s exit interview with Rachel Reilly below:

And for old time’s sake, relive the very best of Zankie below:

We know you’re dying to get deeper inside Nick Jonas’ character in the new DirecTV drama Kingdom, so here’s a special behind-the-scenes feature in which Nick talks about prepping for his debut lead acting role (because we’re not counting Camp Rock).

In Kingdom, Nick plays a young up-and-coming MMA fighter. He’s previously teased the character as being potentially gay, definitely nude, and having some sort of sexual identity crisis, a process that will more than likely involve some steamy gay sex scenes.

Meet Nick’s latest character, Kingdom‘s Nate Kulina, below:

Members of the Sayreville High football team not involved with the investigation.

Seven male high school students ranging in age from 15 to 17 have been charged with sex crimes following an investigation of the shocking football locker room hazing rituals at New Jersey’s Sayreville War Memorial High School.

As we reported yesterday, Superintendent of schools Dr. Richard Labbe had cancelled the remainder of this year’s football season in light of allegations of sexual misconduct in the boy’s locker room. According to an anonymous tipster, ritual hazing included upperclassmen shoving their fingers in the rectums of underclassmen, and then into their mouths.

After the discovery of “credible and substantial evidence” to support the claims, the AP reports six of the boys were arrested and charged with “aggravated sexual assault, criminal restraint, hazing and other crimes for an act of sexual penetration.” The seventh boy charged is still being sought.

“We will come together as a school district and greater community to harness the strength required to support the young men who may have been victimized and then to begin the healing process for our beloved community,” Dr. Labbe added.

He said on Friday, the school launched investigations to squash any harassment, intimidation and/or bullying in the school’s other athletic teams. Tomorrow night, concerned parents plan to hold an anti-bullying rally in a nearby park.

The boys in custody are awaiting a Family Court decision that will determine whether they’ll spend time in a juvenile detention facility for their crimes.

Compulsively double-tapping any male without a shirt on Instagram: the 11th totally obnoxious thing you have to be gay to fully understand.

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Terry Miller takes one last dip in the pool before fall.  

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Idris Elba trains for his new film Bastille Day. For effect, watch while lying down and pretending your Idris Elba’s workout mat.

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TOWIE hunk Mark Wright stripped down for his 2015 calendar.  

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Brad Goreski woke up like this. #flawless

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Baby Daddy actor Derek Theler spent a day in the desert.  

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Singer Ryan Cabrera took a bath.

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British actor Jordan Davies put his new selfie stick to good use.  

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Olly Murs got a “rug trim.”

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Harry Louis took six nearly identical bedtime selfies.  

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Queer NY rapper Le1f served face.

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Former S Club 8 (no, not S Club 7) singer Aaron Renfree moisturized.  

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Justin Bieber went four-wheeling.

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Alex Minsky made an O-face (?)

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Zankie took their showmance outside the Big Brother house.

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Filipino TV host Paolo Ballesteros turned heads by turning himself into famous female celebrities.

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Drake caught some sun by the pool.

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As did How to Get Away with Murder actor Jack Falahee.

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Simon Sherry-Wood.

Dinesh D’Souza, the right-wing provocateur for whom the word “loathsome” was coined, has received a five-year probation sentence for violating campaign finance law.

D’Souza, who makes a handsome living lecturing others about his version of morality, expressed “regret,” which is another way of saying he’s sorry he was caught. It’s more regret than he expressed when he outed students in the gay alliance while at Dartmouth in the 1980s, leading one to talk repeatedly about suicide.

The scheme that snared D’Souza was particularly dopey: using the names of other people to donate to a Senate candidate who was a friend of his during his formative years as a jerk at Dartmouth. Before he pled guilty, D’Souza’s defense was that he was targeted by the Obama administration, a line he’ll no doubt return to.

Like many another homophobe, D’Souza likes to complain endlessly about other people shirking their personal responsibility. And like many another homophobe, D’Souza refuses to accept any when it comes to his own life. After all, this is the man who shared a hotel room at a Christian conference with a woman 20 years younger than himself.

Morals. They’re for the little people.

D’Souza has plenty of similarly minded company. So much so, in fact, that we wonder if there’s not a connection between moralizing and personal irresponsibility. After all, what a better way to divert attention from one’s own behavior than to attack others for the same thing.

