Politics, pop culture and entertainment news of interest to the LGBTQ community
Some news items you might have missed:
• Daily Mail: Princess Margaret’s hunky grandson Arthur Chatto (above) is set to become the first royal to join the Marines. I wrote about Chatto back in January. Continue reading “News Round-Up: August 31, 2021”
As the premiere date for the 19th season of The Ellen DeGeneres Show approaches, Australia’s Nine Network has announced it will not be carrying the final season of the gabfest. Continue reading “Australia’s Nine Network Drops Final Season Of ELLEN”
Hunky Australian actor/singer Hugh Sheridan came out (again) over the weekend in a social media post sharing with the world they are non-binary.
Sheridan’s Instagram post highlighted the cover of DNA Magazine’s latest issue which features Sheridan with their fiancé Kurt Roberts.
“Given that’s it IS #pridemonth & I am beyond honored to share the most coveted DNA cover of 2021 with the greatest lover/HUMAN of all time,” wrote Sheridan referencing Roberts. “I understand why @dnamagazine chose LOVE over… another pic of a guy with a towel.”
“FYI,” Sheridan continued, “I AM still a human (nonbinary/bi/me/Hughman) but I’m in a monogamous relationship with another human, who I love. I don’t accept a label cause it limits me… if you want it; take it. I chose zero labels for no other reason except the exclusion, limitations, separation, I believe are all one, deeeeep down. &…who knows? Why chose?!! Be you. Be true. Be free: to BE, to JUST BE… you, a human, same as me.”
The 35-year-old closed their missive urging folks to “READ THE ARTICLE, you’ll laugh. I did.”
At this writing the post has received over 15K ‘Likes’ including a comment of fire emojis from Aussie pop-star/actress Natalie Imbruglia.
In an October 2020 essay for Stellar Magazine, Sheridan shared that they had been in relationships with both women and men in the past, but preferred not to put a label on their sexuality.
In the essay, the actor admitted they’d been bullied as a teenager for being gay, even though they were sexually attracted to the opposite sex at the time. It wasn’t until they moved to Sydney to attend the National Institute for Dramatic Arts, that they fell in love a man.
“I finally met a guy who I connected with emotionally, mentally and physically,” Sheridan wrote, saying they were “over the moon” because they realized they “could finally be what people always wanted me to be.”
But the relationship would eventually end, and they began dating a woman. Eschewing this or that sexual identity, Sheridan wrote, “I believe labels are for clothes, not people.”
On March 5, 2021, Sheridan proposed to now-fiancé Roberts (a former DNA Magazine cover model) at the opening night performance of their stage show Hughman.
A familiar face on Australian television, Sheridan starred in the long-running show Packed To The Rafters, winning four Logie Awards (Australia’s excellence in TV honors) for their work. They are currently working on a spin-off of the series, Back To The Rafters, set to debut this September on Amazon Prime Video.
From CNN:
Sydney will enter a hard two-week lockdown on Saturday night local time as authorities try to contain a fast-spreading outbreak of the highly infectious Delta coronavirus variant in Australia’s largest city, the state leader said.
More than a million people in downtown Sydney and the city’s eastern suburbs were already under lockdown due to the outbreak, but health authorities said they needed to expand that after more Covid-19 cases were recorded, with exposure sites increasing beyond the initial areas of concern.
The curbs on Sydney, home to more than 5 million people, are the latest in a streak of short but hard lockdowns that have been imposed in Australia’s cities in recent months to fight small outbreaks of the coronavirus.
There were 38 cases of different COVID-19 variants reported by late Sunday, the first time in months that so many different regions in Australia had reported new infections on the same day.
The government has received criticism for a slow rollout of COVID vaccinations. According to government statistics, only about 1.4 million full vaccinations have been administered in the country of 25 million people.
Sydney, Australia's largest city, entered a hard two-week Covid-19 lockdown on Saturday as authorities struggle to control a fast-spreading outbreak of the highly infectious Delta variant. https://t.co/067104ESaQ
— NBC News (@NBCNews) June 27, 2021
Millions of Sydney residents wake to the first full day of a two-week coronavirus lockdown, as Australia tries to contain an outbreak of the highly contagious Delta variant https://t.co/z4QbStrrMk pic.twitter.com/SOBwkw2cRX
— AFP News Agency (@AFP) June 27, 2021
After taking time off from Instagram for a couple of months, Zac Efron had his followers gagging thanks to a thirst trap he posted over the weekend.
The body-conscious actor is currently in Australia with his brother Dylan shooting the second season of his Netflix series Down to Earth with Zac Efron.
