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Maybelline ambassador’s father shuts down homophobic comment

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Manny Gutierrez is Maybelline’s first male ambassador and while being the face of a makeup brand has sparked some backlash, the beauty guru showed that he has a strong support system with his father. 

Mark Walsh, a columnist who writes for The Blaze, posted a photo of Gutierrez in full makeup glam with the caption, “Dads, this is why you need to be there to raise your sons.”

Gutierrez spotted the post and responded that his father not only supports his career, but works for him.

You can have a seat ?

A photo posted by ?Manny Gutierrez (@mannymua733) on

Gutierrez followed up with a tweet saying, “Being a man isn’t about how ‘tough’ or ‘masculine’ you are … it’s about taking care of the ones you love.”

The YouTuber seemed to move on, but his father had a message that he wanted to share. Gutierrez posted a screenshot from a text message his father sent him, a letter addressed to Walsh.

“I know the words you speak are from lack of knowing anybody from the LGBT community,” the text reads. “If you did, you would soon realize they are some of the most real and kind hearted individuals that walk this planet of ours. Going forward, I would choose your actions and words wisely. Just like you would do anything for your family, I would DO for mine.”

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PHOTOS: Israel at war

International News Editor Michael K. Lavers was on assignment in the country last month

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The Pride House of Be’er Sheva in Be’er Sheva, Israel, on Oct. 9, 2024. The banner on the gate reads, “Get them out of hell!” in reference to the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

TEL AVIV, Israel — The Washington Blade was on assignment in Israel from Oct. 4-14, 2024. 

The Blade covered the first anniversary of Oct. 7, and interviewed the cousin of a woman who Hamas militants killed after they kidnapped her and her sister-in-law. The Blade also interviewed the widow of a gay Israel Defense Forces soldier who spearheaded efforts to amend the country’s Bereaved Families Law to recognize LGBTQ widows and widowers of fallen servicemembers.

Activists in Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, and Be’er Sheva also spoke with the Blade.

Destroyed homes in the outskirts of Khan Younis, Gaza, in January 2024. (Courtesy photo)

Layla, a gay bar in Tel Aviv, in an Instagram post for an Oct. 1 party notes the Israel Defense Forces are “demilitarizing Lebanon.” The promotion includes a picture of long-time Hezbollah Secretary-General Hassan Nasrallah, who the Israeli Defense Force killed in the Beirut suburb of Dahieh less than a week earlier. Iran on Oct. 1 launched nearly 200 ballistic missiles towards Israel in response to Nasrallah’s death. (Photo courtesy of Layla’s Instagram page)

A public art display at Ben-Gurion Airport on Oct. 4, 2024, demands the release of the hostages who remain in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A mural in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024.(Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A boy plays a piano in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 4, 2024. (Washington Blade video by Michael K. Lavers)

The Blade could not access Al Jazeera’s website in Israel.

The Israeli government in May banned the Qatar-based network from working in the country, and shut down its bureaus in East Jerusalem and Nazareth, a predominantly Arab city in northern Israel. A judge in June extended the ban for 45 days. Israeli soldiers on Sept. 22 raided Al Jazeera’s bureau in Ramallah, the Palestinian capital, and ordered its closure for 45 days. (Washington Blade screenshot by Michael K. Lavers)


An Israeli Pride flag flies next to a banner on a terrace in Tel Aviv, Israel, that calls for the release of hostages in the Gaza Strip. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A bomb shelter near Be’eri, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed three people from the nearby Nova Music Festival who took shelter inside. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Part of the makeshift Nova Music Festival memorial near Re’im, Israel, on Oct. 5, 2024. Hamas militants on Oct. 7 killed 360 people at the all-night rave and took 40 other partygoers hostage. The Nova Music Festival took place roughly three miles from the Israel-Gaza border. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The Nova Music Festival memorial. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Cats in Independence Park in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 6, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A mural in Tel Aviv, Israel, notes Hamas is still holding Shiri Bibas and her two children, Kfir and Ariel, hostage in Gaza. Kfir was 9-months-old on Oct. 7. His brother was 4-years-old. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

An anti-war sticker on a light pole in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 6, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

KAN 11, an Israeli television station, broadcasts from Kfar Aza, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. The kibbutz is one of the many kibbutzim near the Israel-Gaza border that Hamas militants attacked on Oct. 7. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A juice stand at the intersection of Dizengoff Street and Ben-Gurion Boulevard in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)


Two men in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel, embrace while watching the Bereaved Families Memorial Service on Oct. 7, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

‘Red alerts’ for ballistic missiles that Hezbollah launched from Lebanon on Oct. 7, 2024. The missiles targeted an Israel Defense Forces base north of Tel Aviv. The IDF interceptions woke this reporter up at around 11 p.m. (Washington Blade screenshot by Michael K. Lavers)

Yarmulkes for sale in Jerusalem on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Dome of the Rock above the Western Wall in Jerusalem on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Omer Ohana looks a picture of his fiancé, Sagi Golan, a gay Israel Defense Forces major who died fighting Hamas militants in Be’eri, Israel, on Oct. 7, 2023, A memorial service for Golan took place in Herzliya, Israel, on Oct. 8, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A billboard overlooking the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Israel, with a caricature of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu references Oct. 7 and says, “We won’t forget.” (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Street art in Tel Aviv, Israel. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

A poster with Carmel Gat‘s face on it inside a replica of a tunnel in the Gaza Strip that was built in Hostage Square in Tel Aviv, Israel. Hamas militants on Oct. 7, 2023, kidnapped Gat from Be’eri, a kibbutz near the Gaza border. They killed her and five other hostages in late August. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Shortly after dawn in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024, as the country marked Yom Kippur. (Video by Michael K. Lavers)

Banners that hung from an overpass above the Ayalon Highway in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024, contain pictures of the hostages who remain in Gaza. They also call for their release and “bringing back hope.” (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

Fishermen along the Jaffa waterfront in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 12, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)

The sun sets over Hilton Beach in Tel Aviv, Israel, on Oct. 13, 2024. (Washington Blade photo by Michael K. Lavers)
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Queer writer reflects on assault, drug use, more in ‘Mean Boys’

An interview with Geoffrey Mak

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(Book cover image via Amazon)

Queer Chinese American writer Geoffrey Mak takes the personal essay to new, and sometimes unsettling, heights, in his book “Mean Boys: A Personal History” (Bloomsbury, 2024). Described as a “memoir-in-essays,” Mak, the gay son of an evangelical minister, takes readers on his volatile and visceral personal journey, which includes the techno clubs of Berlin, various illicit substances, his sexual assault, and ultimately an examination of mass-murderer Elliot Rodger. Mak generously made time for an interview in advance of his November appearance at the Miami Book Fair.

BLADE: In the author’s note for your book “Mean Boys: A Personal History,” you said, “I wrote most of these essays for the Internet,” and that awareness of your readership extended to “what they wanted to hear, and what they were wearing.” Is that still your target audience or were you looking to expand it with the book?

GEOFFREY MAK: If I could go back in time and inspire my 26-year-old self to keep writing, I would say, “Babe, in 10 years, you’ll get everything you’ve ever dreamed of, just online-only.” I still see the natural habitat of the personal essay; yet the internet has a tendency for fragmentation and bubbles. When I decided to write a book at a mainstream press, I thought a lot about how a book—unlike a painting—is a mass-produced object, which makes it a more democratic medium, almost humble. I thought a lot about the opportunity to reach readers in Idaho or Oregon or Arkansas, and, in fact, I now get emails or Instagram DMs from readers in all those states. I wanted to explore universal themes that anyone can relate to, such as the wages of status in a high school cafeteria, or the process of forgiving one’s own father.

BLADE: You also mentioned James Baldwin and Joan Didion, as well as Ed White, Hilton Als, and Alan Hollinghurst, among others. How important are these writers to you in your work?

MAK: I love that you called him Ed, because he is Ed. Each of those writers gave me something that is a part of me. Baldwin: conviction. Didion: cadence. White: self-mythology. Als: voice. Hollinghurst: sex.

BLADE: Another writer, Wesley Yang, is featured prominently in the “Identity Despite Itself” essay. Do you know if he’s aware of being the essay’s subject? If so, has he told you how he feels about it?

MAK: Marco Roth, a friend, was one of the founding editors of n+1, and commissioned and edited Wesley Yang’s remarkable essay, “The Face of Seung-Hui Cho” when it came out in 2008. After Marco read my book, he sent it to him. In Marco’s view, I had at last given Yang his due: taking him as seriously as he deserved, which is something any writer should be flattered by. And I did take him seriously, calling him into account for his internalized Asian racism and transphobia. As to what Yang actually thinks, I have no idea. Can you believe it: Not a single person I wrote about in the book has reached out to me about it?