Here’s a list of eight other homophobes who are quick to blast everyone else but not so fast to own up to their own failings…

1. Rush Limbaugh

Radio’s number one blowhard, the man who blamed AIDS on “promiscuity” and argued that Matthew Shepard was not the victim of a hate crime, loves to pass judgment on everyone. Except himself, of course. In 2006, Limbaugh was arrested on drug charges for “doctor shopping” to support his addition to painkillers. Limbaugh owned up to the addiction (although in the past, he said that when it came to drug users, judges should “send them up the river”) and entered rehab. But when a caller raised his drug use during a conversation last year, Limbaugh cut him off and dismissed it as “the usual leftist, bigotry, hatred and gibberish.”  Limbaugh is a flag waving militarist. But when it came to the draft, he found a way out: Pilonidal Cyst, otherwise knows as a boil on the butt.

2. Pat Robertson

Where to begin? There’s the case of his support for Charles Taylor, the Liberian dictator who was charged with atrocities ranging from mass rape to forced amputation of civilians. (Robertson later said “I never met the man,” forgetting his lavish praise of Taylor.)  There’s the racehorse that he bought, despite being opposed to gambling. (Robertson said he “just enjoys horses running.”) And perhaps most fitting of all is the fact that his first child was conceived out of wedlock. Called on this by reporters during his 1988 presidential campaign, Robertson complained that it was “outrageous to intrude into a man’s family,” when in fact he’s built his entire career out of just that.

3. Herman Cain

One of the more laughable Republican presidential candidates from the 2012 cycle (which is saying something), Cain was accused by at least four women of sexual harassment. Cain responded with a series of conflicting messages, ultimately saying that only he could be right: “For every one person that comes forward with a false accusation, there are probably thousands who will say that none of that sort of activity ever came from Herman Cain.” And thousands more who would probably disagree.

4. Newt Gingrich

Noted Catholic Newt Gingrich likes to grouse that marriage equality as “the rise of paganism,” and announced his support for the Defense of Marriage Act on national television the day of his openly lesbian half sister’s birthday. (Thanks, big bro!) Of course, Gingrich’s own marriage history includes asking wife number two to endorse an “open marriage,” so he could carry on with the woman who eventually become wife three. (For the record, he had an affair with wife two while still married to wife one.) Gingrich’s response to his serial infidelity makes totally removes him from any responsibility for his actions: “I’ve had a life which, on occasion, has had problems.” 

An appropriate response–if you were talking about a bad hair day.

5. Larry Craig

How can we ever forget Sen. Wide Stance? The then-Republican Senator from Idaho was caught cruising for sex in the men’s room of the Minneapolis-St. Paul airport in 2007. Craig denied playing footsie with an undercover officer, saying he just had a “wide stance when going to the bathroom.” That transparently bizarre defense made Craig a punchline of jokes for months. The cop didn’t buy it either: he busted Craig on a lewd conduct charge. Of course, Craig had a 0 rating from HRC.

6. Bob McDonnell

The former Virginia governor loved to tell us how to live our lives–or not live our lives. A staunch foe of nondiscrimination law and marriage equality, McDonnell used his college thesis to argue that straight couples should get preferential treatment over same-sex couples.

When it came to his own behavior, McDonnell was quick to point the finger at someone else: his wife. When McDonnell was indicted for inappropriately accepting gifts and loans from a donor, he blamed it all on his wife. It didn’t work. They were both convicted. Just to add to the hypocrisy: McDonnell has been living with a priest who pled guilty to having sex with another man in public.  

7. Cardinal Keith O’Brien.

O’Brien was the senior Catholic prelate in the UK and a firebreathing opponent of LGBT rights. No surprise then that O’Brien was forced to resign after four priests accused him of inappropriate sexual behavior. O’Brien then went for the full weasel: “I wish to take this opportunity to admit that there have been times that my sexual conduct has fallen below the standards expected of me as a priest, archbishop and cardinal.” O’Brien now lives in a comfortable bungalow that the Scottish Church bought for him.

So much for penance.

8. Ralph Reed.

The one-time golden boy of the religious right, Reed was the driving force behind Pat Robertson’s Christian Coalition, which depended upon homophobia to whip up evangelical voters.  He then struck out on his own, in every sense of the phrase. Reed became pals with lobbyist Jack Abramoff, who was representing an Indian tribe (which ran a casino) trying to block the state from legalizing a lottery or video poker. Reed was happy to help Abramoff, who donated more than $1 million to Reed to lobby against the effort.

The bad news for Reed: the money came from casino profits, even though Reed was representing the Alabama Christian Coalition, which had a policy of explicitly refusing gambling money. Reed denied he knew the money was tainted, but his career was ruined. Still, he refuses to admit he did anything wrong in the matter, claiming that “I’m proud of it, and it advanced sound public policy”

9. David Vitter.

The Senator from Louisiana has been a leading figure in the Congressional fight against marriage equality, calling traditional marriage “the most important social institution in human history.” Vitter crossed the line from sanctimony to hypocrisy when it was revealed that his phone number was on a list belonging to Deborah Jones, the D.C. Madam. To this day, Vitter has refused to fess up, speaking only of an unspecified “very serious sin in my past for which I am, of course, completely responsible.” Of course.