The show follows Zac traveling around the world exploring healthy sustainable ways to live.
And speaking of healthy and sustainable, the hunky 33-year-old shared pics taken during a workout featuring Bombas socks which donates a pair to charity for every pair purchased. (By the way, Bombas socks are the only socks I wear – they’re awesome).
But, as journalists like to say, it looks like he ‘buried the lede.’
The first photo is nice and all – form, flexibility, yeahyeahyeah…
But some folks didn’t notice to swipe to the next pic which features Efron’s pretty awesome abs.
A couple of weeks ago, Efron shared a video clip of him getting ‘up close and personal’ swimming with the dolphins. And the Efron bod was truly pumped.
Efron famously beefed up a few years ago for his role in the 2017 big screen version of Baywatch, but later told PEOPLE that in hindsight he felt the amount of working out and nutritional limits to get there were not “a healthy or normal way to live everyday life.” Since that time, he’s brought his fitness goals a little more down to earth.
And speaking of ‘down to earth,’ the film and TV star has also recently posted pics from Oz with an adorable baby kangaroo, driving a huge tractor and taking part in what looks like an Indigenous ceremony.
During his time Down Under, Zac also filmed the survivor thriller Gold in Australia to help him maintain his work visa there from its original 3 month limit to 12 months.
I was reminded of this travelogue video I shot 9 years ago seeing the sights during my first visit to Australia.
I start out trying my best to inform folks about the ins and outs of Sydney as I really enjoyed the scenery and ‘local flavor’ of the city.
But, things go a bit awry along the way 😉
You’ll see what I mean. Hit the play button below.
In addition to time spent in Sydney, Michael and I got to spend some time at Olivia Newton-John’s gorgeous Gaia Retreat & Spa near Australia’s Gold Coast.
An OnlyFans performer who was arrested for secretly recording a sexual interlude with his boyfriend and then uploading the clip to his account without permission has changed his plea from guilty to not guilty.
Fabricio Da Silva Claudino, a former flight attendant for Emirates, reportedly filmed the video last year in July at their home in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
As Instinct previously reported, Claudino pleaded guilty this past June to 11 counts of recording and distributing without consent several explicit images and a video clip.
At the time, the police report entered into evidence read, “The victim is clearly unaware of this activity being recorded and can be depicted in the recording as face down throughout.”
“At one point the defendant positions the mobile phone towards a mirror where his face is depicted … at no stage, did the victim consent to the defendant taking this recording.”
But the amateur porn performer changed his plea during a video hearing this week to not guilty.
Claudino admitted to recording the episode and distributing the images but says he did so with his ex-boyfriend’s consent.
He also told the court he only pleaded guilty because he was advised to do so by solicitor Brett Galloway.
“He said, ‘If you continue to plead not guilty your case will be adjourned to December 2020 or maybe longer to set a new hearing date because of the COVID-19 pandemic’,” said Claudino according to ABC News Australia.
The 32-year-old reportedly felt a guilty plea would speed his return to Brazil so he could care for his mother, who is currently facing cancer.
“I said, ‘I am the only financial support she has had since I was 18 — she is my priority at the moment,'” he said. “If this is the only way out of the situation, I agree to plead guilty.”
Claudino claims he turned to OnlyFans after his breakup (the relationship lasted about five months) as a means to earn the money to travel back home. Without a work visa, he was unable to secure legal employment.
After finding new legal representation, Claudino was apparently informed: “a month’s worth of WhatsApp messages had been deleted from his mobile phone.”
His new lawyer, Alex Maroulis, told ABC News he is working to retrieve a text message chat about OnlyFans between his client and the ex-boyfriend.
Claudino says the missing text messages “would be in the period where the text messages have not been provided by [the alleged victim] or deliberately deleted by [the alleged victim].”
“With [the alleged victim’s] consent, I posted on the website ‘OnlyFans’ sexually explicit material of us and I did not show [his] face in any of the sexually explicit images that I posted on OnlyFans.”
Claudino also referenced a conversation he had with his ex in which he also obtained what he considered ‘verbal consent’ regarding sharing the video clip on OnlyFans.
“He said, ‘If you post any of our sex videos make sure my face does not appear — I will see how it goes for you and how much money you make, and I might join myself to make some money and get out of debt,'” says Claudino.
The alleged victim vehemently denies he gave consent regarding making the video or sharing it publicly.
The Australian ex-boyfriend told ABC News in February he discovered the videos while Claudino was visiting a friend in Melbourne. Apparently, distinctive body tattoos made it evident it was him in the clip.
Those tattoos, which he says he used to display proudly, now “feel like branding. I feel dirty … I lost my identity forever.”
