Boy Culture Links: Overworking Can Make You Gay?, Revisiting George Whitmore, Nicki Minaj & Trump's Bully Summit, Amy Klobuchar Coming to Minnesota's Rescue + More
JANUARY 29, 2026
** Just checking in to see how the daily links are workin’ for ya. I’m planning to continue, but I’m only sending a links roundup as a full e-mail blast every couple of days. You can visit on your own without receiving an e-mail reminder. I just didn’t want people to feel they had to receive a daily e-mail from me. — Matt
SOUTH CHINA MORNING POST: A Malaysian Religious Affairs Minister, Zulkifli Hasan, believes stress at work makes men gay.
THE NATION: A loving tribute to the art of Violet Quill queer writer George Whitmore. I’ve long admired his Confessions of Danny Slocum (1980), a funny, NYC-based novel about a gay man with sexual dysfunction at the height of gay hedonism, but it sounds like I need to read his 1987 novel Nebraska.
Related: The AIDS Plays Project is reviving the works of playwrights whose lives were cut short by AIDS.
NEW YORK TIMES: A man wonders why his parents did zip to stop the anti-gay bullying he endured.
ITV: Cops in the U.K. made 21 errors in investigating the mystery death of 19-year-old gay student Ed Cornes, and his family points out the sloppiness was fueled by homophobia:
“‘They focused in on him being gay and whether he took drugs. His lifestyle and sexuality,’ [his mom, Miriam,] said.
“Ed’s body was found in a basement room of a hotel in King’s Cross, central London, around five minutes from his halls of residence.
“Other students said he was ‘very drunk’ that evening.
“According to the inquest into his death, in the early hours of the morning, he left his halls and met Matthew Butler, a man he had never met before, who took him to the hotel.
“Inside the room was another man, Ian Casimir.
“Several hours later, Ed Cornes was dead.”
ROLLING STONE: Rolling Stone, in reporting on Nicki Minaj’s wild leaning in to MAGA, calls her and Trump two of the world’s biggest bullies. She’s also a no-talent hack whose latest TikTok-trending song from the past is only a great song because it’s mostly “What’s Going On?” by 4 Non Blondes. Nicki just raps over it. The entire propulsion behind why that song became a hit again (and again) is due to its original hook and vocal.
LGBTQ NATION: The vile Heritage Foundation has announced a new initiative to try to tear apart gay families.
WASHINGTON POST: Alexander Skarsgård describes Pillion — coming to the U.S. (finally) next week, thusly:
“Lube, sweat, leather.”
SKY SPORTS: Greg Slade, the wheelchair tennis camp who recently came out as gay, is heartened by all the support he’s received in spite of a few bad reactions:
“… You're talking about a handful of people compared to literally thousands of people who have either reached out or liked it or seen it, or followed and offered their support. The reaction has been largely very, very positive. It's been really lovely.”
OUTSPORTS: Gay Uruguayan boxer Oscar “the Beast” Bonifacino remains undefeated — and is on course to become a national champ.
METRO WEEKLY: That gay male couple from Iran who face execution if deported are very close to being returned to the country that wants to kill them. A straight woman who arrived with them was granted asylum, but the Trump Administration appears to be dead set on returning these two gay men to Iran to die.
ACT BLUE: In a big win for Dems, Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota) has tossed her hat into the ring to become governor of Minnesota in the wake of of Gov. Tim Walz (D) getting railroaded out of the position. Support her here.
HUFFINGTON POST: The right continues to try to slime Alex Pretti, now saying he deserved to be executed for a previous physical confrontation with ICE.
YOUTUBE: Scream 7 is coming February 27. In the meantime, out director Kevin Williamson talks about working on the film:
THEM: “What If Gay Guys Were Normal About Pussy?” is quite a grabber of a headline.
WONDERLAND: Hudson Williams of Heated Rivalry overnight fame is flaunting his red and black jockstraps for Davis Bates on and in the next Wonderland. He’s opening up about what it’s like to go from zero to 100 in a matter of weeks, saying:
“I didn’t think there would be as many disrespectful people as there are. And vice versa, I didn’t think there would be as many respectful people as there are. I thought everyone would just be screaming, nice, or kind of like, ‘Oh, my God.’ But there are people who are like, ‘No, let’s be respectful to him and his private life. Let’s not share these photos. When we approach him on the street, let’s be mindful of appropriate times.’ I’m seeing those comments, and that’s cool. But then there are disrespectful people who are just like, ‘Fuck that guy.’ And I’m like, holy shit. Why are people hating on me? There’s also all this fake news about me. And I’m like, ‘How do I already have fake news?’”
Buy the Hudson cover here.
LAVENDER: Heated Rivalry is a big hit in overwhelmingly anti-gay Russia.
BUSINESS INSIDER: Going forward, we need to know that hobbyist astronaut and TV journalist Gayle King is a desperate lapdog. Christ, if I made her salary for ONE YEAR, that would be enough for me to say “fuck Bari Weiss” and take off.
PEOPLE: RIP Shirley Raines, 58. All the wrong people die young.
INSTAGRAM: Come follow me on Instagram! My Gr8erDays account has plenty of eye candy and nostalgia, a good mix. Just celebrated John Beck’s 83rd.
HARPERCOLLINS: Brad Gooch has announced a new memoir entitled Good Morning Moon: A Snapshot of an American Family (HarperCollins, June 2).
Via press release:
“In a unique latticework of a memoir, Brad Gooch paints an indelible portrait of becoming a father in middle age. Having experienced once unfathomable changes in what it means to be gay in American society, having lived through the AIDS crisis in New York and surviving the death of his first great love, Brad wasn’t longing for a conventional family life.
“But in late middle age, he meets Paul, marries, and together they take the leap, soon having two boys through surrogacy. As with many new parents, the arrival of children spurs a reflection on his own upbringing as an only child in a comfortable town in Pennsylvania, and a mystery hidden in plain sight that only a DNA test can solve.”
AMAZON: Steven C. Law’s The Story of Bob (United Church Press, February 16) tells the story of Rev. Robert W. Wood, a WWII vet and Christian minister who was an early queer-rights activist noted for being open about his orientation. In 1960, he published the book Christ and the Homosexual, which affirmed that Christianity and homosexuality were not incompatible, and he made our rights central to his life. He died in 2018 at the ripe old age of 95.
QUEERTY: Rodrigo Aburtoo, social media showoff, is going all the way in his big acting debut — taking it all off.
TIDALWAVE PRODUCTIONS: There’s a new comic book devoted to the rise and rise of newly minted pop star Benson Boone. I think they skimped on the package, but the art is a beautiful thing.
EXTRATV: Chants of “Bundy! Bundy! Bundy!” as the cast of Married… with Children reunites in L.A. including Christina Applegate, who is battling MS.
BROADWAY CARES/EQUITY FIGHTS AIDS: Two big NYC charitable events are locked and loaded to return in the spring: Broadway Bets (sponsored by Thomas S. Perakos for the next five years) comes to NYC’s historic Edison Ballroom on May 18, with Broadway insiders and entertainment companies anteing up for a night of gambling, and the scantily clad Broadway Bares returns to the Hammerstein Ballroom for two next-to-naked performances on June 21.
The events raise cash for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. In case you’re cynical about giving to behemoth LGBTQ+ orgs that seem to do nothing, rest assured: This one has a 96% rating on Charity Navigator.
EXTRATV: Singer Ray J claims he may be dead by 2027.
SOCIALITE LIFE: Lisa Rinna claims she and Colton Underwood — her The Traitors nemesis — are great friends, and is walking back her attack on him now that people are harassing him 24/7.
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