Innholdsfortegnelse for Issue 502 i GAY TIMES

On 21 November, GAY TIMES Honours 500 took over Magazine London in the British capital to celebrate queer culture, community and entertainment. Hosted by Benny Drama, the evening played host to worldfamous queer talent, inspirational community leaders, and the next generation of artists and activists doing their bit in the fight for true equality. GAY TIMES Honours was first established in 2017 as a ceremony to acknowledge those who have made a profound impact on LGBTQ people in the past 12 months. From community trailblazers to highly-visible queer stars, it’s an event that brings together people from all across our community to celebrate, uplift and inspire. To mark our recent landmark 500th issue as Europe’s longest-running LGBTQ publication, this year’s event was named GAY TIMES Honours 500. It marked the…

Identical twins Jake and Joseph Dupont are taking the modelling world by storm. As well as providing authentic representation for the queer community, they were recently invited by none other than LGBTQ icon Lady Gaga to be part of the singer’s new Haus Laboratories beauty campaign, which aims to celebrate everyone regardless of how they identify and encourage self-love. “I think being recognised and not having to hide our queer identity [in the industry] is an accomplishment on its own,” explains Jake when we ask about their career highlights, which range from shooting for Ellen Von Unwerth’s VON magazine and walking the runway at New York Fashion Week. “The power of our identity and self-expression has actually opened so many doors for us.” Despite their own success, the twins call…

If we all sat down to discuss issues each of us face, listened to one another more often, and had a greater understanding and empathy of diverse identities and life experiences, the world would be a much better place. That’s why back in 2017, W Hotels launched an innovative speaker series called Queer Me Out to create a forum where the most prominent issues and discussion our community faces can be explored. It’s a safe space with special guests, offering insight, experience, and education on a range of topics from across our vibrant and multi-faceted LGBTQ community. This year, GAY TIMES teamed up with W Hotels to host a number of discussions across Europe, engaging with local communities in destinations such as Paris, Amsterdam, Barcelona and Istanbul. We continued our…

Au revoir corner shop Prosecco, austerity and Brexit - we’re in Champagne! Not like Dita Von Teese of course, rolling around in an outsize glass of it in her bra and panties, but the French region just outside Paris responsible for the good stuff. And the plan is to spend the weekend sinking some serious bubbles in the luxurious Royal Champagne Hotel & Spa. This sprawling cutting edge hotel is nestled in a UNESCO-protected area in the hills of Epernay, overlooking the town and vineyards that stretch out in front of you. Designed with this view in mind and using floor-to-ceiling glass, the scenery is right there in every guest room and balcony, the restaurant, the bar, the library, the indoor and outdoor pools and the vast terrace. This gives…

The Treehouse, London If we had a quid for every time we walked past the (former) St George hotel just opposite Her Majesty’s BBC up the top end of Regent Street and said, ‘They should totally do something nice with that building!’, we’d have approximately thirteen quid. And give it to the Barry Sternlicht (he knows his hotel schizz) to do just what we’ve been dreaming of. A drab corporate block with a superstar postcode has been swished into the first of his gorgeous and clever Treehouse Hotels, and it’s the loveliest, sexiest, funnest of sustainable gaffs (sustainable is totally Barry’s thing. He’s been doing it darn well with his 1 Hotels) this side of Oxford Circus. A pretty-as dance of reclaimed materials and touchme furnishings, a pumpin’ rooftop bar…

DR KAWASHIMA’S BRAIN TRAINING (released on Nintendo Switch on 3 JanuarY) Dr Kawashima’s Brain Training series was a worldwide phenomenon when it was released for the Nintendo DS in the 2000s, uniting young and old into the world of video games with easy to pick up but hard to master gameplay, so it’s no surprise Nintendo would want to replicate that success with their new Nintendo Switch hybrid console. The game promises new experiences, some of which will use the Joy-Con’s IR Motion Camera, as well as classic challenges and exercises from past Brain Training games that will use the new stylus accessory. We’re keeping our fingers crossed for another advert starring Nicole Kidman. DM LAST CHRISTMAS (in cinemas now) Based on Wham’s iconic holiday anthem of the same name,…

As queer people, we have no choice but to be brave. In a world that challenges LGBTQ identities and narratives, just being ourselves openly and honestly can come with a certain amount of risk compared to our heterosexual counterparts. But imagine that in the hyper-masculine world of the NFL at the professional level, entering a space where no openly queer person has done so at that stage of their career before. When Ryan Russell decided to come out publicly as bisexual in an essay for ESPN at the end of August, he found himself treading new ground. Many of us would consider it a significant act of bravery and strength, but that was far from the motive in Ryan’s mind. “I know at the time of coming out I was…

There’s been an important cultural intersection between music and fashion for decades, but right now, no one is navigating it in a more interesting way than Honey Dijon. Or, to reference the title of her chic new collection of T-shirts, travel bags and accessories created with Comme Des Garçons, Honey Fucking Dijon. “Isn’t it amazing?” she says of her collaboration with the avant-garde fashion brand. “I haven’t had a moment to sit back and think about how crazy it is.” Honey says she can’t imagine this kind of collaboration happening with any other fashion house. “They’re all about authenticity and working with artists that are really true to who they are,” she explains. “The reason they got in bed with me is because of the culture that I come from…

