A dude who worked at an Abercrombie & Fitch store claims the company referred him to a modeling agent who got him to strip down and masturbate in order to take “relaxed” photos — this according to a new lawsuit obtained by TMZ.
Benjamine Bowers alleges in the suit he worked at an A & F store last year, when the company’s casting director referred him to a modelling agent named Brian Hilburn. According to the complaint, Hilburn got Benjamine to fly to Jackson, Mississippi for a photo shoot.
The suit claims during the June 17, 2011 shoot, Hilburn convinced Benjamine that he needed to display a relaxed look for his modeling portfolio, and the best way of achieving that look was to masturbate in front of the camera, so the photog could capture his expression immediately after orgasm. And for good measure, Hilburn allegedly told him the drill was to do the whole thing in the buff.
Benjamine says he was a trooper and took matters into his own hands during the shoot. But Ben says after he masturbated, Hilburn exposed himself and commented on the relative size of their penises.
Benjamine feels used and believes the photos were never intended to help his career … but just to give Hilburn a cheap thrill.
Benjamine is suing A & F and Hilburn for $1 million.
We contacted Hilburn … He had no comment.
from TMZ

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Last summer, gay men in Saratoga County, NY got a notification when they checked into Grindr. It was a message saying that Republican State Senator Roy J. McDonald was on the fence when it came to the gay marriage bill and that with a press of a button their phones would be automatically connected to McDonald’s office.
Did it work? It’s hard to tell how many men actually called the five politicians that were considering breaking with their party (or, in the case of Democratic State Senator Ruben Diaz, his religion) to support same-sex marriage. But in the end it passed 33-29, with McDonald and several other Republicans supporting it.
Grindr, in case you didn’t know, is a location-based app for iOS, Android and BlackBerry that connects gay men — for casual hook-ups, yes, but it also serves as way for guys to get recommendations while visiting new cities or, in the case of some more repressive countries, just know that there are other people out there like them.
It’s immensely popular, with 4 million users in 192 countries, including large numbers of active users in countries like France, Brazil and Thailand. And while the gay community leans heavily democratic in the United States, it is by no means politically monolithic, meaning outright partisan campaigns can still ruffle feathers.
“Do I fear it?” says Joel Simkhai, Grindr’s CEO and founder, when asked if he is afraid that he might offend his users. “No. Do I think about it? Yes.”
“We supported a Democratic Senator in Massachusetts and we did get people who said ‘We’re canceling the service.’ That’s their right. But we’re different than any other kind of business because we have a responsibility to the entire community. Obviously, we’re a business, and if all of our users said ‘Hey Joel, you should get out of politics,’ maybe I’d reconsider. But the vast majority of our users support us in this.”
Not every initiative is as direct as having users directly call a U.S. politician. In November 2011, Grindr for Equality sent 57,009 people to a petition to stop politicians in St. Petersburg from enacting a ban on “gay propaganda,” a vague term critics claimed would essentially ban homosexuality in the city. Currently, working with All Out, they are collecting signatures to push UN member states to condemn violence against gays in Iraq.
Still, petitions are one thing; getting users to directly participate in the political process is another. This fall, several states have bills affecting same-sex marriage on the ballot, including a referendum in Washington State to overturn gay marriage and a bill to legalize it in Maine. Then there’s the presidential election, featuring the incumbent, Barack Obama, who recently stated that he thinks “same-sex couples should be able to get married.”
Pushing people to directly support a political candidate can be bad for business. Surely some Log Cabin Republicans might be turned off by any attempts to get them to vote for Obama, but come fall, Simkhai plans to ping users with the option to donate money or make phone calls to political candidates with the press of a button.
“Electing offcials that support gay rights is vital,” Simkhai says. “Other grassroots efforts are important, absolutely. But electing officials that support gay rights is probably the most important thing you can do to support gay rights.”
from Time Magazine
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Patrick Breen & Luke MacFarlane / The Normal Heart

WASHINGTON, D.C. – Before there was a test, before it had a name and before there was any way to know if AIDS was spread through the air, touch or bodily fluids, there was confusion and denial.
Most politicians and policy makers in the 1980s didn’t want to talk about a killer disease that seemed to be affecting gay men. Now 30 years later, the nation’s capital is getting its first look at a story recalling those early days of the AIDS crisis and the outrage that turned a group of gay men into activists pushing for information and recognition of the disease.
While Washington has a role in the story, Larry Kramer’s prescient 1985 play, “The Normal Heart,” is just now being staged here for the first time. The production, fresh from Broadway, coincides with an international AIDS conference that’s returning to the U.S. this summer and is expected to draw 20,000 attendees from around the world.
Arena Stage is producing the show, which won the 2011 Tony Award for best revival on Broadway. The new production starring Patrick Breen and Luke MacFarlane of TV’s “Brothers & Sisters,” runs through July 29 before the show moves to San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theater.
The story promises to find an even larger audience in the months and years to come with a planned movie from “Glee” creator Ryan Murphy starring Mark Ruffalo and Julia Roberts.
While set in New York, Washington is the most important city for the play to be seen, as the power center for politics and health policy, Kramer told The Associated Press.
In the play, his ranting alter ego is Ned Weeks who bemoans New York Mayor Ed Koch’s apathy, the reluctance of The New York Times to write about AIDS and the refusal of President Ronald Reagan to acknowledge the disease. He also condemns gays for refusing to change their sexual behavior when it began to prove deadly.
Thirty years after Kramer’s story, his message is the same, though the audience may have changed. AIDS infection rates continue to rise.
“It’s still a plague, it’s still raging all over the world, and there’s still nobody paying attention to it on an official level,” Kramer said, noting the death toll has risen from the hundreds in the early 80s to tens of millions. “Everything in the play came true. So it’s now a history play.”
The story unfolds in a New York doctor’s office in 1981 – before an AIDS epidemic had been declared.
Patients line up to see if they’re showing any symptoms. Dr. Emma Brookner, played by Patricia Wettig of TV’s “Thirty Something” and “Brothers & Sisters,” delivers her best guesses and tough love to counsel patients.
(more…)