Boy Culture Links: Flip-Flopping Boys, Str8 Man Harmed by Anti-Gay Military Rules, Update on Zafar & Guillermo, JustFor.Fans X Tom of Finland, GOPer Fabian Basabe GUILTY of Sexual Harassment + MORE
JULY 21, 2026
BONA VARDA: Coming in August is Flip Flop, a collaborative zine by Slava Mogutin and Oli Raptor that can be read in either direction. Each artist is given 30 pages to express themselves.
There’s a zine launch/signing August 6 (7-9 p.m.) at the Libreria Bookshop (65 Hanbury St., London) and an artist talk with both August 12 (7-9 p.m.) at the STUCK Space (32-36 Tottenham Rd., London).
INSTAGRAM: Reminder that Gianmarco is not gay — just his body is.
YOUTUBE: Meet the man who served in the British Army some 45 years ago, but lost his dream when he was falsely accused of being gay:
EL PAÍS: It is looking like Mexican authorities may have allowed my good friends Zafar Mawani and Guillermo Hidalgo to die — one of my worst fears in the case — after they were abducted in Mexico. A July 10 piece lays out how they had all the information they needed to intervene in a timely manner — but did not bother:
“[An anonymous friend] says that on May 23, Hidalgo’s kidnappers switched on his cellphone in an attempt to make an online purchase through the e-commerce platform Mercado Libre. Guillermo’s assistant in the United States received a bank alert and activated the device’s tracking function. The location data indicated that the phone was at the cabins where the victims were later found dead. That information was shared with authorities 27 days before the bodies were discovered.”
Authorities told Zafar and Guillermo’s friends that location was searched at the time — but it apparently was not, because they’d failed to coordinate with proper authorities to conduct the search. They were only taken about a mile away from where they were first abducted. It’s maddening to think how close they were all the while.
I’m still not seeing information on when, exactly, my friends died; if they died within a few days of the kidnapping, before May 23, the authorities would not have saved them in time. If they died later, it’s clear their deaths are on the heads of the Mexicans.
Most crushingly, the article purports they were tortured to death. I cannot and will not ever be able to fathom that.
This weekend, a memorial was held for Zafar and Guillermo in Chicago. I opted last-minute to fly in, only to have American Airlines (a “mechanical issue”), LaGuardia (its infamous traffic) and, later, the weather thwart my plans — two hours after our scheduled take-off I spent five hours on the tarmac (three until the law demanded we be returned to the gate, two just to get through the traffic back to the gate) before heading home, defeated. The FA on the flight snarked to us when passengers groaned at the never-ending bad news, “Nobody is more disappointed than I am — I’m missing my niece’s 2nd birthday.”
Ultimately, I know what I did with Zafar while he was alive is what matters. I just wish I could have been there to help it all seem more … real.
LGBTQ NATION: Gay conservatives are the worrrrrst, Part 1 Million: Jens Spahn, a German right-wing politico, has consistently opposed making it legal for Germans to become parents via surrogacy — so he simply used a U.S. surrogate with his hubby! Somehow, he thought he’d get away with it because using a U.S. surrogate is legal in Germany — but he’s been forced out. Good riddance.
TICKETS: Lamdba Legal in the Pines, Lambda Legal’s 48th annual Fire Island Pines fundraiser, returns July 25 — and DJ Morabito has been confirmed.
HUFFINGTON POST: A judge has (temporarily) halted the Warner-Paramount merger.
NEW YORK TIMES: Andy Burnham has become U.K. prime minister.
JUSTFOR.FANS: JustFor.Fans has a new portion of its site dedicated to Tom of Finland.
JOE.MY.GOD.: A Jacksonville, Florida, man who shot and paralyzed a neighbor for being gay will spend seven whole years in prison.
RADICAL MYSTIC: How Madonna changed his life.
YOUTUBE: A new Carly Rae Jepsen song and music video are upon us:
Her Day and Night album is coming September 18.
CBS NEWS: A Tallahassee, Florida, jury found State Rep. Fabian Basabe (R-Florida) liable for the sexual harassment of two of his male staffers, against whom he also committed battery. Basabe also defamed one of the victims and that victim’s mom on social media. He must pay the men $450K for their pain and suffering.
In 2024, Basabe promised to immediately resign should any allegations against him prove true. He hasn’t resigned … and is up for re-election in November.
You can also listen to testimony that he raped a man here or below: