FROM THE EDITOR.

Celebrations, sex stuff, and Cheyenne in the city!

As the world winds up its Pride celebrations, I’m sorry to report that there’s very little to celebrate in Tanzania. The local LGBTIQ population have now be the subject of a near 12-month government “crackdown on gays”. Thousands have fled the country and others are in hiding.

At the whim of a member of the public, anyone can be reported as merely being suspected of being gay and they face arrest. You can imagine how easily this situation could be open to abuse. Got a beef with your neighbour? Report him to the police as being gay.

Our correspondent, Munyarukumbuzi Emmanuel, himself living in neighbouring Rwanda, has managed to track down interviewees who, with the promise of anonymity, have told us just how dire the situation currently is. Once in custody, LGBTIQ people are vulnerable to both sexual assault and extortion at the hands of the authorities.

There is a very cruel irony in being found guilty of the crime of consensual sex with your boyfriend, only to be raped in jail by the police.

Telling the stories of oppressed LGBTIQ people in other countries remains incredibly important to me. Our Stonewall revolution has not liberated us all. In the last 50 years, while we in the West have made incredible strides forward, other countries have either slid backwards or actively decided to

persecute gays.

The cops who routinely beat up and took money from “the queers” at The Stonewall Inn all those years ago saw us in the same way that some governments still see us today: as easy targets. Tanzanian President John Magufuli and his Regional Commissioner of Dar-esSalaam Paul Makonda, who have orchestrated this crusade, are little more than thugs.

So, when does Tanzania have its Stonewall uprising? I’m afraid that moment is a long way off and many lives will be destroyed before then.

To more localised issues… your sex life! This month we welcome a new contributing voice, Liam J O’Byrne’s column, Fun, Flaws And Other F Words. To kick off, Liam asks, “Is monogamy the new minority?” Why is the idea of a monogamous couple so entrenched as the relationship ideal, and what are the gays up to that eschews the rules? Many of you already know… open or polygamous arrangements. But it seems this is not new, so why don’t we talk about it? Over coming months, Liam will be discussing issues of sex, relationships and dating from his single-boy point of view.

We also poke our nose into your bedroom with Cameron McCool’s My Best Sex Move column this month: How To Revive A Dead Sex Life. As it turns out, it’s not all about kinky sex and wild experiments. The answer is possibly much simpler and more surprising than you imagined.

On the photo front we are thrilled to have a ten-page fashion story featuring Cheyenne Parker. This LA hottie has been on the cover of DNA before and has since found TV fame on US reality shows Fire Island and Ex On The Beach. If you haven’t seen them think “sexy gays behaving badly”. Cheyenne brings his laidback, brooding sensuality to the shoot and we are working on even more stories featuring him. Stay tuned.

Our other great features this month include a visit to Drag Con, RuPaul’s amazing expo of drag, a revealing interview with the Peter Pan Of Pop, Will Young on turning 40, and our report from Hakuba, where Japan’s first Gay Ski Week happened earlier this year and looks set to return in 2020.

There’s tons to read and plenty to feast your eyes on this issue. I hope you enjoy it as much as we loved putting it together.

There’s a cruel irony in being found guilty of the crime of consensual sex with your boyfriend, only to be raped in jail by the police.