And what better way to show you’re contrite than by refusing to address the issue head on so you can run for (and win) re-election as a family  values candidate?

Hey guys! It’s week two of our videos to get you hot for Halloween! This week the Phoenix Effect trainer and hottie Joel Harrison will take you through another “ghoul-ing” workout so that you are in top top shape for all of your tricking and treating this year.

Remember, we suggest 10 – 15 reps of each exercise, 3 to 5 sets. Halloween is just around the corner, so go heavy if you are up for it. And make sure you are getting enough lean protein, vegetables, plenty of water and sleep!

Exercises…

Step Ups with Bicep Curls
Slutty Quarterback Rows
Side Lunges with Shoulder Abduction
Frog Pushups
Sexy Beached Whales

Thanks for watching and see you next week!

Beyonce may be #flawless, but gay men certainly aren’t. As much as we’d like to think we’re without any faults, the truth is, there’s always room for improvement. Madonna, ever the sage, said it best with her throwaway song “Nobody’s Perfect” from her 2000 album “Music” in which she crooned: “Nobody’s perfect. Nobody’s perfect! What did you expect? I’m doing my best!”

The question now is: Are you doing your best?

Scroll down and see.

Here are 10 of the most obnoxious types of homosexual men.

10. Unnecessarily Bitchy Twinks

You see them in the clubs, usually huddled together in groups of three or four, dressed in skinny jeans and no shirt, showing off their svelte, boyish frames while sipping fruity beverages and surveying the the other club goers with discerning looks of insecurity superiority. Yes, they want to be noticed. But don’t you dare talk to them. If you do, you’ll only be met with dramatic eye rolls and lots of attitude.

9. Total Tops

Otherwise known as guys who are afraid of bottoming because “it hurts.”

8. “No Blks Or Azns” Gays

We’re not trying to police who a person should be attracted to, because everyone has his own particular types and preferences. However, when you make a point of listing the specific races and/or ethnicities of men who you don’t like on your Grindr profile, it makes you seem, well, kinda racist, not to mention closed-minded. As the old saying goes: Don’t knock it ’till you try it.

7. Die Hard Gaga Defenders

Though they may be a dying breed, as suggested by her sinking record sales, there are still plenty of gay men out there who wholeheartedly believe Lady Gaga is the second coming of Madonna Christ and if you deign to say anything even remotely critical about their mother monster they will make it their personal mission to hunt you down and destroy you… Or at least accuse you of being a “bully” and then rip you to shreds on comment boards, Twitter and Facebook. Don’t believe us? Scroll down to the comment board right now and see for yourself.

6. Snarky, Self-Hating Gays

You know the ones. They like to scowl at dinner parties and grumble about how much the world sucks and how everyone else is to blame for their misery and blah, blah, blah. They have opinions, usually negative, about everything, which they spew at anyone who has the misfortune of sitting next to them. Their sole mission in life is to drag everyone else down into the mud with them. And when that doesn’t work, they just get more drunk and bitch about how they don’t give a shit if gay marriage is made legal because it’s not like they want to get married anyway, before slinging their albatross over the chip on their shoulder and making the lonely trek home.

5. Log Cabin Republicans

While we’re on the subject of self-hating gays, we’ve never quite been able to wrap our heads around gay guys who align themselves with a political party that is actively working against their equal rights. Seriously, guys, WTF?

4. Snooty, Self-Righteous, “I Do Not Hook Up” Homosexuals

Not on Grindr? Congratulations. Would you like a medal to go with your chastity belt?

3. Narcissistic, Self-Obsessed, Selfie-Taking Gays

You’ve seen them at the gym taking a break between reps to casually pose for a photo in the mirror. You’ve seen them on Facebook sharing pictures of themselves laying out by the pool or sipping wine at a Napa vineyard. And you’ve seen them at the gay bar snapping not one, not two, but ten versions of the same photograph, trying to get the angle just right so that the pic looks flattering while at the same time spontaneous and fun. They are narcissistic, self-obsessed, selfie-taking gays. And they have no shame.

2. “No Drama” Drama Queens

These are fellas who make a point of talking about how they are “not into drama” on their dating profiles, which is usually the first indication that they are, in fact, very much into drama.

