Tuesday, February 28, 2017

Richmond, VA Recognized as a Top 10 LGBT Destination

 

Richmond, VA has been selected as a Top 10 finalist in the NatWest British LGBT Awards to determine the best LGBT Travel Destination. Top 10 destinations span the globe; Amsterdam, Barcelona, Miami, New York, Orlando, San Francisco, Sao Paulo, Stockholm and Vancouver are also in the running. The number one LGBT travel destination will be determined by votes accrued now through March 22.

The NatWest British LGBT Awards recognizes individuals, organizations and destinations that have demonstrated their commitment to the LGBT community. The winners will be announced at a star-studded awards party on May 12 in London. The ceremony itself, dubbed “the Gay Oscars,” is the most prominent LGBT-focused event in the UK. Media partners include The Independent, Huffington Post, Gay Star News, OK! and Out News Global. Wider exposure in the past has included coverage in national and international outlets including BBC News, Daily Mail, Daily Mirror, The Sun, the Daily Star, Gaydio and more.

Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney is asking for votes in a video recorded on the new T. Tyler Potterfield bridge with downtown Richmond and members of Richmond’s LGBT community behind him. Mayor Stoney said, “This is an exciting opportunity for Richmond to tell travelers how welcoming we are. Our wonderful community has so much to offer LGBT visitors and OutRVA has helped communicate that message. Let’s get out the vote and show the world that Richmond, Virginia is truly for ALL lovers.”

Mayor Stoney has been a strong supporter of the LGBT community, and officiated a same-sex wedding as his first act in office after his swearing in on Jan. 1.

OutRVA is Richmond Region Tourism’s award-winning campaign to highlight the area as a welcoming travel destination for LGBT visitors. In 2014, Richmond, Virginia did something no other destination had done. Through thoughtful coming out letters addressed to cities and LGBT celebrities, Richmond came out of the closet as being gay and welcoming. Visitors to the area are greeted by Out stickers that businesses display with pride and OutRVA “Insiders” share information with LGBT visitors on RichmondIsOut.com.

Katherine O’Donnell, Richmond Region Tourism’s Vice President of Community Relations, said “We’ve accomplished so much through the OutRVA campaign and put Richmond on the map as a welcoming destination. The British LGBT Awards can take Richmond to the next level and spread the word on an international scale.”

Tell your representative to support a ban on conversion therapy!

Your state representative sits on a committee in the Colorado legislature that will soon vote on a bill to protect LGBTQ young people from so-called “conversion therapy” — a dangerous and discredited practice that falsely claims to change someone's sexual orientation or gender identity.

Click here to ask your state rep to protect LGBTQ youth by supporting this ban.
All the nation’s leading medical and mental health organizations have come out against these practices — which include the use of shame, verbal abuse, and even aversion techniques like electric shocks — saying they pose serious health risks, including depression, guilt, helplessness, hopelessness, social withdrawal, and even suicide.

You can help end these practices in Colorado by telling your lawmaker that you want them to vote to protect LGBTQ young people.

No young person should ever be shamed by a mental health professional into thinking that who they are is wrong, and you can help protect them by calling or emailing your legislator now.

Off Bloom - Falcon Eye

 

Emerging Anglo-Danish trio Off Bloom shares the accompanying video for their new single 'Falcon Eye' today. Shot in Morocco, the video was directed by Nadia Marquard Otzen, the Danish director who also helmed the visual for the band's debut "Love To Hate It," which has racked up over 1.4 million Spotify streams.

Speaking about their new single, the band said, "'Falcon Eye' is about the fight between the ecstasy and destruction that exists in all great things: love, partying, passion, sex, believing, nature."

Are You Gay With Something To Say? Bloggers Wanted For Denver's Best Gay Blog!



Are you a new or experienced writer or blogger? Do you want to be? Or maybe you're just some gay guy with something to say? Well, what better forum for you than MileHighGayGuy?

MileHighGayGuy is looking for regular and guest bloggers to write about local news and events, do music and movie reviews, or write opinion or feature pieces from a gay perspective.

These are unpaid positions but offer the opportunity to be published in Colorado's Best Gay Blog (2010, 2011, 2012 OUTstanding Awards, Denver 2012 #WebAwards), expand your audience and gain valuable experience. There's also swag available in the form of free movie and concert tickets, music, books and other cool stuff.

If interested, shoot an email over to Drew Wilson at drew@milehighgayguy.com. And if you've got column or story ideas to pitch, this is the place to do it.

Monday, February 27, 2017

Do You Want To Reach Denver's Gay Community? Advertise With Denver's Best Gay Blog!

Do you want to advertise to Denver’s gay community? Of course you do, it’s the 7th largest in the United States! And the best way to reach them is with MileHighGayGuy – Colorado’s Best Gay Blog.
 

Just click the Advertising page or email sales@milehighgayguy.com to get started today.