BLADE: In “My Father, The Minister,” you address religion, not only as the son of a religious leader but also as a gay man. Religion continues to make headlines, whether it’s the role it’s playing in the 2024 election, the ongoing sexual abuse scandals in the various churches, or the war in Gaza. What role, if any, does religion play in your life at present?

MAK: I pay close attention to the religious life of this country. Two-thirds consider themselves religious. A lot of what I read disturbs me, nothing is surprising to me. I was heartened when, earlier this year, the United Methodist Church rescinded a ban on gay clergy. It was a rare victory because sexual difference remains the greatest divisive factor in American churches today. The articulation of the queer, Christian subject might be my highest priority as a writer today. (Out of all my essays, I consider “California Gothic” my greatest work.) I don’t participate in organized religion, but I still study the Bible and read queer theology, particularly the work of Marcella Althaus-Reid and Linn Tonstad, major influences of mine. I count theologians as some of my closest friends. I was actually just emailing with the writer Garth Greenwell about how 4th-century apophatic theology has parallels with queer theory today. I’m currently writing a novel about a trans-femme protagonist who finds her way to God. I’m quite serious. Sometimes, I dream that if this whole writer career doesn’t pan out, I might go to Divinity School.

BLADE: You also write honestly about your drug usage in “Mean Boys.” There’s a line in the “California Gothic” essay that reads: “After psychosis, and after addiction, I knew that whether I would recover came down to a single test: Could I find grace in the ordinary?” Where are you now on that journey?

MAK: I happen to be sober now, but I have cycled through periods of limited drug use and sobriety since I finished that essay. I belong to a harm reduction community that keeps me accountable to my self-stated goals. For several years, I have had a buddy system, which differs from a sponsor relationship because it’s non-hierarchical, with a friend I’m extremely close with—we regularly check in with cravings, take stock of our weekly stressors, talk about books. If we ever call the other, we know to drop whatever we’re doing and pick up, because it’s an emergency. One night, he called me when he relapsed on meth, and I ran straight to his apartment, we flushed out the syringes, and cried in each other’s arms until the sleeping pills kicked in. Since then, he’s been sober for almost two years. Recently, I’ve been talking to him about “junk time,” which are the late-night brain rot hours when I can’t read and crave drugs the most. I need to start finding grace in the ordinariness of junk time. Thanks for the reminder.

BLADE: What was involved in your decision to write about the aftermath of your sexual assault in the essay “In Arcadia Ego?”

MAK: OK, so the first section of that essay originated as a Facebook post. People reached out with caring words, although the writing partly explored my reaching a limit with caring words. The material was so raw that I put it down for at least a few years. After I had some distance from my own assault, I picked up the essay again and suddenly realized I was bored of my own pain. It wasn’t going to teach me anything, because suffering isn’t a university. I wanted to party, so I wrote about that. Nothing about this was virtuous or wholesome or dignified. I got fucked up and screamed with my gays on the dance floor like sorority girls at a bachelorette party. In a previous era, you had a party to commemorate an occasion. My friends and I partied for no reason; the party justified itself. Life is like this, too. You never need a reason.

BLADE: Was the lengthy, titular essay that closes out the book, the first essay written for the book, and therefore the inspiration?

MAK: It was the last essay I finished. In fact, we delayed the release date of the book because I couldn’t finish it. It’s my most original writing and original thinking. It’s also not for everyone.

BLADE: In the “Mean Boys” essay, you write about the ultimate mean boy – mass-murderer Elliot Rodger. Did that essay begin as being about Rodger or did that come later?

MAK: This was one of the first essays I wrote where I didn’t outline it or know where it was ending up in advance. I started with an image—the Lacoste polo with the popped collar—and just kept writing. It’s meandering, because that’s how I wrote it, working through the innate turbulence of each paragraph until a door appeared into the next paragraph. I eventually found my way to Rodger. There was a time I thought I could write the essay without reading the manifesto, until I realized, c’mon, I was being chicken, I had to read the manifesto. Once I finished it, I knew I had to rewrite the entire essay.

BLADE: Have you started writing or thinking about your next book project?

MAK: I’m working on a novel about degenerate ravers in Berlin. While the UK and Germany have novels about raving, America curiously doesn’t have one. So, I decided to write one.

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PHOTOS: Birthdays at JR.’s

Drag queens celebrate at local establishment

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Citrine performs at JR.'s on Saturday. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

Citrine, Andromeda and Silver Ware Sidora celebrated their birthdays at JR.’s Bar with a drag show on Saturday, Nov. 2.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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