She might be Harsh by name, but she’s anything but harsh by nature. British DJ and fashion lover Jodie Harsh has risen from the narrow streets of her native Kent to hanging with Madonna and Lady Gaga, and most recently opening for the Spice Girls at “Wembley fucking Stadium” – her words. Now stepping into a new world by mixing her love of nightlife with music, the three-time Billboard Dance number one owner is ready for a new challenge. “The plan is to be like Diplo… but in a wig,” laughs Jodie to friend Nick Grimshaw. The pair first met on Myspace. “I’ve done everything in the wrong order. I started doing drag, events and then started to DJ at events. And then after that, I started to make music.…

It’s a greige day as we emerge from Waverley Station to that familiar whiff of yeast in the air, a result of the local brewing scene, pumped up by down-winds, and as much a part of Auld Reekie’s fabric as the Scott Monument and that massive castle lording it over the whole place. It’s hard to see where the sky ends and the ancient sandstone of the Old Town begins, that stupidly gorgeous medieval enclave that huddles the crag and tail of an extinct volcano, just there to your left as you leave the city’s main transport hub. Edinburgh Castle tops, Holyrood Palace tails, and a warren of centuries-old buildings, a whole bunch of them built during the Renaissance, cram the bits in-between making for one of the most glorious,…

Ah, winter. I’ve always thought that winter is extremely underrated - growing up in Australia we rarely saw the temperature drop below zero, and don’t even get me started on the dreams I used to have about snow. Fast-forward to living in London, and I started to get why people tried to avoid winter if they could. The cold that gets through to your bones no matter how many layers you’re wearing, the rain, the delays on public transport - even snow loses its romanticism when it’s mostly just brown slush on the streets. Eventually, I only looked forward to winter for basic (gay) fashion-related reasons - the thought of my favourite jackets being the only thing preventing me from losing all hope entirely. But that was London, this is…

James B. Whiteside was 16 he saw Matthew Bourne’s gender-swap version of Swan Lake in London. “And it opened my eyes to a whole new world of possibility,” recalls the then-budding ballet dancer. “I was fairly comfortable with myself at that point so I was in the process of coming out and seeing his take on Swan Lake shook me in a wonderful way. Societally you get complacent and unless you are shaken out of it it’s really hard to figure out what you want and what your vision is.” Nineteen years later, James is a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre and he’s looking to shake things up when it comes to the heteronormative stories that dominate the artform. “The stories tend to be quite plain,” he notes.…

“If you’re a queer person of colour, if you’re a voguer, if you’re in the ballroom scene, you want to be part of this story,” Jason A. Rodriguez says of FX’s groundbreaking LGBTQ drama Pose. The series - helmed by Ryan Murphy, Brad Falchuk and Stephen Canals - focuses on the queer African-American and Latino communities of the ballroom scene in 1980s New York City, and features the largest amount of trans actors in regular roles of any scripted television series in history. Jason continues: “It’s given them a light, it’s allowed them to speak up, speak their story, or even be inspired to create new stories.” Since its debut last year, Jason has portrayed Elektra Wintour’s sickening right-hand voguer, a role in which he aims to propel the art-form…

“We’re homophobic,” says the handsome Jamaican man eating opposite me with a grin. “But not as homophobic as everyone says. Isn’t that right?” and he turns to his husband for confirmation. The husband agrees. “They like to exaggerate about Jamaica,” he says. “Jamaicans are the fastest, the most violent, the sexiest… and the most homophobic. As much as we’d like some of that to be true – and some of it is! – it’s all part of the myth of Jamaica.” And you might think that sitting in the smartest resort on the whole of the island, the homophobia out there wouldn’t matter, but these are the general manager and the spa manager talking and they use their clout in the world of Jamaican tourism to personally lobby the government…

Where is it? Lower Manhattan. Not an area we would usually recommend being near Wall Street and all that boring stuff, but it’s handy for the 9/11 Memorial and Museum and One World Trade Centre, the highest building in New York, if you can be arsed to queue up for some admittedly spectacular views from the platform at the top. Why so lovely? It’s the epitome of clever classic New York City, built at the end of the 1800s as one of the city’s – the world’s! – first skyscrapers, albeit in a very ornate red brick. And that means the architecture is the star, both outside and in. Well, you don’t get voted the best hotel in New York by Condé Nast Traveler without a bit of something going…

York. A festive season fit for nothing but a king. This is the expectation of any traveller venturing up North and beyond the stone walls of Yorkshire for a traditional Christmas celebration. A historical spin on the holiday feast awaits, as Lendal Tower’s medieval past looms over the celebratory garments of York. The 700-year-old building shadows the seasonal instalment of alpine chalets, allowing holidaymakers to take in the beauty of festive Yorkshire from a height. The residence packs an eerie mixture of Christmas charm and historic importance, as it accommodates travellers within its stern stone walls. Despite recent renovations that morph the tower into equal parts traditional and contemporary lodge, the venue still retains its monumental sobriety, swiftly represented through a ship style ladder. The kings choosing Lendal Tower this…