Open Safe Zone Ally Training Opportunity


Andreja Pejic and Caitlyn Jenner attend Vanity Fair & Elton John Oscars Event

Model and LGBT Role Model, Andreja Pejic, graced last night's 2017 Vanity Fair Oscars Party and the 25th Annual Elton John AIDS Foundation Oscar Viewing Party in a gorgeous white cutout J Mendel gown – full outfit details below. She attended both events with Caitlyn Jenner.

In 2015 Pejić broke boundaries and made history as the first transgender model to be featured in American Vogue. She was also the first transgender woman to land a coveted cosmetic campaign with Make Up For Ever, which was renewed for its second year.

OUT in Theatres: Frantz


Set in Germany and France in the immediate aftermath of the First World War, (1914-1918), Frantz recalls the mourning period that follows great national tragedies as seen through the eyes of the war’s “lost generation”: Anna (21 year-old Paula Beer in a breakthrough performance), a bereft young German woman whose fiancé, Frantz, was killed during trench warfare, and Adrien (Pierre Niney, Yves Saint Laurent), a French veteran of the war who shows up mysteriously in her town, placing flowers on Frantz’s grave. 

Adrien's presence is met with resistance by the small community still reeling from Germany’s defeat, yet Anna gradually gets closer to the handsome and melancholy young man, as she learns of his deep friendship with Frantz, conjured up in evocative flashbacks. 

What follows is a surprising exploration of how Ozon's characters’ wrestle with their conflicting feelings - survivor’s guilt, anger at one’s losses, the overriding desire for happiness despite everything that has come before, and the longing for sexual, romantic and familial attachments.

Opens Friday, March 31 at Landmark's Chez Artiste Theatre


Nice To See StevieB: I Am Not One With The Force

By StevieB
 
I have never played a video game. Not Really.

I know, it seems strange, even to me in this day and age. I had played around with a game back in the 90’s, with Jamie the bestie. But I have never had a gaming system in the house. I have a strange addictive personality, where if I involve myself in something is becomes all-consuming. This is why I’ve never watch a single second of the television show, Glee. I know I would have quickly devolve into the biggest Gleeck, or Glick. I don’t have time to become obsessed with musicals again… I mean, Betty Buckley still has a Restraining Order out on my ass. 


I can tell you the beginning storyline, and ending story line for every character on Dynasty, Doctor Who, Dallas, and a dozen other shows before I identified my obsessive condition. With the amount of characters in Game of Thrones, I believe I couldn’t spare the brain space. So, spending free-time on video games, while I should be writing scathing essays on Shirley Chisolm for school, would be a catastrophe. 


Then we got an Xbox for Christmas. 


Can I tell you how embarrassing it is to be forty-five and not able to operate a controller? So, under the pretext of defending my honor, I have begun to “practice” my craft. A remote and icy planet in a remote star system known to locals as Hoth, is my training ground. Star Wars, Echo Base is where I will unleash my Jedi Powers. I have embraced the Dark Side. This means I can walk around and slash Rebel scum with my red Lightsaber. Really it’s because I can’t aim and shoot a blaster. Yet. I tried, but after having Princess Leia Organa of Alderaan, die seventeen times because of my incompetence in shooting her blaster, I switched to the Lightsaber. Too soon, Leia, too soon. 


I hope to one day be a gamer. When school isn't in session. Right now, I’m a pushing middle-age gay gamer Wannabe.

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Friday, February 24, 2017

Stonewall Fitness: Busting the Myths of Cardio

By David Smith

Cardiovascular exercise has been getting quite a bad reputation lately. It is indeed strenuous, can be long and with such other replacements such as High Intensity Interval Training, Crossfit, Powerlifting and what not. People are quick to ditch a long cardio session for a something better if anything at all, but is cardio really all that bad?

​Cardiovascular exercise has been apart of the human experience for thousands of years, both long endurance and shorter, high intensity cardio. From messengers running miles and miles between ancient cities, hunters chasing after animals and people crossing oceans with nothing but ores and the wind. Even today in many parts of the world, endurance running is a part of every day life and not just for athletes.

Cardiovascular endurance, as defined is “the body’s ability to continue exertion while getting energy from the aerobic glycolysis system used to supply the body with energy.”

​What exactly does that mean? Well the body utilizes 3 systems to Creatine Phosphate system which is designed for extremely short burst of high intensity exercise (think of Usain Bolt running the 100m). It only lasts for 10-40 seconds before switching over to Anaerobic glycolysis which can maintain moderate-high intensity exercise for 30 seconds up to 2-3 minutes. Finally Aerobic Oxidative glycolysis kicks in which you can sustain moderate amounts of exercises consistently for an extended period of time. This is the system that burns fat as it’s primary fuel source.

Myth #1
Cardiovascular Exercise is bad for you, particularly your heart.