Despite being granted bail in September, Claudino remains incarcerated. His next court appearance is scheduled for next week.
A new study of gay and bisexual Australian men found the COVID-19 pandemic has caused a dramatic reduction in casual sexual behavior.
How dramatic?
Researchers at the Kirby Institute surveyed 940 gay and bi men about casual sex practices and found the number of sexual contacts dropped 84 percent in the month of April. Other than monogamous relationships, all types of sexual intimacy saw a steep decline in the number of hookups.
Additionally, 95 percent acknowledged they understood the risk of hooking up and/or having group sex represented an increased risk of contracting the coronavirus.
Dr. Mohamed A. Hammoud, the lead author of the study, told QNews decades of coping with the HIV epidemic has taught gay and bisexual men how to be adaptive in the face of health threats.
“Our community has a long history of creating innovative strategies to reduce risk,” explained Hammoud. “[We’re] seeing this continue with this new health challenge.”
Hammoud added, “The results from our study show that an overwhelming majority of gay and bisexual men have adapted their behavior and are adhering to physical distancing guidelines.”
There is an upside to the drop in hooking up.
The decline in casual sex will likely result in “a reduction in new HIV and STI diagnoses in the short term,” according to Associate Professor Garrett Prestage, one of the co-authors of the study.
“Trends in these diagnoses are likely to fluctuate significantly in response to changes in physical distancing restrictions,” said Prestage.
The new study was published in the medical journal JAIDS on Friday.
An OnlyFans performer has agreed to plead guilty to recording consensual sex with his ex-boyfriend and then uploading the four-minute clip to his account without consent.
Fabricio Da Silva Claudino, a former flight attendant for Emirates, reportedly filmed the episode without the boyfriend’s knowledge last year in July at their home in Marrickville, a suburb of Sydney, Australia.
ABC News in Australia reports that Claudino indicated he will plead guilty to 11 counts of recording and distributing without consent several explicit images and a video clip.
“The victim is clearly unaware of this activity being recorded and can be depicted in the recording as face down throughout,” read the police report entered into evidence.
“At one point the defendant positions the mobile phone towards a mirror where his face is depicted … at no stage, did the victim consent to the defendant taking this recording.”
Prior to posting the video, Claudino shared photos with the Australian boyfriend on the beach in Brazil with the caption, “Video coming up soon – stay tuned.”
The 31-year-old amateur porn performer also shared graphic images of the victim naked in promoting his OnlyFans account to his social media accounts. He reportedly had 30,000 Instagram followers and over 100,000 Twitter followers at the time.
According to ABC News, the men met in Brazil, fell in love, and continued their relationship in Sydney. But the romance came to an end within five months.
Claudino chose to remain in Australia after the affair and supported himself by modeling for life art classes as well as uploading content to his OnlyFans account.
The Australian boyfriend told ABC News in February he discovered the videos while Claudino was visiting a friend in Melbourne. Apparently, distinctive body tattoos made it evident it was him.
“I felt sick to the stomach when I recognized my body and then my face,” said the ex-boyfriend. “I didn’t know what to think, I couldn’t believe it.”
Australian Federal Police arrested Claudino at Sydney airport when he returned from Melbourne after being contacted by the ex calling the privacy breach ‘revenge porn.’
Additionally, Claudino pleaded guilty on Tuesday to 15 counts of obscene and indecent exposure between September 2019 and February 2020. He had filmed himself exposing his penis while standing on the balcony of his apartment in full view of a Sydney high school and public park.
He’s been held in Silverwater prison for the last five months having previously pleaded not guilty to the revenge porn charges.
Claudino is due to be sentenced in court next month.
A veterinary drug in use since the 1970s might offer a glimmer of hope in treating the coronavirus.
From The Weather Channel:
A head lice drug has successfully killed the novel coronavirus within 48 hours in a laboratory setting, as per researchers in Australia.
The study, conducted by researchers from the Victorian Infectious Diseases Reference Laboratory, Royal Melbourne Hospital in Australia, has found the head lice drug Ivermectin could potentially be used—after further research and human trials — as a possible treatment for the COVID-19 disease.
To test how it performs against the novel coronavirus, the researchers infected some cells with the COVID-19-causing SARS-CoV-2 virus, and then exposed them to Ivermectin. Subsequently, they found that just a single dose of Ivermectin had successfully killed the virus in a petri dish.
There was a significant reduction in the virus in just 24 hours, and complete annihilation in less than 48 hours, which is indicative of the drug’s potent antiviral activity.
It goes without saying that, until human trials have been properly performed, it’s important not to consume, hoard, or prescribe this drug.