1. “Ex-Gay” Gays

Despite global scientific consensus that one cannot voluntarily change one’s sexual orientation, there is still a rouge group of gay bisexual deeply confused Christians who claim that, through the power of prayer and with love from Jesus Christ, they were able to turn themselves straight. To help affirm their heterosexuality, they’ve married women and produced children. Some of them have even launched official “ex-gay” groups and campaigned against things like the closing of conversion clinics. Of course, a quick peek at their internet browser histories would likely betray their clever charades. But, hey, to each his own, right?

BONUS: Irritating Gay Bloggers Who Crack Bad Jokes And Point Fingers At Others

Guilty as charged!

Related stories:

10 Totally Obnoxious Things You Have To Be Gay To Fully Understand

Bad Boxed Blondes: The Platinum-Haired Homophobes We Just Can’t Stand

The Seven Most Annoying Grindr Guys And Two Who Might Change Your Life

You don’t have to be shy with us, we know at one point in your life you bought a calendar full of gorgeous half-naked men. The demigods served as daily inspiration every time you woke up. This year, we want you to wake up every morning under the protection of the men who make up Colorado’s finest Firefighters. Colorado-based underwear brand Baskit teams up with the hunks to make one scorching calendar every year. Not only do you get daily eye candy, but the proceeds from the calendars go to the Children’s Hospital of Colorado.

See what happens on set in the pictures below, and then for an extra special bonus, check out the video at the end of the page. Now, go be a damsel in distress so these guys can come save you.

For more information, go to The Underwear Expert.

Photo Credit: Baskit

“There is a certain degree of nakedness and sensuality in my pictures,” French photographer Laurent Goldstein tells Queerty in an exclusive interview, “but you have to keep in mind that these are candid shots of ordinary life happening in front of my camera.”

Goldstein relocated to Varanasi, India from Paris after a successful career as an art director in the fashion industry.

Spoken like a true Frenchman, he explains, “Varanasi is the oldest living city in the world, where time is frozen between dreams and reality like an everlasting dawn, [and] where I decided to leave my heart and soul.”

It was in Varanasi that Goldstein launched a line of household linens called Red Halo, and began photographing the everyday lives of the people around him. He has a number of images that feature Indian men bathing together in the river.

“Most of the pictures are shot in Varanasi and mainly along the Ganges,” he says. “The Ganges is the most sacred river to Hindus and is worshipped as goddess Ganga. It is said that the river is purifying, absorbing impurities and symbolic dirt and taking them away.”

“Everywhere people bathe in its holy waters,” he continues, “paying homage to their ancestors and to the gods, mostly to Lord Shiva depicted as the ‘Bearer of the Ganga’ with a spout of water rising from his hair.”

Goldstein describes his work as “spontaneous” and “candid.”

“From a Western perspective you might consider these pictures homoerotic,” he says. “There is undoubtedly something striking there.”

But in India, he explains, “men’s body language doesn’t mean the same … To any Indian they are performing an unambiguous straight behavior.”

Scroll down to see a sampling of Goldstein’s work, and view more on his Facebook and Flickr pages.

Published for one-time use only with permission from Laurent Goldstein. Photographs may not be saved, copied or republished on any other website.

Related stories:

The Secret Homoerotic Lives Of Cuban Men

Here’s What Goes On Inside The All-Male “Akharas” Of India

A Private Peek Into The Homoerotic Lives Of Israeli Soldiers

Jesse Helms’ casket might as well be on a rotisserie, because he’s spinning in his grave right now. Last Friday, a federal judge in North Carolina cleared the way for marriage equality in the state that the late Senator served so ignobly. Good thing that Helms, who called us  “weak, morally sick wretches,” wasn’t alive to see it, because it would have killed him.

However, someone with a fine sense of poetic justice decided to send a message to Jesse in the great beyond. (We won’t speculate just where that might be.) Propped up against Helms’ tombstone was a newspaper heralding the advent of same-sex weddings in the state. We bet that Helms never expected to see that on his tombstone.

And just in case you think Helms is a relic of the past, here’s a reminder that he’s not. Sen. Ted Cruz, the beloved of the Tea Party, has said that “we need 100 more like Jesse Helms.” Apparently, that old time homophobia just won’t die.

Photo credit: Facebook

You wouldn’t be very likely to visit any of these places during your hard-earned vacation days even before reading this. But it’s important to know that there are still corners of the world that punish LGBTs as if they were capital offenders. It’s amazing to think someone could equate being gay with committing treason or first-degree murder.

It’s also interesting that countries we think of as having horrible official policies towards LGBT people like Russia seem if not evolved then at least humane compared with this terrible list. Though in Russia, as with many places, it’s not the government you have to be most afraid of, it’s the gang of armed neanderthals.