For the average person on any level of conditioning, cardiovascular exercise has been shown to improve overall health and reduce the risk of developing coronary, metabolic and pulmonary diseases.


It also helps to strengthen the heart and cardiovascular systems by increasing the strength and size of the muscle tissue and improving stroke volume (the amount of blood the heart pumps on each beat), thus improving the efficiency of each beat.


Like anything in the world, too much can have negative effects, a deconditioned person trying to run a marathon with little to no training will likely hurt themselves. Listen to your body and approach your goals with baby steps.


People with heart disease, diabetes, obesity, or high cholesterol need to be more cautious and slow in the approach. While cardiovascular exercise will help reduce these risk factors, too much too soon can have the opposite effect. 


Myth #2 

High Intensity Interval Training (HIIT) is just as good or better than aerobic cardio.

HIIT is a different mode of training than long endurance, aerobic cardio. The two certainly are not exclusive and you will burn fat with both however HIIT doesn’t fully replace regular cardio. In order to run a marathon, you have to put in long hours of running. To do a bike tour, you need to spend hours riding a bike. HIIT cardio is good when you don’t have the time for a longer training session and it’s even better to add in during a long endurance training session. It is not a good replacement for long endurance training if that is your goal.


Adding short bursts of HIIT during a long run, bike ride, swim etc. Is very beneficial to add variety to an otherwise long and boring training session as well as help train the body for more than just “survival” (as in just surviving the long run, bike ride etc.) Nothing feels better than having the energy to sprint across the finish line or to overcome another competitor, getting up when you fall or climbing a hill during a long race. 


 Myth #3

 If it gets your heart rate up, it’s cardio right?

Nope.


Remember the definition of cardiovascular exercise? “The body’s ability to continue exertion while getting energy from the aerobic glycolysis system used to supply the body with energy.”


Aerobic glycolysis doesn’t happen until your already consistently exercising for 2 or more minutes at a time when your aerobic glycolysis energy system starts to burn fat as it’s primary fuel source. HIIT training and Long Endurance Cardio utilize this system because the bouts tend to last from several minutes to several hours.


Other exercises such as power lifting will get your heart rate up but you will not be able to sustain that level of training for more than a few seconds before resting, That is not cardio, that is power lifting and strength training. 


​There are many aspects of physical fitness. Muscular Strength, Muscular Endurance, Cardiovascular Endurance, HIIT, Flexibility and Body Composition. For the best physical fitness and health make sure your training program contains all the different components.

Pink Triangle Press Names David Walberg Executive Director

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Thursday, February 23, 2017

Working It Out - An LGBTQ Career Event

The LGBTQ Student Resource Center's annual LGBTQ career event, Working It Out, will be held on Wednesday, March 1 from 11am-2pm. 

OUT on DVD/VOD: Utopians

Breaking Glass Pictures has acquired North American rights to the LGBT/Drama Romance UTOPIANS (aka Tung lau hap woo), the newest feature film from Hong Kong LGBT auteur SCUD (Amphetamine, City Without Baseball).
 

UTOPIANS held its world premiere at the New Director’s Film Festival in Japan. The film later held its US Premiere at the Palm Springs International Film Festival, and went on to play at Outfest FUSION and the Chicago International Film Festival.

Richard Wolff, CEO of Breaking Glass, and Amanda Rae Simon, Esq. negotiated the deal with writer/director SCUD and Nicky Ma of Artwalker Limited located in Hong Kong.

“My last four consecutive films were in the Chicago International Film Festival, and a friend once told me he saw one of my films looped on TV the whole night in a famous club in New York”, said writer/director SCUD. “If I could see my work on the street as well, watched by the people I adore and admire, it would be a dream come true.”

“We have long been admirers of the beautiful films from SCUD”, said Richard Ross, Co-President of Breaking Glass. “Utopians is sleek, sexual, literate and an immensely engaging work of art.”

Breaking Glass is planning a premium VOD and DVD release in early May.

Trump's Title IX guidance removal "outrageous attack on ... vulnerable"

The National LGBTQ Task Force is condemning President Trump's decision to remove guidance that helps provide protections for transgender students in our nation's education system.

"This is an outrageous attack on the most vulnerable in our education system, transgender children. At a time when young people need all the help they can get to reach their full potential, all Trump has to offer is more opportunities to discriminate against them. When every parent of a trans child needs hope and optimism for their families, all the president has to offer is pain and despair," said Rea Carey, Executive Director, National LGBTQ Task Force.

The historic guidance to Title IX, providing support and protections to transgender students was issued by the Obama Administration. It provided clarity on matters such as: the right of students to not be discriminated against, or bullied because of their gender identity, to be addressed by the names and pronouns that correspond to their identity, using the bathroom matching their gender identity, among others. The guidance has been challenged in court by the opponents of LGBTQ equality.