Miz Cracker’s Guide to Halloween Drag

The wonderful holiday of Halloween—or as we like to call it at Outward, Hallowqueen!—has come back around, and with it, the temptation for gays and straights alike to try their hands at a little drag. But the road to contoured glory is paved with bad wigs and broken heels. To help you avoid the worst mistakes, we’ve resurrected this first-time-in-drags tutorial from regular contributor Miz Cracker. Read More

Dolly Parton Q&A: The Country Legend on 50 Years in Nashville and Why She Supports Her Gay Fans

On a recent fall afternoon at Nashville's NorthStar Studios, Parton is an animated conversationalist, throwing her head back and laughing often. In person, the legendary entertainer possesses a down-home, self-effacing charm -- disarming for someone who helms an empire that includes the Pigeon Forge, Tenn.-based Dollywood theme park, which annually hosts nearly 2.5 million visitors, and a valuable publishing catalog of such songs as "Jolene" and "I Will Always Love You," which she took to No. 1 long before Whitney Houston. In 2014 alone, Parton's 42nd studio album, Blue Smoke, debuted at No. 2 on Top Country Albums and No. 6 on the Billboard 200 -- marking her highest-charting solo album on the latter list -- and wrapped a successful world tour that included performing for 170,000 at the United Kingdom's Glastonbury Festival. Read More

Russian lawmaker wants Finnish Tom of Finland stamps banned as ‘gay propaganda’

An outspoken anti-gay Russian lawmaker is outraged that the Russian postal service has been allowing mail bearing Finnish stamps commemorating gay erotic artist Tom of Finland to be delivered and has declared them ‘gay propaganda’ in breach of Russia’s censorship laws.

Gays in the Military Exhibition

From November 2009 to June 2013 documentary photographer Vincent Cianni made a series of road trips across the United States to interview and photograph roughly 100 gay and lesbian U.S. military veterans and active-duty service members. Cianni, whose work explores community, memory, and the human condition, set out to document how the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian service personnel impacted their professional and personal lives.

The culmination of this project, Gays in the Military, which features essays by Alison Nordstrom, Lt. Donald R. Bramer, and Alan M. Steinman was published with Daylight Books this May. Read More

India talk show changes views on gays

Indian actor Aamir Khan’s hit talk show Satyamev Jayate last night tackled the taboo subject of ‘alternative sexualities,’ with many viewers saying the program changed their perception of LGBTI people. Guests included transgender woman Gazal Dhaliwal and her parents, popular psychologist Deepak Kashyap and LGBTI activists.


Khan listened sympathetically as his LGBTI guests told their coming out stories. Several stressed the importance of parental relationships in shaping their lives and fighting depression and suicidial thoughts. Read More

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Apple CEO Tim Cook Speaks Up About Being Gay

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While I have never denied my sexuality, I haven’t publicly acknowledged it either, until now. So let me be clear: I’m proud to be gay, and I consider being gay among the greatest gifts God has given me. [...] I don’t consider myself an activist, but I realize how much I’ve benefited from the sacrifice of others. So if hearing that the CEO of Apple is gay can help someone struggling to come to terms with who he or she is, or bring comfort to anyone who feels alone, or inspire people to insist on their equality, then it’s worth the trade-off with my own privacy.  Read More 

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Elton John AIDS Foundation makes $300,000 (€236,000) donation to the HRC

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Sir Elton John and partner David Furnish announced a donation to the Human Rights Campaign, the largest LGBT civil rights organization in the US. The money will be used for HIV awareness and prevention programs, with a focus on young bisexual and gay men and transgender women.  Read More 

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US and Russia Fight Proxy War Over Gay Rights in Kyrgyzstan

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With a controversy over proposed gay rights legislation in Kyrgyzstan, the struggle between the United States and Russia for influence in Central Asia – traditionally seen as a conflict over pipelines and military bases – is taking on aspects of a culture war.

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Malaysia paper tells Muslims backing opposition is backing gay rights

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A right-wing Malaysian newspaper has said supporting opposition leader Anwar Ibrahim means supporting the international LGBTI rights movement ahead of his sodomy trial. Anwar has been prosecuted under the country's colonial anti-gay law four times in what LGBTI groups have called a politically motivated prosecution. He is appealing his March sentence of five years in jail.  Read More

Armenian Activists Sue Over Article Outing Several LGBT People

The editor of an Armenian newspaper is awaiting judgement in a lawsuit brought by several individuals after he published an article naming them as “gay rights lobbyists” and calling for them to be fired from their jobs and ostracized. The article was titled, “They serve the interests of international homosexual lobbying: the blacklist of country’s and nation’s enemies,” and named more than 50 individuals. Read More