Here are ten places in the world that can put people to death for being gay, as compiled by the Washington Post:

Yemen: According to 1994 penal code, married men can be sentenced to death by stoning for homosexual intercourse. Unmarried men face whipping or one year in prison. Women face up to seven years in prison.

Iran: In accordance with sharia law, homosexual intercourse between men can be punished by death, and men can be flogged for lesser acts such as kissing. Women may be flogged.

Iraq: The penal code does not expressly prohibit homosexual acts, but people have been killed by militias and sentenced to death by judges citing sharia law.

Mauritania: Muslim men engaging in homosexual sex can be stoned to death, according to a 1984 law. Women face prison.

Nigeria: Federal law classifies homosexual behavior as a felony punishable by imprisonment, but several states have adopted sharia law and imposed a death penalty for men. A law signed in early January makes it illegal for gay people countrywide to hold a meeting or form clubs.

Qatar: Sharia law in Qatar applies only to Muslims, who can be put to death for extramarital sex, regardless of sexual orientation.

Saudi Arabia: Under the country’s interpretation of sharia law, a married man engaging in sodomy or any non-Muslim who commits sodomy with a Muslim can be stoned to death. All sex outside of marriage is illegal.

Somalia: The penal code stipulates prison, but in some southern regions, Islamic courts have imposed Sharia law and the death penalty.

Sudan: Three-time offenders under the sodomy law can be put to death; first and second convictions result in flogging and imprisonment. Southern parts of the country have adopted more lenient laws.

United Arab Emirates: Lawyers in the country and other experts disagree on whether federal law proscribes the death penalty for consensual homosexual sex or only for rape. In a recent Amnesty International report, the organization said it was not aware of any death sentences for homosexual acts. All sexual acts outside of marriage are banned.

DW Chase is photographed in the barren desert, but there is still plenty of sex appeal here to whet your appetite. He wears the latest underwear styles by Modus Vivendi, and they’re captured stunningly by photographer Cory Stierley. In each shot, the underwear pops against DW’s skin and the desert background that simmers in a similar tone. And between the bold underwear designs and his defined abs, the open desert never looked so inviting.

For more information, go to The Underwear Expert.

Photo Credit: Cory Stierley

In case you hadn’t noticed, there is a bit of a debate in this country over marijuana prohibition. And there are a million reasons to support the resilient plant. Voters in Colorado and Washington have charted new territory by legalizing it outright, and there are medical pot laws on the books in 21 more states (and counting!).

But some of the arguments for marijuana legalization should ring especially true for the LGBT community.

Scroll down for five reasons for gays to get behind legalizing pot:

1. It’s the “same-sex marriage” of mind altering substances.

Let’s look at how public opinion has changed on the subject of legalizing marijuana over time:

Now here’s the graph showing national opinions on gay marriage over time:

Notice anything similar? Now we’re not saying this should be an end-all be-all deciding factor, but gay people know what it’s like to continue having to fight tooth and nail for something even when the majority of the country agrees with us. It’s time for the law to catch up with the times.

2. Marijuana can help people drink less

Not only is weed much safer than alcohol, it can actually help people consume less booze. In states with medical marijuana laws, you can actually obtain a prescription for this reason alone. No one has ever gotten into a bar fight stoned, nobody’s ever overdosed on herb, weed doesn’t lead to domestic violence and pot isn’t physically addictive like alcohol.

It’s no secret that the gay community struggles with binge drinking and alcoholism at higher rates than the general population. It isn’t pretty. But smoking pot has been shown to assist people in drinking less, and that’s something we should get behind. A few beers and a couple tokes beats a handle of vodka any day.

3. Stoned sex

Have you ever had drunk sex? Who are we kidding, of course you have. It’s a sloppy, fumbling mess. Stoned sex is the exact opposite. It’s intense, tingly and intimate. Kind of like this.

4. We know how to see through lies and misinformation

The dangers of marijuana have been distorted and exaggerated for over a century, and we should be used to seeing through fear-based rhetoric. Gay sex, gay marriage and gay adoption have all been attacked with lies from those who oppose them. We know how to call a spade a spade. Nobody is saying it should be available to children, but free-thinking adults should have the opportunity to decide whether to puff or pass.

5. Because reality trumps prejudice

Gay rights have prospered by allowing the truth to speak for itself once the law begins to shift. We’re seeing that in full effect with gay marriage. Once the first wave of states began to legalize same-sex marriage, reality soon showed all the arguments against it to be false. Similarly, there has been no harm in states that have legalized medical marijuana, and everything appears to be going smoothly in Colorado and Washington, where recreational use has been approved.

Bonus: Because Barney Frank lays it all out so well: