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ON THE COVER:
RICKY TISHLER
BY SIMON LE

#203

26 PAG ES OF B A NG I N’ B E ACH W E A R FOR B LOK ES!

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DNA (ISSN 1443-1122) is published monthly in Australia by DNA Men Nexus Pty Ltd, PO
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8 DNA
CONTENT 203 #
Regulars Fashion
53 SUMMER AT ROCKY POINT
12 FROM THE EDITOR Brief, bold and sexy, this season’s swimwear
looks are ready for action. Your 2017 Summer
14 BURNTTOAST
starts here…
16 LOVING
66 SUMMER STYLE
18 NUTTIER THAN A SQUIRREL TURD Gentlemen, with a few well-chosen basics, you
can rock summer stylishly.
20 MONTH IN A MINUTE
72 BEACH BOY
30 MUSIC Sporty styling with a fashion edge – you’re
32 THEATRE gonna own the beach this summer!

34 DEAR DIVA
36 BOOKS
40 HEALTH
43 FOOD
50 STRAIGHT MATE
98 URBAN HOMO

Samples
22 FREE GAY APPY!
24 CALENDAR BOYS
26 HAROLD MAXWELL
28 JAKE MONACO
Features
46 ARMY OF MEN
The leatherwear revolution.
78 HARVEY FIERSTEIN
“Write your own damn story!”
80 HIV AND ME
Coming out as HIV-positive.
82 PETE BURNS
Gone, but he did it his way!
88 MARILYN On the cover: Simon Dunn
My crack addiction and comeback! wears V10 Icon Beachwear by
2Eros. Photography by Chris-
90 JOSH THOMAS tian Scott. Story starts page 50.
“I just want people to like it. It’s in the title!”
92 REFUGEE CRISIS On the cover:
Gay, homeless and stateless. Ricky Tishler wears Supawear swim briefs.
Photography by Simon Le
96 JAMAICA Story starts page 52.
A gay rights work in progress.
This page: Ricky wears Teamm8 Universe swim briefs.

10 DNA
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SKIN IRRITANTS COSMECEUTICALS AS
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Now available at
 FROM THE EDITOR / Andrew Creagh
Trumpty Dumpty
THE ONLY WAY IS DOWN.
Even before he’s been sworn in as President,
Donald Trump has broken many of his key
campaign promises.
First to fall was the wall. The great big wall he
was going to build to keep out murdering, raping,
drug-dealing Mexicans is off the To-Do List.
That’s no surprise. The wall would’ve needed
to be 3,000 kilometres long. In an Australian
context, it would be the equivalent of building a
wall from Perth to Canberra.
Deporting unregistered immigrants? During
the campaign he promised to remove all
(estimated) 11 million. Since then he’s revised it
down to just the ones convicted of crimes (about
two or three million) and then revised that down
again to “only once the border is secure”. But, as
we now know, the wall is not being built.
What about that special task force to
investigate Hillary Clinton so they can, “Lock
her up! Lock her up!” as the campaign chant
went? Not happening.
Then there was the threat to take legal action
against journalists who had allegedly defamed
him during the campaign. Donald has decided
not to go ahead with that plan either.
Syrian refugees “every single one of them” will
now not be sent back to Syria.
Trade war with China? Nope, it’s going to be
business as usual.
Draining the swamp of Washington
bureaucrats and insiders? Well, so far, some of
his proposed advisers are looking decidedly
“swampy” even if they lack any real experience
in politics or public policy making. And it’s the
murky swamp creatures of his inner-circle that
should have the LGBTI community worried.
During the campaign Trump sent mixed
messages. He vowed to appoint supreme court
justices who would be sympathetic to overturning
same-sex marriage. Yet, on a campaign platform,
he waved a rainbow flag and, since his election,
has told 60 Minutes the marriage equality issue
is “settled”.
His proposed White House team, however,
have impressive anti-gay résumés.
The most alarming is Vice President-elect
12 DNA
Mike Pence. He has supported constitutional
change to ban same-sex marriage because it’s
not “God’s will”. He signed a bill that would
have jailed same-sex couples from even applying
for a marriage licence in Indiana. He wants to
divert funding away from HIV treatment and
research and redirect it into gay conversion
therapies – the “pray the gay away” programs
run by churches at great profit. He was on the
board of Indiana’s anti-gay Focus On The Family
committee and helped them gain state funding
for their activities. He has described hate-crime
legislation as a “radical social agenda” that
oppresses religious expression. He believes
businesses should have the right to discriminate
against gay people on the grounds of religious
belief. He has already announced that he will
roll back President Obama’s landmark LGBTI
protections. If Trumpty Dumpty has a great fall,
this is the man who will become President.
The murky swamp
creatures of Trump’s
inner-circle should have
the LGBTI community
worried.”
Trump’s choice for Secretary Of Education,
Betsy DeVos has, together with her husband and
extended family, donated hundreds of thousands
of dollars to the same “pray the gay away”
conversion therapies espoused by Focus On The
Family. Yes, Mike Pence’s pet project.
Jeff Sessions will be the new Attorney General,
the nation’s top legal expert. He has opposed
both same-sex marriage and the Matthew
Sheppard hate-crime laws.
Stephen Bannon has been named Trump’s
chief White House strategist. He’s the guy who
ran Brietbart, the alt-right propaganda website
that masquerades as news. He hosted a Gays For
Trump party during the election and employed
Milo Yiannopoulos, the xenophobic, anti-Semitic,
Illustration Troy Murphy
white nationalist, gay columnist who was banned
from Twitter for harassment and being racist and
misogynistic.
Some American commentators have already
raised the prospect of Trump not lasting the
four years of his office. There is a view that
he only wanted to win the election; that’s he’s
not interested in the responsibility of actually
being President. Others have speculated that
the Republicans will find a way to remove him
(possibly through impeachment) because they
find him too difficult to control and would prefer
a Mike Pence presidency.
Whether he stays or goes, the American
LGBTI community are almost certainly in for
some dark days. Marriage equality probably can’t
be reversed. There’s no executive order that could
repeal it. However, there are a thousand ways that
LGBTI rights could be sabotaged by a hostile
government – from trans health to adoption and
surrogacy, to gays in immigration applications to
the implementation of gay conversion therapies.
Perhaps now is a good time to remind
ourselves that civil rights don’t just have to be
fought for – they have to be protected from
erosion. The last eight years have seen gay
rights advance in the USA because they were
perceived as human rights, because it was fair,
because people believe in equality. If those rights
are rolled back it will be because of religious
dogma. The attacks will come from extremely
well-funded “pay for pray” churches and loud,
passionate ideologues. Prepare the barricades.
Founding Editor
Andrew Creagh
 NEW COLLECTION
RECREATION
INSPIRED
UNDERWEAR.

SHOP ONLINE
BCNUCLOTHING.COM
.
burnttoast @ dnamagazine.com.au
INSIDE THE MINDS OF DNA READERS! EMAILS, LETTERS, TWEETS, FACEBOOK POSTS, CARRIER PIGEON DISPATCHES AND RAMBLINGS
homophobic right-wing crazies in his party and trend is OVER! Gotta love a man with some
refused to have a free vote in the parliament, sweet, sticky, smelly fur to rub your face in. –
which would succeed in legalizing marriage Gareth, WA
equality. His gutlessness has shown that he is no In fact, seven of the covers from the last 12
real friend of Dorothy. – Revboy months have featured hairy chests. Sorry to
disappoint this month. – Ed.
Malcom Turnbull used to believe in climate
change. He used to believe in gay marriage. He
used to be a forward-thinking social progressive. DNA POLL: SHOULD THE
He also used to be sexy. What happened? – SYDNEY GAY AND LESBIAN
Alexander Of Bondi MARDI GRAS OFFICIALLY
UNINVITE PRIME MINISTER
JOSH THOMAS
MALCOLM TURNBULL FROM
Make Josh Thomas Australian Of The Year. –
THE 2017 PARADE?
Sexydude03

Why am I the only one of my gay freinds who

watches Please Like Me and thinks Josh Thomas
YES
41%
is a genius? – Rudi Westin
NO
SIMON DUNN ON THE COVER OF #202 Because, Rudi, you are the smart, handsome,
38%
Simon on the cover is a winner except for the emotionally intelligent one of the group.
leg ink – but his tan line more than makes up for Please Like Me is brilliant. – Ed. WHO
CARES
that! – Radar 69 22%
So sexy! – Eduardo Gonzalez HAIRY CHESTS, THANKS!
Nice, nice, nice. – ArjanAlex Scheffer-Koster Great to see two hairy chests on the cover of
A beautiful man, a great athlete. – Marc Coca consecutive DNA magazines. Not just the chests
He’s so goddamn sexy but I never got over but the torso also and the “snail trail” down to
those tiger tattoos. When he got them I was the honey pot. I, for one, am glad the hairless
like, “Dude... what the...?” Since then I prefer
JUMP TO
LATEST
him with longer pants. LOL. Of course, it’s his POLL
prerogative and he’s still hot as hell and also a
very funny guy but that’s some ink that just looks
weird. – Raffael Müller

DONALD TRUMP
Of course the election of Donald Trump is of
great concern, not just to the LGBT community
but indeed all minorities and the community at
large. One can only hope that he performs better
in office than he did during the primaries and
the campaign. An even bigger upset, in my mind
anyway, was Californians rejecting proposition
60 to ensure condom use in porn movies. A very
sad reflection indeed on society. – Maturetop49 JESUS IN A JOCKSTRAP
We would love to see more of
SHOULD MALCOLM TURNBULL BE the guy from the cover of DNA
UNINVITED TO MARDI GRAS? #201. Jesus in a jockstrap we
The PM is welcome to attend Mardi Gras call him. – David and Ash
as is anyone else. It would be wrong, even Happy to oblige! Here’s Jesus
hypocritical, to invite him as a special guest. (real name James) in some
He has turned his back on the community Cocksox. Hallelujah! – Ed.
over marriage equality. He has caved in to the

14 DNA
 NEW ARRIVAL
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THE STUFF WE’RE
We didn’t come
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TOSSA
TOSSA
HAPPY “Why are there so many
BIRTHDAY, sexy girl figures on the
market and no men?” ask
MR PRIME the developers of Tossa

MINISTER Tossa My Bear Guy on

their Kickstarter page.
As if Justin Trudeau wasn’t At launch, Tossa will
already Christ-like enough, the come with a wardrobe
dreamy Canadian PM’s birthday of jaunty outfits
is, wait for it… December 25. including a onesie,
Heavenly choirs! a gingham shirt,
denim shorts and
hiking boots and
possibly something
a little more kinky/
erotic. His head will
move and his arms will
be articulated but his
legs won’t because the
designers want to keep
the great shape of his
hips and butt.

Win An African
Holiday At The
Every year, this DNA Pool Party!
calendar fetishising Thanks to Prestige Safaris, you could win
orthodox priests and a trip for two on a five-night holiday in
naked men beguiles Botswana. The prize, which is valued at over
and intrigues us. Is it a $6,500 includes two nights at glamorous
calendar for men who Camp Kuzuma and three nights at Bakwena
like sex with priests, Lodge. To be in the running to win, sign up
or a calendar for to Prestige Safari’s mailing list at the pool
priests who like kinky party. The winner will be announced on the
gay sex? day. Terms and conditions will apply.

16 DNA
 Happy: “I’m dating
the quarterback” in
Sinister: a teen killer in We The Perks Of Being A Fearful: oppressed in Fan- Sexy: as The Flash in
Need To Talk About Kevin. Wallflower. tastic Beasts. Justice League.

A RICH
FAGGOT,
YES.
Cristiano Ronaldo’s on-field altercation with Koke has us intrigued. Atletico
Madrid player Koke (like Cher, he only has one name) called Ronaldo a faggot.
Ronaldo, the world’s highest paid footballer for Real Madrid, replied, “A
faggot, yes, but a rich one, bastard.” The authenticity of the exchange has
been corroborated by Spanish radio who claim they heard it but somehow did
not record it, and by sports journalists who say it was confirmed by Ronaldo
himself to his team mates after the match. It follows speculation that Ronaldo
is in a relationship with Moroccon kickboxer, Badr Hadri. Perhaps the quote
is accurate but did he mean it or was he attempting to rile his opponent
or employ sarcasm? Meanwhile, Atletico Madrid supporters chant “Vete a
Marruecos” (Go to Morocco) at Ronaldo. Watch this space. Meanwhile, our
advice for Koke: don’t pick a fight with a kickboxer.
DNA 17
 NUTTIER THAN A SQUIRREL
(HERE’S WHAT THE HATERS HAVE BEEN SAYING…)
TURD Compiled by Torsten Hojer.

“Throughout history… societal collapse was

always brought about following an advent of the
deterioration of marriage and family.”
Pence in 2006, supporting an amendment to legally define marriage as between one man
and one woman only.

“Congress should support the re-authorisation of the Ryan

White Care Act* only after completion of an audit to ensure
that federal dollars were no longer being given to organisations
that celebrate and encourage the types of behaviours that
facilitate the spreading of the HIV virus. Resources should be
directed toward those institutions which provide assistance to
those seeking to change their sexual behaviour.”
Pence writing on his website in 2000, suggesting funding for HIV care should be redirected to
so-called “gay conversion therapy”. *The Ryan White HIV/AIDS Programme is the largest federal
program focused specifically on providing HIV care and treatment services to people living with HIV.

“There’s no question [that] to mainstream homosexuality

within active duty military would have an impact on unit
cohesion, would have an impact on recruitment [and] an
impact on readiness. That’s been established and written
about and chronicled for many years.”
Pence in 2010, in reference to calls from activists to repeal the controversial “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell”
policy, which barred openly gay personnel from serving in the US military. However, as the name
suggests, if you didn’t tell, and weren’t asked, you could. It was repealed in 2011.

“Homosexuals are not, as a group, able bodied. They are

known to carry extremely high rates of disease brought
on because of the nature of their sexual practices and the
promiscuity which is a hallmark of their lifestyle.”
Donald Trump is to be the President Of The Pence in 1993, attacking gay leadership in the military.
United States Of America for the next four

“The demand is that gaydom will be elevated from a

years. But, if Trumpty Dumpty were to have
a great fall, the presidency would pass to his
Vice President, Mike Pence, a man who is as pathological condition or mere sexual preference to the
homophobic as Trump is sexiest, racist and status of one of several natural human divergences like
hair or skin colour.”
deluded. This month’s column is dedicated to
Mr Pence’s decades-long history of opposing
gay civil rights. – Pence writing about gay journalism in the Indiana Policy Review in 1993.

18 DNA
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MONTH IN A MINUTE / with Torsten Højer
On Saturday he slipped his finger into
my ring at last. #married
Julian Clary’s tweet upon marrying long-term partner
Ian Mackley on 19 November.
›› ISRAELI ACTIVISTS respond to a Jewish
Rabbi’s anti-gay comments with messages
of love and peace. The Meretz Group
protest Chief Rabbi Shlomo Amar’s
comments that homosexuality
is an “abomination” and
punishable by execution
under Jewish law.
They cover his
office with rainbow
flags and the
message: “May
you have a week of
love, pride and full
acceptance of the
other.”
›› SWEDISH HUNK Gustav
Hallen offers Americans wanting
to leave the US following Donald Trump’s
election win the chance to marry him and
gain Swedish citizenship – on eBay. The
blond Adonis starts bids at $50,000. The
listing, unfortunately, breaks eBay’s terms as
well as Sweden’s rules regarding legitimate
marriages, so cannot be redeemed.
“It was just for fun,” Hallen tells
CNN. “Then I saw a lot of
people were sharing it.
The best thing was the
reaction. People laughed
at it.”
›› FIFTY-FIVE PERCENT
of gay and bisexual men
in China feel they can’t
come out. The news came
via a study by gay lifestyle
app Blued which asked almost
17,000 in-the-closet users about being
open about their sexuality in the next five
years. Three-quarters of participants say
family pressures make it impossible to
come out. Around two-thirds say society’s
perceptions prevent them from being open
about their sexuality.
20 DNA
›› HOOK-UP APP TINDER launches a new
feature allowing users to identify as trans. On
sign-up, users can choose trans, trans man,
trans woman or transgender, alongside man and
woman, to describe themselves. The move The internet goes wild after US actor Warren Beatty
comes after calls for inclusivity from praises his trans son Stephen, 24, in an interview
trans activists. with Vanity Fair. “He’s a revolutionary, a genius,
and my hero, as are all my children,” says Beatty,
›› AN ICELANDIC TRANS who dated Madonna in the early 1990s. Vanity
MAN gives birth to a baby Fair writes that Stephen, a poet and writer, “is
girl. Nineteen-year-old challenging cultural norms of sexuality, is an activist
Henrý Steinn fell pregnant for the transgender community.”
during his transition by
his boyfriend Doddi, just
before he started taking
testosterone. He tells Gay
Iceland: “I was well into the
consultation and was living as a
man but was about one or two months
away from starting the hormone treatment
when I found out I was pregnant.”
New Kids On The Block singer Jonathan Knight
›› GAY MALE PENGUIN COUPLE, Dotty and (above right on The Amazing Race) proposes to his
Zee celebrate their 10th anniversary. The boyfriend Harley Rodriguez (above, left). Knight,
pair, who live at Germany’s Bremerhaven who was a heartthrob in the ’90s US boyband,
Zoo, have been in a dedicated proposes while the couple are holidaying in Africa.
penguin partnership since “It was just absolutely beautiful, it was so romantic,”
2016. They are, reportedly, he tells Sirius Radio. The new follows hot on the
“inseparable”. There are heels of singer Ricky Martin’s engagement to
three other gay male conceptual artist, Jwan Yosef.
penguin couples at the
same zoo.
›› FOOTBALL HUNK
Cristiano Ronaldo
keeps rumours about
his sexuality alive. He
responds to being called
a faggot with the words: “a
faggot, yes. But a rich one, bastard.”
Ronaldo, who plays for Real Madrid, was Former Spice Girl Victoria Beckham models a World
allegedly called the gay slur by Spanish AIDS Day T-Shirt designed by her daughter Harper.
International player Koke during a game. The T-Shirts are sold to raise money for UNAIDS
It comes after unconfirmed reports that and Born Free Africa. They are launched to mark
Ronaldo is dating Moroccan kickboxer World AIDS Day on 1 December. Beckham is an
Badh Hari. International Goodwill Ambassador for UNAIDS.
PUM P! ne
wcol
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© 2016PUM P!® Al sr
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i ved
eser

PUM PUNDERW EAR.

COM
DNA SAMPLES /
FREE, GAY AND APPY
MYLIFE+ is a health and wellbeing app for
people with HIV. It helps empower people
to take control of their health, happiness and
connectedness. It was developed by ViiV
Healthcare in partnership with the National
Association Of People with HIV Australia
(NAPWHA) and was designed in consultation
with the HIV-positive community.
The first app of its kind, MyLife+ opens with
an animated screen, greeting users with the
question “how are you feeling today”. It contains
simple functionality that can be grouped into
Health Trackers, Planning, Journaling and
allows the app user to generate a customisable
health progress report that can be shared with
a healthcare professional of choice, with the
information of their choosing such as medication
history, blood results, quality of life, moods and
health concerns.
The launch of MyLife+ occurred alongside
the launch of NAPWHA’s Good Quality Of Life
campaign, which is all about empowering people
22 DNA
Image: Sizzel
with HIV to stay happy, healthy and connected.
The campaign explores stories from a diverse
range of people who share the things they do to
maintain a good quality of life and explain how
modern HIV treatments have delivered better
outcomes for them.
MORE: www.goodqualityoflife.com.au
www.mylifeplus.com.au or search MyLife+ in the
App Store and Google Play.
SQUIRT.ORG is versatile! Think of this app as a
sex database! For men in your neighbourhood
the app works as a geo-locator like other
apps, but it also allows you to build a detailed
personal profile so that other users can see
what you’re into before you turn up on their
doorstep. Load favourite photos and videos,
start conversations. Squirt can also tell you
where the happening beats and cruising
grounds are in your neighbourhood. Squirt is
uncensored so expect fairly “adult” content.
Download the app and log on to the site.
Remember that it’s Squirt.org not .com.
SIZZEL is the latest location-based dating app.
The main feature is the 1970s-style hanky
code, informing other users what your likes,
preferences and fetishes are – and how you
like them. Sizzel is for everybody – bears,
muscle boys, twinks, otters, preppies, jocks,
daddies. It may be sports gear, leather and
rubber, uniforms, suits or speedos. Whatever
makes you Sizzel you’ll meet your match here.
BRO is a social app for men who are looking
for more than just short-term flings and hook-
ups. The Bro app is designed for men who
want to find lasting friendship or a long-term
romance. This specifically applies more to
men in the gay/bi community, but the app is
open and welcoming to all men, no matter how
they identify.
w w w. c oc k s ox. com
DNA SAMPLES /

Make A Date SOME SEXY 2017 CALENDARS…

RED HOT 100’s 2017 Calendar revisits some previously seen

images from photographer Thomas Knights but is still the
best place to spice up your year with some ginger heat.
Knight’s Red Hot II contains new images but also includes
shots of women, which may not appeal to all readers.

LAST YEAR, Byron Bay photographer John Bortolin produced an

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photographer Rick Day.
COLT STUDIOS has been producing erotic calendars for decades. They have
a stable of bestsellers (Hairy Chested, Leather, Butt Beautiful) but every
year they experiment with something different. One year it was couples,
another it was a solo calendar featuring red-head Seth Fornea. For 2017,
they’ve featured models with foreskins in their Uncut calendar. Judging
by early sales, this new initiative may even eclipse their bestselling Hairy
Chested Men calendar!
inexpensive, small-format calendar that still packed in plenty of full-frontal
nudity as well as those stunning Byron Bay vistas. For 2017 there’s a new
Manscapes calendar in a larger size and with all-new photography. In
addition, John has produced a tribute calendar to one of his models, who
tragically committed suicide last year. The Rhys McNaughton Memorial
Calendar is a charity initiative to raises funds and awareness.
For more from John Bortolin go to manscapes.com.au
LONDON-BASED photographer Paul
Dedona’s debut calendar Barcelona
2017 depicts male beauties disrobed in
a sexy hotel room. Ruggedly handsome
but mostly smooth-chested, his models
are semi-naked or bulging enticingly in
tight, white undies. Sexy but tasteful.
For more from Paul Dedona go to
pauldedona.com
MORE: A range of 2017 calendars
can be viewed at The Bookshop
Darlinghurst’s website:
thebookshop.com.au

24 DNA
 Best Undies Ever!

Connect & Win :

www.garconmodel.com
DNA SAMPLES /
Meet
Harry
Minogue!
HE’S A LITTLE BIT KYLIE AND A LITTLE
BIT DANNII… MAYBE IT’S TIME TO GET
A WEE BIT EXCITED, THEN, FOR AUSSIE
NEWCOMER (AND NO ACTUAL MINOGUE
RELATION AT ALL) HAROLD MAXWELL!
INTERVIEW BY MARC ANDREWS.
DNA: How long have you been chasing the
pop star dream?
Harold Maxwell: I started recording demos in
high school, usually just for fun but it was also
a way to express myself. I became more serious
with it last year working with music producers in
Melbourne, Sydney and Perth.
Who were your pop idols when you were
growing up?
Dangerous by Michael Jackson was the first
record I ever bought followed by all of Mariah
Carey’s records so I guess you could say I’m a
bit of a royalist when it comes to pop music. But
I absolutely love Will Young. In terms of who I’d
most like to be as an artist, it’s Will.
What is it about Will that you admire most?
His ability to transform his image with each
album and have fun with music.
What were you like as a teenager?
I was a bit of a nerd but definitely not shy. I’d find
any reason to be on stage from debating to acting. I
grew up in a multicultural family so we celebrated
it all – Christmas, Eid and Chinese New Year. That
gave me an open mind when I view life.
Was music always your “safe place” and your
saving grace?
It has been and always will be. Growing up I used
to make music to express myself and say the things
I wanted to say but couldn’t in real life. Writing
songs is quite therapeutic. It can make me happy
when I’m down; it can elevate my mood. Writing
music is expression and passion – you gotta write
about something passionate to get a hit song.
Do you have a day job as well as being a
budding pop star?
Yes, I do! To fund my popstar lifestyle [laughs] I
actually run a restaurant – fine food and wine is
26 DNA
HAVE A LISTEN
TO HARRY’S IN
THE DARK!
my second passion.
Who do you see as your contemporaries?
The Weeknd, Zayn Malik, Guy Sebastian, Joel
Adams and Dua Lipa.
You’ve also namechecked Pet Shop Boys and
Calvin Harris as musical inspirations.
They are the acts I used to dance to and a lot of
my music takes be back to that time and brings
back a lot of memories. That’s the power of
music, which I’d like to share with the world.
You’re speaking to a gay magazine. What’s
the appeal of that for you?
Firstly, I’d like to reach out to all kinds of people
from all walks of life with my music. Secondly,
the gay culture is so happening, forward and
most of all, fun – these are the things I’d like my
music to be associated with.
Where do you stand on the sexuality
spectrum?
I used to collect Polly Pockets when I was a kid
so I can be pretty camp sometimes [laughs].
Do you see yourself playing gay festivals and
events in the future?
If there’s glitter and a disco ball I’m on [laughs].
I’d love to duet with Kylie on stage one day.
Are you more Kylie or Dannii?
Oh, that’s a hard one! Do I really have to pick?
I’d say performance-wise I’m Kylie, but music-
wise I’m Dannii.
Has Dami Im changed people’s expectations
of what to expect from Australian artists?
Definitely. Dami has shown the world the
Australian music scene is as hot and current as
ever. She is truly the perfect music ambassador
for us at the moment.
If you had the chance to cover one song, what
I grew up in a
multicultural family
so we celebrated it all
– Christmas, Eid and
Chinese New Year.
would it be?
That’s a tough cookie! Ummm, maybe a revised
duet with Will Young for Leave Right Now. It’s
one of his most honest tracks.
Is world domination part of your plan?
I’d like to dominate music charts all over the
world, that’s for sure, but what’s more important
for me is to connect with my fans through my
music. Will Young, Mariah Carey, Michael
Jackson did it for me before and I want to pass
this on to the next generation.
What’s the one thing that might surprise
people about you?
I’m a self-taught musician and, I must admit, I
wasn’t the best singer when I started years back.
I never gave up hope, though, and eventually
found my sound. And I used to have an eleventh
finger when I was a baby.
Oh!
MORE: Harold’s single In the Dark is out on
iTunes and all major online music outlets. His EP
will be out in February. Find him on Facebook
(haroldfaizal) or on Instagram and Soundcloud as
Harold Maxwell.
 Summer is here
Australia

lunchmenswear.com.au Liquid Lunch Swim Briefs

DNA SAMPLES /
ABSOLUTELY JAKE
JAKE MONACO IS THE NEW KING OF THE
SOUNDTRACK… AND A BIG ENOUGH
QUEEN TO CALL MISS PIGGY A BITCH!
STORY BY MARC ANDREWS.
DNA: Has music always been the biggest
passion in your life?
Jake: Apparently my dad took me to the circus
when I was two and I had zero interest in the
animals or clowns but I went over and conducted
the pit band!
When did you realise you had a gift?
I started learning the guitar around five or six
years old. I taught myself by watching other
guitarists play.
Is guitar your favourite instrument?
Anything that looks like a guitar – mandolin,
ukulele, banjo – I can make my way around.
How did you get into the entertainment
industry?
After I graduated from university (Richmond,
Virginia) I looked into the film scoring program
at USC. I visited, fell in love immediately,
applied and was accepted.
What was your big break?
I was hired as an assistant to Christophe Beck
and over eight years was involved in over 40
films including The Hangover trilogy and
Frozen. None of us had any idea how big that
would become. In 2014 I was hired to score
Dinotrux and Be Cool Scooby Doo. This past
year Absolutely Fabulous and Keeping Up With
The Joneses came along.
Do you hang with many celebrity buddies?
Nah, I’m not that cool… yet!
What’s your proudest achievements to date?
That my kid is still alive!
Tell us about meeting your partner.
My husband, Ryland, is a musical theater actor I
met back in Richmond. He and his friends would
come to the bar I worked at on Sunday nights.
I’d send a drink over to his table every once in a
while and we eventually became friends. When
I finally had the nerve to ask him out I found out
he was in a long-term relationship… That didn’t
last too much longer.
When did make the decision to have a family?
We both wanted kids so it was just a matter of
when. After a couple of years of taking some
wild vacations (an Atlantis Cruise, Madrid Pride,
to name a couple), we calmed down and felt the
28 DNA
Embrace your gay, but
remember – that’s not
all you are.
time was right.
Talk us through that process of how you came
to have Tommy.
We joined an adoption agency called Lifelong
Adoptions who specialize in non-traditional
family adoptions for gay/lesbian/single parents.
They only work with birthmothers who are
currently pregnant. About six months later we
were matched with a wonderful young woman
who was six-months pregnant. We were at the
hospital in Florida when Tommy was born. We
headed back to California as soon as Tommy was
cleared for flight.
What about being a parent has changed you
the most?
Everything! Ten pm is late. Two drinks is one
too many. Target is an “exciting adventure”. But
hearing that little voice call for Daddy (Ryland)
or Daddo (me) is the best thing to wake up to.
Did you ever imagine, growing up, that this is
what your life would look like now?
Never! I wanted to be a rock star in high school.
Maybe I’ll get closer to that goal at some point!
Do you support a political cause or issue?
I’ve always supported my friends who are
amazing enough to do the 910-kilometre AIDS
Life Cycle from San Francisco to LA. I haven’t
Jake (left), Ryland and son Tommy.
DISCOVER MUSIC
BY JAKE
been politically active in the past but after this
election result that may change.
What’s one thing that might surprise people
about you?
Since Tommy was born, we’ve all been learning
sign language. Babies are apt to physical
communication before they can verbalise.
You’ve worked with The Muppets – who was
your favourite?
Miss Piggy. That bitch can go from loving and
cuddly to complete fury and back again in
seconds. I can relate.
How did the Ab Fab gig come about?
I’d seen a few early episodes and knew the gist
of the show but wasn’t a die-hard fan. After
watching the movie I better appreciate the series.
They wanted something contemporary to help
bring Eddie and Patsy to the present day. Most of
the score is processed synths, guitars and other
weird ear candy, until we get to France where
there is an accordion techno chase cue. Look for
that one in the clubs!
Are you more Eddie or Patsy?
I started as Saffy, then went hard right Patsy, and
have settled a bit more Eddie. Patsy still rears her
head every once in a while depending on how
much Bolli is involved.
What’s your message to the gay boys of the
world?
Embrace your gay, but remember – that’s not all
you are. There are many more layers, don’t forget
to show those once in a while.
MORE: Find Jake on his official website, IMDB,
Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Soundcloud.
BANGCLOTHES.COM
MUSIC REVIEWS / compiled by Marc Andrews
HARRISON BROME – FILL YOUR BRAINS
In case you’ve recently fallen out of love with
Justin Bieber there’s hope – another young
Canadian hottie who, thankfully, is more The
Weeknd than he is teen idol. Harrison’s debut EP is
all about the darker side of life, yet, with a hopeful
ring to its melancholy air. First single Midnight
Island is brooding and cool with Harrison’s voice sounding like he’s
already lived many wild lives ending up in suffering, heartbreak
and, mercifully, redemption. He is but 19 young years. Hailing from
Vancouver, British Columbia he does admit “everything I write is from
personal experience so it definitely helps if I’ve gone through some
shit”. Check out his eerie video for the title track, and the gorgeous
black-and-white melancholia of Pools on YouTube to really catch his
essence and be one of the first to witness the birth of a major new star.
Fill your brain, heart and soul with this.
SEE HARRISON’S
FILL YOUR BRAIN
VIDEO
Harrison Brome: “I’ve been
through some shit.”
30 DNA
DAVID BOWIE – LEGACY
In a year that saw so many major music stars
leave us, David Bowie’s passing heralded a
changing of the guard. It wasn’t like the loss of
Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston, as sad
as they were. Bowie’s death signified an era
was over. Glam rock’s genius had departed for
galaxies unknown and may God’s speed be with him. In Dame David’s
wake we are left with a huge musical legacy that this album somehow
manages to bridge starting with Space Oddity and ending with tracks
from his last album Black Star and Lazarus, a new musical playing
in London. Spread lovingly across two discs, the hits are here plus the
important tracks and the rare tracks. Not just pop music, but pop art.
SIA – THIS IS ACTING DELUXE
We love how quirky, mouthy, talented Sia broke
out of the confines of being an indie queen to
suddenly blossoming into a fully-fledged pop star.
All because she decided to get the back of her
head photographed and wear that wig. As if to
celebrate this unexpected turn of affairs her album of tunes originally
written for other people has had a loving makeover with a handful of
luxe extras. Alongside the original track listing are two versions of her
recent hit The Greatest (with and without Kendrick Lamar), the reggae-
lite version of chart killer Cheap Thrills with Sean Paul and three new
tracks – anthemic anti-wedding track Confetti, gritty ballad Midnight
Decisions and the stirring Jesus Wept.
PRINCE – PRINCE4EVER
Much like Bowie’s place in musical history is
being assessed and reappraised, so too is Prince’s
extensive back catalogue. Trying to capture his
best, not to mention his genre-defying essence,
is no easy task yet this 40-track double release
might just be the best attempt yet. Even better is that one unreleased
rarity, Moonbeam Levels, finally sees the light of day, plus his original of
Nothing Compares 2 U is included. The only major big hit omission is
The Most Beautiful Girl In The World, originally released by a different
record company. The icing on this princely cake is a 12-page booklet
featuring photos taken by gay photographer Herb Ritts who passed away
of HIV/AIDS 15 years ago.
TOVE LO – LADY WOOD
This is the second release from Sweden’s princess
of murky pop. Tove has divided Lady Wood into
two distinct sections. How very IKEA of her.
Fairy Dust is about partying, and Fire Fade is
the after-party and its consequences. Highlights
include a ballad about love lost called Keep It Simple, the winsome
Flashes about “fucking things up” and the jaunty WTF Love Is. The
album cover closely resembles Madonna’s Like A Prayer from 1989 –
both are confessional records of beautiful pop songs.
THEATRE REVIEW / with Matthew Myers
BEST-SELLING
DEATH
AMERICA’S LONGEST-RUNNING
PLAY OFFERS A FEEL-GOOD NIGHT
OF ENTERTAINMENT WHICH, OF
COURSE, BEGINS WITH A MURDER.
AGATHA CHRISTIE’S classic whodunit The
Mousetrap is the world’s longest-running play
with 60 years and over 26,000 performances to
its credit. In the US, the longest-running play
is also a fun-filled murder mystery although,
with a mere 26 years and 12,000 performances,
Shear Madness has some catching up to do.
Having recently played Boston and
Washington, this popular and award-winning
production, that the Huffington Post calls
“Consistently entertaining and often downright
hilarious” is currently playing Off-Broadway at
New York’s Davenport Theatre.
Set in a unisex hair salon, the plot follows a
fairly typical murder mystery format. There’s
a dead body – in this case, the Salon’s unseen
landlady – and a cast of would-be murderers
including a stiff antiques dealer, a snooty
socialite, a camp hairdresser and his wise-
cracking assistant.
The production design is cartoony and
colourful, rivalling the vibrant sets of Hairspray;
the comic clichés and set jokes are reminiscent
of the Carry On films of the ’60s. Cutting-edge
or avant-garde this is not, and if it reminds some
audiences of the lowbrow fun of dinner theatre,
well, that’s where its stage life began.
The text was adapted from the 1963 play
Scherenschnitte (Shearing Cuts) by German
playwright Paul Portner and debuted at a dinner
theatre in Lake George, New York 38 years
ago before transitioning to “legitimate theatre”.
Its original producers Marilyn Abrams and
Bruce Jordan are still very much involved,
with Abrams having played roles herself, while
Jordan continues to direct.
The dinner theatre origins of Shear Madness
can still be felt in contemporary productions,
32 DNA
Clichéd and corny are
some of the kinder
criticisms but 11
million bums on seats
so far must make the
producers happy.
which, after the first act, invite the audience to
become involved in solving the crime. Eventually
the audience gets to vote on who they think the
murderer is. This, in-turn, leads to a dramatic
finale and, given the interaction and improvisation,
each show winds up ending differently. A good
whodunit always has a twist, right?
That Shear Madness and The Mousetrap endure
on the stage is witness to our culture’s overall
fascination with crime, and murder in particular.
Whether it’s a grisly Hollywood retelling of serial
killer story, an integral documentary like Netflix’
Making A Murderer, teen-drama How To Get
Away With Murder, the comfortable Englishness
of Midsomer Murders or the mannered hilarity of
Gosford Park the whodunit invites an interactive
reading. Who, literally, done it? Exposed character
back stories, motives,
alibies and the final
reveal offer audiences
both an intriguing
engagement and a
satisfying resolve.
It goes almost
without saying that
critics are less than
enthusiastic when it
comes to this kind of populist fare. Clichéd and
corny are some of the kinder criticisms, but it is
what it is and 11 million bums on seats so far must
make the producers happier than a positive review.
Actors also love it. Perhaps its high camp
hijinks are relief from more intense roles. The
current cast includes Jordan Ahnquist (Hamlet)
as Tony the stylist, Priscilla Flowers (Spamalot)
as assistant Barbara, Gil Brady (Boeing, Boeing)
as the suited-up Eddie, Lisa McMillan (Gypsy)
as Mrs Shubert, with Patrick Noonan (Orange
Is The New Black) and Jonathan Randell Silver
(Royal Pains) as the detectives.
If you go along to this production, be warned:
the action begins before the curtain goes up.
Keep an eagle-eye for details and clues. You
may be called upon to play detective.
MORE: shearmadness.com
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ADVICE / with Robbyne Kaamil
Deaar
Div out your issues, motherfucke
r!
She’ll sort
Dear Diva,
Last year I ended a bad relationship. My
ex-boyfriend was physically and mentally
abusive. Recently, one of my friends has
introduced me to a great guy. He is attentive,
generous, decent and supportive. He’s
everything my ex was not. He wants to
introduce me to his family – he’s getting
serious. I really enjoy spending time with him
but I’m not ready to commit.
Dear Slowly Does It,
We all heal in our own time. It sounds like
you need more time to get over your fucked-up
ex. You should have taken the time before you
started seeing this new man. Never start a new
relationship until you have left all or most of the
shit, pain, fear, misery and sorrow of the last one
behind. You don’t have to live like a monk. It’s
alright to have a fuck buddy during the healing
process. This is when Grindr can be a useful
tool. But you need to tell this man how you feel.
You owe him the truth.
Dear Diva,
My boyfriend got a promotion a few months
ago. He’s been working very hard to earn it.
I love him and I’m happy for him but I can’t
help feeling a little jealous at his success. I’m
stuck in a dead-end job with no future. I wish
I could get into another profession. Unlike my
34 DNA
boyfriend, I don’t have a good education and
don’t have too many options.
Dear Green-Eyed Monster,
Jealously is a negative energy. Shake that shit
off immediately. Your boyfriend worked hard to
achieve his success and you can, too. We all have
the power to change our lives if we are willing
to work for the change that we say we want. You
are where you are because of the choices you
have made and you can go where you want to
go because of the choices you will make. Take
responsibility, own your shit and get moving.
Tell the gardener he’s
just a Piece Of Ass or
you’ll hurt his feelings
down the road.
Dear Diva,
I’m an attorney and I’ve been dating my friend’s
gardener. He is a great guy with a great body
and the sex is amazing! My friend doesn’t know
that we are dating, and he invited me to a
party at his house and I’m not sure if I should
take my new man.
Dear Secret Lover,
Let the choir say amen! to you for finding yourself
a good piece of dick. It’s okay not to share all of
your sexual escapades with friends. Sometimes, if
you tell a bitch how good the dick is, they try to
grab a piece for themselves. But if you don’t want
to take him because you are ashamed to be seen in
public with him make sure you let him know that
he is only a Piece Of Ass in your world so he won’t
get his feelings hurt down the road.
Dear Diva,
One of my friends, who is in law enforcement,
recently informed me that my boyfriend has
served time in jail. He remembers him from a
robbery case several years ago. I’m shocked to
find out about this and upset that my boyfriend
has never mentioned this to me.
Dear Jailhouse Rocker,
This is trouble my friend. Get this motherfucker
out of your life immediately before he robs you
blind. People rarely change they only become
more of what they are.
MORE: Robbyne Kaamil is a relationship
expert on TV, radio, and at Playgirl.com. She
is also an actress, comedian and singer. Find
her on FB, Twitter@theadvicediva, and email
your confidential Dear Diva questions to:
asktheadvicediva@gmail.com.
 WHAT MAKES YOU

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Credits: Tom Cullis Photography
Publicist: Shandrew PR (LA)
BOOKS / with Graeme Aitken
THE ANGEL
OF HISTORY
By Rabih Alameddine
Jacob is a gay, Yemeni-
born poet, living
in present-day San
Francisco who may be
losing his mind. This
novel is framed around
a single night while
Jacob waits to check
himself into a psychiatric facility.
He talks constantly to his lover Doc who died
twenty years previously. Doc never answers
back, but others do. Death and the Devil have
a duelling dialogue about Jacob, while the 14
saints (from Catherine to Pantaleon) who helped
him cope with the death of his peers also waft
through.
As well as Doc, Jacob lost five of his closest
friends to AIDS in swift succession, yet he
blocked out the pain and moved on. “Our world
was young, verdant and dewy-eyed, but it was
already a prison. We were hothouse flowers,
we bloomed and perished, wild, exuberantly
colourful, attention-grabbing, out of season, out
of place, out of context. Well, you were. I made it
through, did not perish.” Now the memories have
overcome him.
This structure of a narrator who may be losing
his mind allows Alameddine to weave a great
array of stories into the novel’s tapestry and give
full vent to his dazzling virtuosity with language.
One of the most memorable and inspired chapters
tells the story of a military drone that crashes in
the desert and is discovered by a beguiling youth,
Mohammad. Inexplicably, the drone develops
feelings for the boy. Witty and moving, this is
a 17-page love story like nothing you’ve read
before. But this is only one of a vast array of
captivating stories. There’s Jacob’s conception on
a priceless Persian carpet, his childhood growing
up in a whorehouse in Cairo where his mother
worked, and Doc’s mercenary mother sweeping
in after his death and helping herself to not only
her son’s possessions but also Jacob’s.
Jacob’s sexual encounters also make for
stimulating reading – from being flogged in a
dungeon by a merciless master, to being throat
fucked by a married man in his garage while his
wife slept upstairs, an encounter so violent it left
Jacob dripping in vomit and cum.
This is a boisterous literary work, unafraid to
address political sensitivities and the big themes
of love, sex, death, religion and war.
36 DNA
PUNISH ME: The
Complete Guide to
BDSM
By Stefan Muller
BDSM is an umbrella
term made up of
the first letters
of bondage and
discipline, dominance
and submission, and
sadism and masochism.
BDSM covers a variety of sexual practices that
involve erotic domination, submission, pain and
surrender, and often bondage, flagellation and
role play.
In this guide, Muller examines the ingredients,
the protagonists, the types of play (from cock
and ball torture to the most popular role-playing
games), as well as staying safe.
The book includes enlightening and extensive
interviews. Andi, a sub from Mannheim,
explains that sometimes a session might last an
entire weekend, and although he’s completely
exhausted, he still wants to go on being used.
Leo from Munich, meanwhile, has his sub “on
a loose leash” but confesses that sometimes he
worries about getting the guy back in one piece if
he’s out playing with another dom.
The book is extensively illustrated with explicit
black-and-white photos, many featuring porn
stars in BDSM mode.
AMG: Bob Mizer’s Athletic Guild: 1000
Model Directory
Edited by Dian Hanson
In 1945 Bob Mizer began taking photographs of
strapping young men on Muscle Beach in Venice,
California. In December of that year he formed
the Athletic Model Guild to market his photos
and physique photography was born.
AMG photos were different to anything
that had come before – subtly provocative
and discretely aimed at a gay audience. The
models weren’t naked but they showed as
much as the law allowed back in 1945. In 1951
Mizer launched Physique Pictorial, America’s
first indisputably gay magazine, bringing his
photos of top bodybuilders to grateful readers
worldwide. By the late 1950s Mizer had
photographed over 1,000 men, moving from the
beach to his quirky Los Angeles studio, where
he introduced props such as Greek columns and
Roman head-dresses.
In 1957 he published a catalogue featuring all
his men titled 1000 Model Directory. In 1968 a
second 1000 Model Directory followed, featuring
the men photographed in the intervening years.
These small 98-page books became instant
collectibles, but the photos were so tiny, 12 to a
page, that they were as frustrating to view as they
were titillating.
Taschen’s newly published two-volume edition
1000 Model Directory prints from Mizer’s
original negatives to present these handsome
hunks in stunning clarity. Editor Dian Hanson
trawled through a quarter of a million male
nudes to select this lineup, which includes
models who went on to movie and TV careers,
and a striking array of top body builders. An
hour-long DVD is included, containing 18 films
made by Mizer between 1954 and 1968, in black-
and-white and colour, and all edited specifically
for this book. They range from simple posing
routines, to gladiator extravaganzas, wrestling
adventures, crime dramas, and humorous
morality tales.
MORE: The Bookshop Darlinghurst specialises in
gay and lesbian books. Phone (02) 9331 1103, email:
info@thebookshop.com,au, visit online at www.
thebookshop.com.au, or in person at 207 Oxford
Street, Sydney.
 “ R o s s Wa t s o n’ s p a i n t i n g s a r e o b v i o u s l y
the work of a master of technique.
The conjunction of modern naturalism
and classic works makes it hard to
belie v e one’s e yes.”

Sir Ian McKellen

ROSS WATSON
Sydney Exhibition
2 3 Fe b - 5 M a r 2 0 1 7

Yellow House Gallery

57- 59 Macleay Street, Potts Point

A Premier Event of the

Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras

FEST I VAL 2017

Artist Signed Books $140 | Edition Prints from $195

Edition Canvases from $1,700 | Photography from $1,200
Paintings from $11,000

Preview and purchase at our online gallery rosswatson.com

enquiries@rosswatson.com

rosswatson.com

Detail Naked Surfer II

Oil on board
35 x 31 cm
“ H a v i n g k n o w n R o s s Wa t s o n f o r a l o n g Sold $15,000
time, and been a collector of his art, I had
Limited Edition Print
t h e o p p o r t u n i t y r e c e n t l y t o v i s i t h i s g a l l e r y, 35 x 40 cm
Edition of 45, signed
which reconfir med my belief that he is a $660
great talent. I never tire of his paintings
Small Print
- he is a leader in contemporary realism.” 18 x 21 cm
Edition of 495, signed
Sir Elton John $195
 DJ Adam Love S a fa r i valued
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DJ Micke Win an eAr $6,500 on the
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DNA 39
Party Photos: Jeffrey Feng
HEALTH / with Dr. Zac Turner

(MAKE YOURSELF)
THE PERFECT
SUMMER
PACKAGE

40 DNA
T
HE SEASON OF SUN, SURF
AND SKIN IS HERE AND
MANY OF US WANT TO
BE “BEACH READY”. WHETHER
YOU’RE ALREADY AS TIGHT-AS-
A-TIGER OR IN A FULL-BLOWN
PANIC, REGRETTING EVERY WINTER
INDULGENCE, YOU MAY APPRECIATE
THESE FIVE SHAPING-UP TIPS.
ONE: Refocus Your Fuel Source
As we’ve mentioned before, summer bodies are
made in winter and abs are made in the kitchen.
If you want your body to burn off that leftover
winter fat you need to show it the way.
Most of us were taught that grains and other carbs
are the foundation of a healthy food pyramid, and
that fats should be avoided.
However, we now know that the average Western
diet is too heavy on carbs (especially sugar), and that
good-quality fats are, in fact, critical to good health
and weight loss. Your path to feeling comfortable
in your summer skin begins by reducing carbs and
teaching your body to use fat for fuel.
Start by immediately eliminating refined sugar
and other simple carbs such as white bread and
white rice; they provide only a short-lived energy
boost and will add to your body’s fat stores if not
burned quickly. Substitute these with complex
carbs like wholemeal and multi-grained breads,
brown rice, sweet potato, and high-protein
quinoa; these are high in fiber and provide a
slower-burning fuel source.
TWO: Get With The Good Fats
Eating good carbs is only the first step. To shift
your metabolism into fat-burning mode, reduce
your absolute intake of carbs, shifting your
caloric focus to good quality fats and fatty acids.
Your body stores the energy from carbs in its
muscle tissues as glycogen. The goal is to reduce
the body’s glycogen stores in order to emphasise
fat as an alternative fuel.
Avocado, nuts (especially almonds), olive oil,
and high-fat fish such as salmon are ideal. These
foods release energy over an even longer time
than complex carbs, keeping you feeling fuller
for longer, plus foods like nuts and salmon are
high in protein, which will support your efforts
in the gym (more on that later).
More importantly, consuming healthy fats
activates the body’s PPAR-alpha receptors –
critical energy regulators that encourage the
body to oxidise (break down) its fat stores
and use them as energy, especially when the
body’s glycogen stores are low.
Burning fat instead of carbs requires your
body to utilize a different metabolic pathway, so
give yourself time to adjust. Make the change
gradually – over a couple of weeks – and monitor
how you feel. The goal isn’t to eliminate carbs
completely, but to rebalance your diet so that it’s
primed to burn off that winter weight.
THREE: Veges Up, Alcohol Down
Combine your healthy-fat, low-carb diet with
nutrient-dense, low-caloric vegetables like broccoli,
spinach, kale, garlic, cauliflower and red peppers
to keep your essential micronutrients high.
Keep your alcohol intake low, as these are
empty calories, encourage water retention, and
can reduce your testosterone levels. Consider
supplements such as a vitamin-mineral multi,
fish oil, probiotics, and spirulina to fill in any
gaps or inconsistencies in your diet. Remember
that life-style change is best to keep things
consistent – crazy diets don’t make any friends
so make what you do sustainable.
FOUR: Burn, Baby, Burn
Now that you’ve optimised your body to burn fat,
it’s time to put it to work. But not all workouts are
created equally. Long, laborious cardio sessions
are hard, and they’re not necessarily effective.
High-intensity interval training (HIIT) involves
short bursts of intense exertion for 30 to 60
seconds followed by 30 to 60 seconds of recovery
or low-intensity movement. This pattern is repeated
for the entire workout period, which is usually no
more than 30 minutes. These times aren’t set in
stone; you can adjust the interval length and overall
session length to your fitness level. If you only
have 10 minutes then that’ll do as well.
Recent studies show us that 7 to 10 ten-minute
HIIT trainings a week are comparable to many
more hours of doing slower, low-intensity
training. Research also shows that these types
of workouts do a better job of activating more
muscle fibers, draining glycogen stores, and
increasing metabolism, all of which encourage
your body to burn fat throughout the day. Stair
sprints, spin bike intervals, or high-intensity
body-weight circuit >>
DNA 41
HEALTH / with Dr. Zac Turner
>> sessions are all excellent HIIT options.
HIIT training can be exhausting,
particularly if you’re also following a weights-
training regime, so consider mixing in some
more traditional cardio if you’re struggling
with your HIIT sessions. Cardio sessions at
a lower and more consistent intensity level
can be effective for weight loss, particularly
if optimise the timing of your workout. Try
working out first thing in the morning, before
eating. Your body’s glycogen stores will be
low due to your overnight fast, giving an extra
fat-burning boost to your working. Eating
earlier in the night can amplify this effect by
lengthening the fasting period.
The key with any training regime is
consistency, so whether you focus on HIIT or
more conventional cardio, commit to at least
three workouts a week. If you feel up to it, add
extra sessions from there, guided by how your
body feels. With your fat-burning diet, these
workouts will help melt away the winter kilos in
time to fit into your new beach briefs.
42 DNA
FIVE: Wrapping The Package
With your body whipped into summer shape it’s
time to focus on the first thing everyone will
notice when you hit the beach: your skin.
A high-fat, nutrient-dense diet will go a long
way towards good-looking skin. The vegetables
listed above are high in anti-oxidants, which slow
the skin’s ageing and help mitigate against sun
damage. Hydration is also critical to keeping your
skin healthy, so drink plenty of water, limit your
alcohol intake and, if you’re a smoker, perhaps make
quitting part of your summer body intervention.
Although sun exposure is vital for vitamin
D production, it’s also the biggest sources
of premature ageing. While lobsters may be
delicious, the red lobster look is not a flattering
colour on anyone’s skin. Before you hit the
beach, moisturise and protect your skin with SPF
50+ sunscreen, reapplying regularly, especially
after hitting the water.
If you want that bronzed, summer-skin look,
but also want to avoid the risks of excessive
sun exposure, a good-quality spray tan or rub-
on bronzer are options. Whether applied at a
professional salon or at home, a natural-looking
tan helps accentuate the physique you’ve worked
hard to achieve, the final bow on the perfect
summer package.
MORE: Dr Zac
Turner (MBBS
RN Bsc) can be
contacted at
www.drzac.co
PHOTOGRAPHY with Jordan Bruno / THE GAY CHEF
STUDIO CHRISTIAN SCOTT
JORDAN’S APRON
FROM ACCOUTREMENT
(accoutrement.com.au)

HEAT IN THE KITCHEN

THIS MONTH, JORDAN’S CHILLI CON CARNE WITH PAPRIKA GUACAMOLE

Serves: Six 400 grams canned red kidney beans

Preparation: 30 minutes 400 grams canned corn kernels
½ a cup beef stock
INGREDIENTS (CHILI CON CARNE): 1 tablespoon cornflour
500g beef mince 3 tablespoons olive oil
1 large onion, chopped Bunch of spring onions, sliced
4 garlic cloves, crushed 150 grams cheese, grated
2 teaspoons ground cumin Sour cream to serve
2 teaspoons ground coriander Salt and pepper
2 teaspoons paprika
2 bay leaves INGREDIENTS:

T IIPCO: N CA RNE
T H IS C H IL L R V E D O V E R
C A N B E S E S , R IC E ,
C O R N C H IP R R IT O S
Q U IN O A , B U U S E D IN
O R E V E N B E TAT O E S .
S T UFFED PO
1 teaspoon chilli powder
2 tablespoons tomato paste
2 sticks celery, chopped
2 carrots, grated
1 red capsicum, diced
400 grams canned tomatoes
METHOD:
1. To make the guacamole, remove the avocado
flesh from the skin, and place into a bowl, mix
through remaining ingredients and set aside.
2. In a large frying pan, heat olive oil and add
chopped onion and garlic, cook until slightly
translucent.
3. Add the spices (ground cumin, ground
coriander, paprika, chilli powder and bay leaves)
and cook for a further minute. Now add the beef
mince and cook until the beef has broken down
and turned brown.
4. To the frying pan, stir through the celery and
carrot, and cook for a further two minutes, then
stir through the canned tomatoes and tomato
paste and bring to a boil.
(PAPRIKA GUACAMOLE):
2 avocadoes
2 ripe tomatoes, diced
½ lemon, juiced
1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon salt
5. Once boiling, place the beans, corn and
capsicum into the frying pan and continue to
cook for a further two minutes.
6. In a bowl, mix the beef stock with the
cornflour and stir until completely dissolved.
Pour the mixture into the frying pan with salt
and pepper; stirring while you do so (this should
help to thicken the chili con carne).
7. To finish, sprinkle a generous amounts of
spring onion, cheese and a large dollop of sour
cream over the chili con carne, topped with even
more guacamole.
MORE: Get The Gay Chef free from jordanbruno.
org and donate to one of his LGBTI charity
recipients while you’re there.

DNA 43
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WITH US
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DNA FASHION SAMPLES /

PHOTOGRAPHY
JOHN BORTOLIN

46 DNA
LEATHER AND FETISHWEAR COMES
IN BLACK, BLACK AND BLACK,
RIGHT? NOT ANYMORE.
BYRON BAY DESIGNER DERRICK
YONG IS QUIETLY LEADING A FETISH
FASHION REVOLUTION WITH HIS
LABEL ARMY OF MEN.

DNA: How would you describe the Army

Of Men range? Is it fetish or fashion?
Derrick Yong: It’s both. I think the
boundaries between them are blurred. My
aim is to make leather gear that’s rooted in
history but different enough to capture the
attention of a new generation. What I make
is purchased by both traditional leathermen
and guys who just want to dress up and wear
something fun. As far as sexual interests go,
it’s a spectrum and everybody is somewhere
along it. We should be able to identify with
as much of it as we want.
How did you get into designing leather?
When I was 16 I saw a TV documentary
on a fetish designer and I just said, “That’s
what I want to do!” At that point I’d already
been designing; making and selling clothes
for a few for strippers and club-kids. It was
a pretty natural progression. Leather has a
reputation for being a difficult material to
work with but I took to it. I spent the next
decade-and-a-half studying and working in
all parts of the fashion and costume industry
but I always came back to working with
leather.
Who or what are your creative influences?
It’s just what I observe around me, what I see
on the streets, at parties, and what I hear from
my network of like-minded collaborators. To
be honest, the design ideas come to me very
fast but I spend an enormous amount of time
perfecting the cut and fit.
Why did you decide to introduce these bold
colours to leather, rubber and fetish gear?
Shouldn’t it all be black!
Ha! Because people are ready for it. Fetish is
broadening in a big way and colour is a part
of that. People are always going to buy black
and, of course, I offer plenty of that, >>

DNA 47
DNA FASHION SAMPLES /

48 DNA
Derrick Yong at work. >> but people want more choices. As a
designer I’m merely a conduit making stuff
that I know people want. The use of colour
in fetish gear is nothing new. It’s the way I
use colour, and the boldness with which I do
it that sets Army Of Men apart. The fetish
aesthetic has grown way past military/biker/
uniform references to include sports gear,
underwear, Lycra, pups, superheroes, cosplay
and more, so the products need to reflect this
growing pool of interests and influences.

As far as sexual
interests go, it’s
a spectrum and
everybody is
somewhere along it.
Who are your customers?
Men. All kinds. Fetish and kinky sex isn’t
confined to any demographic. Being a purely
online business I’d say my customers are on
the younger side, but the full range of my
customers is very diverse. Based on what we
sell, our customers have vastly different body
types and sizes. They’re multiracial and global
– we’re based in Australia but we are primarily
an export business.
What’s unique about Army Of Men that
keeps people coming back?
My brand is different and isn’t afraid to
be. We get a lot of emails from customers
who have just received products, telling us
how surprised and impressed they are with
the quality, details and finishes. It’s hard to
convey the softness and quality through text
or photographs.
Also, what you do is quite specialist,
isn’t it?
Yes, we hand-make everything in-house. Our
customers like getting something that’s been
specially made for them because our gear
isn’t mass produced. Our gear is adjustable
in size. I design a lot of the products to be
versatile with sections you can swap out for
another colour if you want to change the
look of it. There’s a lot of options for our
customers to get something totally unique.

MORE: armyofmen.com

DNA 49
STRAIGNT MATE /

Robert on stage in the Australian

production of Aladdin. Is that a
sword in
your harem
pants or
are you just
pleased to
see me?
GROUP CHEST-WAXINGS, SWORD FIGHTS
WITH THE BOYS, PINK SCARVES… COULD THIS
MONTH’S STRAIGHT MATE SOUND GAYER?
QUITE POSSIBLY! ALADDIN’S ROBERT TRIPOLINO
TELLS MATT MYERS ABOUT CRUSHING ON JON
SNOW AND HIS “LITTLE MONKEY”.

DNA: You play Omar, one of Aladdin’s close mates

(along with Kassim and Babkak). He’s a bit of a scene
stealer, would you agree?
Robert Tripolino: He’s definitely the positive one.
He’s a puppy with a bone and always finds the good in
everything. Omar is great to play because I get to find all
the heart and positivity in the show’s story. In fact, he’s
the reason the guys attempt to save Aladdin. It’s Omar’s
idea, kind of by mistake, as he really just wants to get his
pals back together.
He’s optimistic and also flamboyant!
A little too flamboyant, some would say!
And wants to be a choreographer. He’s Aladdin’s gay
mate, right?
Well, that’s it. I think the pink scarfs at the end of the
show say it all. It sums up Omar to a tee. There’s also the
scene with the limbo and we say that it’s Omar’s fantasy
because all of a sudden things turn into a happy place
where he’s not being hunted down by guards. He’s just
singing, dancing and being joyous.
Speaking of choreography, what kind of training did
you do for the sword fighting scenes in Aladdin?
Pre-production I had no training whatsoever. The idea
was that from day one for an hour in every rehearsal
we would train in sword fighting. And this was before
learning the choreography. They wanted us to be
comfortable because we are dealing with real, heavy,
metal blades. In the theatre world sword fighting is like
a tap dance and you have to hit the beats. To do that

50 DNA
you have to actually hit quite hard. It all comes
together with everyone actually fighting. I feel
like I’m defending myself, but everyone is safe.
We have a fight-call before the show. It’s exciting
and one of my favourite parts because it’s real. It
is, what it is – boys with swords!
In 2013 you were part of Dean Bryant’s
Gaybies at the Melbourne Theatre Company.
Yes, I was in the first production. It was my third
gig out of school so it was special to have that
experience early on in my career. Gaybies was
the kind of show where you could teach people
about things, especially my own family who
aren’t theatre people. They’re keen supporters but
they weren’t really into it all until I brought them
to the show. They discovered that theatre isn’t
always about glitz and glamour.
You also had a role in last year’s long-awaited
film version of Holding The Man.
Yes, I got my mug in there for about two seconds.
I was in the funeral scene and it was so real. That
was another project it felt great to be part of. I’d
known about Holding The Man before but being
part of it gave me greater reason to research it.
That in itself was quite full-on as I discovered
how naïve I’d been. So it was nice to be part of
[director] Neil Armfield’s experience.
When you entered the arts and entertainment
industry, did you experience a bit of culture
shock working with so many gay people?
I grew up studying classical ballet from the age
of four and moved into real ballet from around
14. At the time I was going to a private school
in Geelong so it was a very different world for
me. I didn’t quite know what I wanted to be until
I went to the Victorian College Of The Arts
(VCA) in Melbourne where I met a lot of people
who shared the same passion. I was introduced
to the gay community as well. To be honest, in
a private school upbringing, there were a lot of
young kids who were suppressed and didn’t feel
comfortable or safe. It was amazing to come to
the VCA and be in a different culture where I
made new friends and felt safe because there were
moments growing up as a “ballet boy” where I
did not feel safe. We didn’t have a dance class at
school so I was packing my tights into a bag and
jumping across to the all-girls school for ballet
classes. I was prime meat for victimisation! I got
the bullying but I was fortunate because I was
also playing electric guitar and that broke some
boundaries for me.
Were you mistaken as gay during that time, or
hit on by guys?
Of course… and I say that so confidently!
WHO IS YOUR MAN CRUSH?
“My biggest crush is Kit Harington. I saw him early on in his
career in London doing War Horse. I had a bit of an “I like
him” moment and then next thing he’s Jon Snow on Game
Of Thrones. But, yeah, I had a magnet toward him and he’s
[Laughing] My favourite memory on that is when
I went to a gay bar in LA called The Abbey with
my brothers. This beautiful man in his forties
came on to me and my friends were like, “Hey,
he’s straight,” and he said, “Okay, but I want you
to know that if you weren’t, you’d be the belle
of the ball!” We had so much fun that night and
that’s such a beautiful memory.
Every time we get
dressed the boys see my
little monkey.
Now… about
Orlando Bloom.
Oh my god! Are
you going to say
that I look like
him?
Yes, because you
do! I’ve heard
other people say
it, too!
I do get that.
People are
like “take the
compliment” so I should ride that wave. Maybe
one day I can be his stunt double.
What is the campest song or artist that you
listen to?
When I used to gig, my favourite song to play
was Dancing Queen and I’d always
get a kick out of dancing to that. I’m a massive
ABBA fan.
Have you ever had a wardrobe malfunction?
I’ve had a very bad prop malfunction when I
was understudying for A Funny Thing Happened
On The Way To The Forum. I went on for Hugh
Sheridan, and I was on stage with Geoffrey Rush
and there was one moment where I had to give
him one of the key plot point props, which was
the wedding contract scroll. That was pretty much
definitely an idol of mine.”
where the show was building up to. So I was on
stage, the adrenaline killing me, and I’d forgotten
the prop! All of a sudden Geoffrey is feeling my
sleeve, feeling my side, feeling everywhere and
I’m thinking, “What’s he doing? I don’t remember
this in the script.” Then he says, “Ah! I’ve got
the contract. It’s very small and you can’t see it.”
The audience burst into laughter while my heart
melted and I thought I’d never work in this town
again! But he loved it and said it was nice to have
a fresh laugh in the show.
What do you do to keep fit?
I do Pilates and yoga, but I can’t get too big for
my role in Aladdin so I can’t go to the gym as
much as I’d like to. It’s really a stamina show so
we have to keep fit and maintain our physiques.
There’s a great line in the show when the Genie
says: “Everybody here in Agrabah has zero
percent body fat!” In fact, High Adventure,
the sword fighting number, goes for about ten
minutes and we do get quite a workout.
Now, what’s with all those bare chests! Do you
have group waxings?
Well [laughing loudly] in the dressing room we
do! We’re on ‘chest watch’! We get told if we’re
getting too hairy. But we’re also street rats, so we
have to maintain some sort of life.
This is our swimwear issue. Are you a boardies
or briefs guy?
In my private school days I would say budgie
smugglers, but now that I’m older it’s the
boardies, short shorts. I’ll be hitting up Bondi this
summer to get that experience in.
What about underwear?
The boys in the show pay me out because I
especially bought some monkey underwear. As
you’d know, Abu isn’t in the show and we three
pals are the closest you get to Abu from the
cartoon. So I like to have a little salute to him,
and I think the best way is to have him on my
crotch. Every time we get dressed the boys see
my little monkey! 
MORE: Aladdin is playing at the Capitol Theatre
Sydney. Go to www.aladdinthemusical.com.au
DNA 51
FASHION /

RICKY WEARS
LUNCH SWIMWEAR.

PHOTOGRAPHY SIMON LE
MODEL RICKY TISHLER
ASSISTANTS CAIN COOPER AND CATERINA RUBERTO
TANNING ANGEL @TANNING_ANGLE

52 DNA
S u mmer
at Rocky Point
BRIEF, BOLD AND SEXY, THIS SEASON’S SWIMWEAR LOOKS ARE
READY FOR ACTION. YOUR 2017 SUMMER STARTS HERE…

DNA 53
FASHION /
RICKY
WEARS
BOARDIES
BOARD
SHORTS.

54 DNA
RICKY WEARS 2EROS SWIM BRIEF
AND AUSSIE ESSENCE SINGLET.

DNA 55
FASHION /

RICKY WEARS
TEAMM8
BOARD
SHORTS.

56 DNA
RICKY WEARS
COCKSOX
SWIMWEAR
BRIEF.

DNA 57
FASHION /

RICKY WEARS
SQUIRT SWIM
TRUNKS.

58 DNA
 / FASHION

RICKY WEARS
AUSSIE ESSENCE
GYM SHORTS AND
SINGLET.

DNA 59
FASHION /

RICKY WEARS HUNTER AND CREW SWIMWEAR BRIEF.

60 DNA
RICKY WEARS 2EROS
SWIMWEAR BRIEF.

DNA 61
FASHION /
RICKY WEARS
MODUS VIVENDI
SWIMWEAR
BRIEF.

62 DNA
RICKY WEARS 2EROS
SWIMWEAR BRIEF.

DNA 63
FASHION /

RICKY WEARS HUNTER AND CREW

SWIMWEAR BRIEF.

64 DNA
RICKY WEARS AUSSIE ESSENCE
SWEATER,

DNA 65
STYLE / with Joshua Heath

Do Summer In Style
WET, FLAPPY BOARD SHORTS… DIRTY TRAINERS… A SWEAT-SOAKED T-SHIRT?
NO, WE CAN DO BETTER THAN THAT, GENTLEMEN.
WITH A FEW, WELL-CHOSEN BASICS, YOU CAN ROCK SUMMER STYLISHLY.

The Polo Shirt

Think of it as the T-shirt’s better dressed, better-looking
brother. The collared polo instantly makes you look
well-put-together and just that little bit more styled.
This one item is a welcome addition to any summer
wardrobe and works as well under a blazer with pants
as it does with shorts and thongs. Tip: choose three
basic colours that suit you and the rest of your wardrobe
for versatility.

Lightweight
Sweater
For cooler summer nights you
can’t go past a lightweight
sweater worn over the
shoulders with your T-shirt
during the day. It quickly

T-shirts becomes your best friend

when the sun goes down.
You can never own too many plain T-shirts to mix and
match into your wardrobe. Opt for natural fabrics like Right: Cloud sweater by
cotton, hemp or bamboo; they breath better than synthetics Aussie Essence.
and keep you cooler.

Above: T-shirt by We Are Harper.

66 DNA
 The Bondi Short
The 2EROS Bondi Short in black, blue, green
and white is the ultimate versatile summer
short. It can be beachwear (it’s fast-drying),
gymwear (it’s got stretch), cafe-wear (classically
stylish) and can be dressed up with a leather
belt and tucked-in button-up shirt.
Right: The Bondi Short by 2EROS.
Hat
As much a fashion statement as protection from
the sun’s rays, every man should own at least one.
Hit the beach in a lightweight Fedora – its medium
brim offers just the right amount of shade.
Above: The Bogart fedora by Akubra.
Tailored
Shorts
Not every summer occasion
is right for board shorts.
Sometimes we need to make
a little more effort. Say hello
to the tailored short. Kick
those baggy, shapeless cargo
shorts to the curb and leave
the micro shorts to the go-go
boys. You need a mid-length
cotton short you can wear
with a shirt on balmy nights
out with the boys.
Right: Jjji Rick fitted denim
shorts by
Jack & Jones.
DNA 67
STYLE / with Joshua Heath

Left:
All I Sea
Board Shorts board
shorts.
Let’s face it, not everyone looks like a DNA cover
model in a pair of skimpy briefs on the beach.
Bright and bold boardies will also get the other
boys’ attention for all the right reasons without
flashing the flesh. The best boardies should be
made with fabric that’s super-quick drying so that
you don’t spend hours with damp fabric flopping
around your thighs or leaving the car seat wet on
the drive home.
Note the on-trend
white sneakers.

68 DNA
 Rolla board
shorts by
Flamingo
board shorts Sunnies
by Teamm8.
BCNU. It sounds like a no-brainer for summer but
there is more to a great pair of sunglasses than
how they look. It’s also about sun protection,
shielding the eye and avoiding premature
wrinkles. If you spend your days by the water,
try polarised lenses. They cut down the glare
dramatically. Whether you go for a classic,
Wayfarer or the mirrored shades celebs are
loving right now, you need to be sure they
protect you. First, make sure your shades have
100 percent UV protection to filter both UVA
and UVB rays. This is the most important thing
you can do to save your eyes.

Beloe: Wolf sunglasses by Colab.

Supa Shot board

shorts by BCNU.

Universe
board shorts
by Teamm8.

DNA 69
STYLE / with Joshua
White Shoes
If you buy just one pair of shoes this
summer make them white and keep them
clean. Worn with shorts, chinos or even a
swim brief, a great pair of white shoes will
give any look a fresh and sunny finish. Hot
tip: spray them with a waterproofer to help
repel dirt and wipe them clean with Spray
And Wipe to make them look like new
again.
Above: Ecco-Collin Retro Sneaker.
70 DNA
Short-Sleeved
Shirt
Just as versatile as their long-sleeved
cousins, the short-sleeved shirt puts the
“smart” in a smart-casual look. Worn
buttoned-up or open with a T-shirt
underneath they’re a must for summer.
Right: Shirt by Jack & Jones.
Chinos
They’re a great alternative for casual
Fridays or when you don’t want to wear
jeans. Grab a navy pair and a lighter
colour like cream or tan. Worn rolled up
to the ankle with a T-shirt or down with a
shirt and blazer they are a versatile staple
that should be in every man’s wardrobe.
Left: Try this smart-casual
summer look: chinos rolled
to the ankle to reveal a
colourful socks from
Manrags.com.au, a fitted
shirt and boating shoes.
 Riviero Brazilian Bumpa Sunga
Sunga by BCNU. by BCNU.

The Swim Brief

Big question: Sunga style or traditional
brief? The Sunga is technically a trunk,
which means it’s cut thick around the hip
and has a square-cut leg. The brief is cut
high over the hip. If you’re tall and slim,
the Sunga can help add breadth to your
frame. If you’re short and stocky, a brief
can help add height and make the legs
appear longer. Tip: Try on both the brief
and the Sunga to find out which one suits
your body shape best. Always wear your
swimwear around your hips, not your waist.

Tropix Sunga
by BCNU.

Thongs
Americans call them flip-flops, New
Zealanders call them jandals. Their real name
is thongs. They are the summer essentials
Admiral swim Flamingo swim
you can’t do without. Most of us own at least
brief by Teamm8. brief by Teamm8.
two pairs and alternate depending on what
we’re wearing. Willi Footwear thongs, with
interchangeable straps, allow you to change
the colour depending on your mood and, with
reinforced plugs, there’s no more blowouts.
Genius.

Left: Thongs by Willi Footwear.

DNA 71
FASHION /

SPORTY STYLING
WITH A FASHION
EDGE – YOU’RE
GONNA OWN
THE BEACH THIS
SUMMER!

DYLAN
WEARS
VINTAGE
SWIMMING
TRUNK.

72 DNA
PHOTOGRAPHY STUDIO CHRISTIAN SCOTT
MODEL DYLAN HART

DYLAN WEARS RED GRAFFITI

SWIM SHORT BY GARCON MODEL
AND MILKBEACH DAY TOWEL.

DNA 73
FASHION /
DYLAN WEARS SWIM TRUNKS
AGUA BY BWET SWIMWEAR.

74 DNA
DYLAN WEARS
BANG SWIM
SHORT.

DNA 75
FASHION /
DYLAN WEARS
VINTAGE
SWIM BRIEF.

76 DNA
DYLAN WEARS
MILKBEACH
DAY TOWEL.
DNA 77
INTERVIEW
Harvey with Kinky Boots
director Jerry Mitchell and
co-writer Cyndi Lauper.

Write Your Own Damn Story!

HARVEY FIERSTEIN IS BEST KNOWN FOR CAMPING IT UP IN TORCH SONG TRILOGY, LA
CAGE AUX FOLLES AND HAIRSPRAY, AND HIS RECENT COLLABORATION WITH CYNDI
LAUPER ON THE MUSICAL KINKY BOOTS. BUT, HE TELLS MATT MYERS, HE USED TO BE A
PUNK WHO HUNG OUT WITH LOU REED AND ANDY WARHOL, AND WROTE A TRANNIE
MOVIE FOR MADONNA!

78 DNA
DNA: You must be happy with the incredible
success of Kinky Boots?
Harvey Fierstein: I don’t know how it is in
Australia but in America most theatre ticket-
buyers are women. They decide what Broadway
shows to see and their husband’s go along. Kinky
Boots has a profound effect on the heterosexual
men who see it because not many musicals
address [the relationship between] fathers and
sons in this way. Straight guys feel that if they
talk about how hurt they are with their fathers’
expectations it somehow makes them weak.
Cyndi told us that she sits in the theatre and
watches the audience.
Yes, I’ll stand against the side wall and watch
these men as the show progresses. I’ve seen
wonderful thing happen when they become
engaged and start to realise what it’s actually
about. It’s not about wearing high heels but,
rather, how you perceive what your father wants
for your life and whether you let that get in the
way. As a kid my parents called my brother the
doctor and me the lawyer. They called me the
lawyer because I never stopped talking. My
brother was in college taking pre-med courses
when it occurred to him, “Why am I doing this? I
have no interest in medicine!”
What lead you to ask Cyndi Lauper to write
the show’s music?
I knew Cyndi a little, but I’d seen her talk about
her love of Broadway. Kinky Boots has club
numbers and I assumed that that would ease her
in but it was actually the club numbers that were
the hardest to write. Cyndi and I and director
Jerry Mitchell wrestled with this for about four
years. During that period, Cyndi wrote her
autobiography, put out a blues album, did an
Asian and American tour. I did a year on the road
with Fiddler On The Roof as well as La Cage
Aux Folles on Broadway.
You played Hairspray’s Edna Turnblad on
Broadway. It’s now been played by so many
people, including John Travolta, do you have
a favourite?
There’s an old joke: how many actors does it take
to play Hamlet? Eight. One to do it, and seven
who can do it better!
Your play [and subsequent film] Torch Song
Trilogy is loved by many in the LGBTI
community. Does that feel special to you?
Not really. I’m busy living my own life. How it
affects other people is something I’ll hear about.
People come up to me almost daily and say
that Torch Song was how they came out… but
that’s their journey, not mine. I’m obviously very
appreciative of it, and I love it, but it’s not something
that I concentrate on.
Cyndi came to Melbourne for the opening of
Kinky Boots? Did you think about coming?
The terrible truth about me is that I hate to travel.
It’s not a fear of flying, it’s just that after sitting
still for about three hours I want to open the door
and jump out! I get so bored.
Music is important to many gay men when
they’re grow up. What were you listening to?
By the age of 13 I was already in art school and
working for Andy Warhol by 16. I was there with
Lou Reed playing in the room so I didn’t look
elsewhere for music. My formative music was
protest – like Bob Dylan and Joan Baez. By the time
I was a teenager I was hanging out with The New
York Dolls and was part of the punk movement.
In Mrs Doubtfire you play Robin William’s
character’s gay brother. How did that role
come about?
Robin and I were doing a benefit to raise money
for a movie called The Celluloid Closet. We
were at San Francisco’s Castro Theatre with
Lily Tomlin and, oh god, I bombed so bad! The
audience hated me. The more they booed me, the
more Robin loved it. I think they were there to
see Robin and Lily and didn’t want anything to
do with this homo. So, we were in the parking lot
and Robin was talking about his new movie and
I said, “You could put me in a fucking movie!”
That’s how I got that gig.
The Celluloid Closet’s producer Howard
Rosenman also spoke with DNA a while back.
He and I tried but failed to produce a
movie about Holly Woodlawn based on her
autobiography A Low Life In High Heels. She
was one of the Warhol superstar drag queens
and was nominated for an Academy Award for
Trash. There were three drag queens who hung
out together – Candy Darling, Jackie Curtis and
Holly Woodlawn. I wanted Madonna to play
Candy. I said to Madonna, “We’ve seen your
pussy, now you need to show us your dick!” I
said, “You walk into this apartment in a beautiful
strapless gown and you’re talking to your friends
and then start taking your clothes off. We see
your tits and you lift the dress up and there you
have a dick! It would be wonderful!” She didn’t
buy it. I don’t know why.
Your television roles have included Miami
Vice, Murder She Wrote, The Simpsons and
an Emmy nomination for Cheers. Do you feel
part of classic TV?
I’m gonna tell you why I do that shit. You have to
do a TV show or movie every year to qualify for
the union’s health care. So I do one every year.
But you don’t know how it’s going to turn out,
especially when you are guest starring. Norman
Lear once said that television is about creating
a living room where people want to come and
visit every week. They don’t really care about
the story, they want to see their friends. If you’re
watching Will And Grace and they have Cher on
it’s about seeing Jack being with Cher.
Being a guest star did earn you an Emmy
nomination, though.
This is the truth. I was nominated for Cheers but
I didn’t want to fly myself all the way out to LA. I
knew I was going to lose. I was up against Seinfeld
and Murphy Brown. I said to my manager, “If
you can get me a gig out there working then I’ll
do it.” So he called Angela Lansbury and said,
“Harvey needs to work in LA next week.” She said
send him out and we’ll put him in the show and I
ended up on Murder She Wrote. The same thing
happened with Miami Vice. I was in New York, it
was the dead of winter and I felt I could really use
some sun. My manager said, “You want to do a
Miami Vice? You can go lay on a Miami beach for
a week.” So I did!
Do you prefer one medium over the other?
I love television but I don’t very much like doing
television or film. I’m a theatre person, you
know? It’s just who I am.
Who has been the greatest influence on your
career?
Oh! I owe everything to so many people. One day
the playwright Ronald Tavel said, “Why don’t you
write a play.” I said, “Because I can’t spell.” I’m
very dyslexic and we didn’t talk about dyslexia
back in those days. He said, “There are people
who, for two dollars an hour, will fix your spelling.
You go ahead and write!” And that was so fucking
freeing. Of course, with computers now, nobody
needs to spell. You know, I have people come up to
me once every couple of months and say, “You’ve
got to write my life story!” I look at them and say,
“Write your own damn life story.”
It sounds like you’ve had a network of
incredibly encouraging people.
I’ve had so many people be wonderful to me.
You know what my voice sounds like… well,
imagine having this voice and I having the
creators of Fiddler On The Roof ask me to play
the lead. Do you know what that feels like? You
have to believe in yourself and work hard but
it’s wonderful when there are people around to
encourage you. 
MORE: kinkybootsthemusical.com.au
DNA 79
MAN TO MAN /

HIV AND ME
(AND EVERYONE!)
WO R L D A I D S DAY: D E C E M B E R 1

TEN YEARS SINCE HIS HIV-POSITIVE DIAGNOSIS, MARIO FORGIONE REFLECTS

ON HIS PHYSICAL HEALTH, HIS STATE OF MIND AND HOW HIS EXPECTATIONS OF
LIVING WITH HIV COMPARES TO HIS ACTUAL EXPERIENCE.

I
n June 1981, a report was first published
in the USA about a mysterious new illness
that resulted in the death of several men DNA writer Mario
Forgione today
– all happened to be gay. Initially, this new and (inset) ten
disease was called GRID (Gay-Related Immune years earlier before
Deficiency), mistakenly suggesting an inherent his HIV-positive
diagnosis.
link between homosexuality and the illness.
That misconception still persists today in some
quarters, feeding a stigma that’s hard to shake off.
The term “AIDS” was coined in 1982; “HIV”
was first used in 1986. As it turned out, HIV
proved to be less discriminating about who it
targeted and went on to infect tens of millions of
people worldwide regardless of race, age, gender
and sexual orientation. The early strain of the
virus was brutal. The newly infected would die
within the space of a few months to two years.
Since then, scientists have identified more than
60 different strains of the HIV virus. Its ability
to adapt and mutate is the reason why a vaccine
is still out of reach.
I was diagnosed with HIV on the 23rd March,
2007. Although I had tested negative five months
earlier, I decided to take an HIV test after being
sick for weeks with flu-like symptoms, a skin
rash and a complete lack of energy that confined
me to my apartment for over a month. Just like
that, the news I wasn’t expecting propelled me man I used to be was no more. I had been as terrifying as your worst nightmares. What
straight into the next chapter of my adult life. replaced by a person I hardly knew. Someone can you do when the enemy is hiding inside you,
Back then, I didn’t know anything. I remember crippled with worry, who would jump if someone trying to sabotage you at every turn?
getting home, closing the bedroom door behind as much as sneezed near me. Different people react in different ways. In
me and starting to cry, stunned at the news. Here is some news for those who believe that my case, I cried my eyes out in the solitude of
What I felt was a mixture of fear, desperation being HIV-positive these days is no big deal. No my bedroom and, when I felt ready, I went to
and anger, along with a sense of loss that I matter how detached from reality you are or how the nearest hardware shop, bought brushes and
wasn’t able to shake off for months. Much later, strong you believe yourself to be, nothing will paint, went home and painted my room green.
I realised I was silently mourning the part of me prepare you for the psychological devastation Green – the colour of hope and rebirth – to cover
that died in the wake of my diagnosis. Something that follows an HIV-positive diagnosis. You may the walls impregnated with sorrow and to remind
had shifted within me. Suddenly, the carefree find out the hard way that reality is sometimes myself that even in the darkest of my days I

80 DNA
should not give in to despair.
That was my starting point, along with the
certainty that HIV was not the end, nor would it
stop me from achieving what I wanted in life. I was
determined not to go off the rails and to avoid the
“poor me” mind-set. However, it is all too easy to
slip into patterns that we wish to avoid.
The first months were the worst. For a while,
I became a sucker for attention – so much so
that eventually I started falling out with my
closest friends. Self-destruction can come in
different shapes and guises. In my case, it was
all about self-pity. I felt sorry for myself and, in
the process, I made my friends feel guilty. Guilty
for continuing to live their lives, for not getting
involved. As a result, I isolated myself. HIV can
be a lonely affair. At first, you feel unattractive.
You feel insecure and fragile – hardly the best
state of mind in which to go out and meet people.
In a way, it’s you and the HIV, alone as the
world passes by, blissfully unaware of your own
personal hell. This is why a support network is
vital to help you cope after your diagnosis.
“It’s lucky we’re not in the 1980s!” This was the
only response one of my flatmates could muster
when, soon after my diagnosis, I gathered everyone
around the kitchen table to come out as positive.
In his defence, he was trying to be practical. In
the ’80s and ’90s, people died painfully and often
alone, even in the Developed world.
The younger generation have never known
anyone pass away from HIV/AIDS. They don’t
see people dying of AIDS as some of us saw in
previous decades. This is why, I believe, there is so
much complacency around HIV today. In this age
of naivety, regardless of what people state in their
dating app profiles, many practice bareback sex.
New tools such as PrEP are game changers in
the way we prevent new HIV infections. PrEP is
a pill which, taken correctly, could protect you
from contracting HIV if you have unprotected
sex with someone who is HIV-positive, and with
a detectable viral load.
[The UK-based HIV organisation THT advises
that PrEP should be only taken when needed –
two tablets two to 24 hours before sex, one tablet
24 hours after sex and a further tablet 48 hours
after sex. There is also PEP, of course: a course
of treatment to be taken if you think you might
have been exposed to HIV. PEP must be taken
every day for four weeks and started within 72
hours of the risk of HIV transmission].
Almost 10 years have passed since my
diagnosis and none of the gloomy outcomes I
imagined in the early days of my life as an HIV-
positive man came true.
I would rather be HIV-negative. Who would
want a lifetime of taking pills every single day
just to stay healthy? But my life didn’t end. Once
I got back on my feet, physically and mentally,
I went on living without compromise. I carried
on working full time; I changed jobs three times
and bought a property in the process. I still
look and feel as good and healthy as ever and
now, aged 41, I am struggling with the notion of
turning into a middle-aged man because I still
feel young, and because I am full of vitality and
excitement about my future.
I would rather be
HIV-negative. Who
would want a lifetime
of taking pills? But
my life didn’t end. I
went on living without
compromise.
It was, indeed, lucky we were not in the
’80s. Now, I deal with a manageable, chronic
condition. Back then, an HIV-positive diagnosis
with a dramatically reduced CD4 count would
most likely result in your developing AIDS, with
a life expectancy of less than two years. A low
CD4 count meant that your immune system had
been seriously compromised to the extent that
you were no longer able to fight off opportunistic
infections or potential cancers.
A lower CD4 count would go hand-in-hand
with an increased viral load, meaning you would
be more infectious to sexual partners.
This is why early diagnosis and early
treatment are so important. HIV medications, or
Antiretroviral Therapy (ART), not only keep you
healthy, they also prevent you from transmitting
the virus to another person by lowering the viral
load to undetectable levels in your body.
These days there are only two categories of
people who can transmit the virus. One, those
who haven’t tested in a while and believe they are
HIV-negative when they are not and are engaging
in unprotected anal sex with HIV-negative
people. Secondly, HIV-positive people who are
not taking or not responding to their medication
and whose viral load is detectable.
Most HIV-positive people feel responsible
for their sexual partners and for keeping them
safe. I will always associate the early days of
my diagnosis with the fear that I could infect
someone else – a worry so great that it prevented
me from having any form of sex for over a year.
Then, I started my treatment and never looked
back. I still treasure the sense of relief I felt the
day I knew that the enemy was no longer a threat
to my partners or myself. I have HIV antibodies
in my blood. This is the only difference
between an HIV-negative person and me. These
antibodies won’t do anything to anyone, or me
for that matter.
Knowledge is power. What I now know allows
my partners and me to make an informed choice
on the kind of sex we want to enjoy, taking fear
out of the equation.
In addition, the amount of stigma, rejection,
and prejudice I deal with on a regular basis
suggests to me that ignorance is still rife
within our community when it comes to HIV
prevention. I have lost count of the men who
have told me that they had no problem with my
positive status and yet disappeared from my
life within 48 hours of my disclosure. We still
pay emotionally for over 30 years of bad press
surrounding HIV. The general perception is
still that you catch HIV through ‘dirty’ sex. No
wonder you may feel like an outcast for the rest
of your life.
We need loud, eloquent voices telling it how
is it in 2016 for HIV-positive people. We need to
educate and inform and bring knowledge about
HIV to people who know very little.
Truthfully, we are all in this together. When
I look to the near future I realise that HIV isn’t
going away any time soon. HIV is still winning.
It’s as simple as that. It’s up to everyone, regardless
of their HIV status, to take responsibility for
their own health and ask the right questions. As a
community, all we can do is remember where we
came from. We need to remember the millions of
people who have fought and lost their battle since
the early days of the epidemic.
After 35 years one thing remains the same: we
must have hope, faith, a love for live, and respect
ourselves and one another.
MORE: The Victorian AIDS Council (Australia) and
The Terrence Higgins Trust (UK) were consulted
in the editing of this story. DNA advises that
readers consult the HIV/AIDS organisation in
their area for up-to-date information on PEP,
PrEP, condom usage and HIV treatments.
DNA 81
FEATURE /

82 DNA
He Did It (His Way)
PETE BURNS – POP STAR, GENDER BENDER, HUSBAND (TWICE), REALITY STAR,
SON OF A HOLOCAUST SURVIVOR. HE PASSED TOO SOON, BUT HIS MUSIC AND
INFLUENCE KEEPS SPINNING ROUND LIKE A RECORD BABY!
MARC ANDREWS RECALLS MEETING THE GREAT ICONOCLAST.
W
hen pop star-turned-reality star Pete
Burns died in October (aged 57 from
a heart attack) the world lost yet
another true original in the same year as David
Bowie and Prince.
Pete was the flamboyant frontman of alt/
gothic/New Wave/disco act Dead Or Alive, most
famous for their massive mid-’80s hit, You Spin
Me Round (Like A Record). He’s the man who
almost singlehandedly brought the concept of
“trans” to the mainstream some three decades
before it became broadly accepted. Bisexual, and
more genderbending than gender transitioning,
Peter’s dark, vampish looks were offset by a
masculine, snarling vocal style reminiscent of
Jim Morrison of The Doors.
Not only was he a unique star in the pop
firmament, but he was also an evangelist for
cosmetic surgery. His “early work” straightened
his nose and teeth and was, arguably, an
improvement. But after some 300 operations,
Pete became the living embodiment of what not
to have done.
One procedure on his lips was so botched
that he won a million-dollar malpractice lawsuit
against the surgeon. It also goes some way to
explaining his alien-like appearance towards the
end of his life.
Then there’s his musical legacy. While he may
forever be remembered for one ginormous hit
record there was much more to Pete Burns. You
Spin Me Round (Like A Record) paid Pete’s bills
for years. The Hi-NRG hit was as ubiquitous as
it was irresistible, filling nightclub dancefloors
(and wedding dancefloors) around the world. It
was even used by Disney for one of their theme
park rides. But musicologists will keenly recall
the subsequent hits.
Between 1983 and 1988, Dead Or Alive scored
9 UK Top 40 hits including My Heart Goes
Bang, Lover Come Back To Me, In Too Deep,
Brand New Lover, Something In My House and
a cover of KC And The Sunshine Band’s That’s
The Way (I Like It). Dead Or Alive were so
big in Japan that even Michael Jackson had to
reschedule his tour of the country around theirs.
Their winning sound became the template
for their hit albums Youthquake and Mad, Bad
And Dangerous To Know. Producers Stock
Aitken Waterman quickly adapted the Hi-NRG/
pop formula to other acts in their stable –
Bananarama, Rick Astley and Mel And Kim and,
even later, Kylie Minogue. With it they dominated
the pop charts for a fair swathe of the ’80s.
Gay culture knows
what I’ve done and
appreciates me for who
and what I am!
Pete and the DOA boys rejected the House
sound that SAW wanted to give them in the
’90s. Instead, they stuck steadfastly to the “gay
disco” sound they knew their true fans loved.
Sadly, the hits dried up. You Spin Me Round was
re-released every few years with a sparkling new
remix, but the band’s new material failed to fly –
except in Japan.
Pete, however, became something of a national
treasure in his native UK. He found tabloid
fame, or infamy, by appearing on Celebrity Big
Brother, Celebrity Wife Swap and even Celebrity
Botched Surgery as a kind of sweet-but-freaky
monster with a quick wit and a bitchy tongue.
He was married twice – the first time to a
woman and the second time to a man. He was
not a drag queen, not merely a pop star, and not
a copy in any way, shape or form. He was simply
an enigma.
Back in 2003, DNA got to share some quality
time with Pete Burns on one of his many
comeback attempts. He was chatty, critical and
always amusing. His sarcasm and wit made
him a godsend for headline writers. He talked
candidly about his Jewish mother, a survivor of
the Nazi concentration camps during World War
II, who inspired him to live his life as he saw fit:
ravishing, fabulous and unquestioningly. Yes, that
led him to become the “freak unique” of his later
years, but he did it on his own terms and owned
his mistakes.
In his memory, and in his honour, we revisit
that interview.
2003…
DNA: Hi Pete. How are you?
Pete: [Distractedly] Hello. Sorry, I just need
to get some cranberry juice. [Disappears for a
minute]. I’m a cigarette addict and trying to give
up and I don’t know what I’m doing. I kind of get
a bit into these twitched-out destructive mood
swings. I’m hallucinating for a cigarette but it’s
okay, carry on. I went out last night to a party
and a group of friends got together and nobody
left my house until seven this morning. I was in
bed by eight and then up again at 11. I’ve got a
lot of energy.
Do you ever get sick of singing You Spin Me
Round?
DNA 83
FEATURE /
Top: Pete and the Dead Or
Alive boys in 1984. Left: at the you’re not digging for funny angles, let me just say
video shoot for You Spin Me
Round (Like A Record). Above:
Pete and Morrissey celebrate
their unusual friendship on the on the radio. Then someone sent me a copy.
cover of Smash Hits.
84 DNA
[Throwing up his hands in mock horror] Oh God, yes
and no. It’s like a favourite pair of shoes that you can’t
throw away. Of course I get sick of it but it gets on a
ride in Disneyland and I get a huge cheque for that, or
it gets in a movie like Party Monster the new Macaulay
Culkin one. This is like my guardian angel. At least it
draws people’s attention to the other things that I do and
I’m lucky to have it. I don’t think there are many people
today who have written their own #1. That was not the
only hit that I had but because that was #1 everything
else was considered a failure after that. But you can’t be
#1 every time. I’ve had a very nice career. I did write it
and I did discover [British hit-making trio] Stock Aitken
Waterman and they would be the first to say that. If we
hadn’t gone to Waterman and had the #1 he never would
have had Kylie. They did change the face of pop but I
was the one to put them on the map with my own song.
Is it true you fell out with SAW because they wanted
you to try House music, which was big at the time,
and you refused?
It was our decision to leave. They said, “You guys
should do House music but we’re going to write all
the songs!” No, sorry, that’s not the way it’s going to
be. They became a greed machine. Everybody does if
the temptation is put in front of them. I was the writer
and they wanted to take the helm of things. What
they describe as House music was House/pop music.
It was the stuff they did with Mel And Kim, like
Respectable which was pitched at us. I would have
loved to have done them but I wanted to write my
own or have my own input and at that time they
decided they were going to be the svengalis behind
the hit factory and everybody that they worked
with would be given a song that SAW had chosen.
I wasn’t like that. I wasn’t playing a role. That’s the
difference between a performer and an artist. An
artist writes, produces and lays their life on the line
and sings their own thing. A performer interprets
other people’s material. I wasn’t just a performer
I was an artist. I couldn’t interpret what they were
writing in my way. It didn’t apply to me at the time.
We decided not to work with them because they
didn’t have time for us anyway. They were too busy
working on an album for Kylie. I have no sour grapes
about it at all.
What about Dannii Minogue borrowing You Spin
Me Round to mix into her I Begin To Wonder hit?
[Taking a breath] Because you have a nice voice and
I love her record. People were coming up to me and
saying they had heard my record with Dannii Minogue
Didn’t they get your approval first to do it?
No, which I think was very rude but that’s no slight on
Dannii. It’s her people – to claim it was a bootleg and
 EARLY ’80s The Changing
Face Of Pete

2000s

MID ’80s

2010

2012

2015

it wasn’t a bootleg. I gave the approval that they to change when the time is right. I couldn’t be
could release it officially because I think it’s a manufactured, styled pop star – everything is
very, very good. But it was a bit like someone done by me and the people around me. We don’t
coming into your house and sleeping in your bed I’ve affected some have fashion stylists. The clothes that I wear are

people’s lives and some

and then saying, “Oh, sorry, I forgot to tell you,
I slept in your bed!” a couple of months later.
I’m so happy they can officially release it now.
I don’t know her but I find her quite interesting.
She’s a bit unpredictable, a bit of a live wire, and
I think she’s alright. I actually like what she does
a lot better than what Kylie does. [Pauses for
effect] That’s just my personal view.
When people see the (2003 remix) video
for You Spin Me Round there is an extreme
reaction – they’re either freaked out by the
way you look or they love it. Have you always
had this effect on people?
[Brightly] At least it woke them up! That’s a
favourable thing in an overstimulated consumer
society, in a world that is becoming totally
Americanised. It’s nice to have that jolt. Extreme
reactions can go either way – people can either
love you or hate you very quickly. [Defiantly]
people will remember
that. I didn’t just talk
about it, it wasn’t done
for me, I did it!
Having been on the scene since the summer
of 1976 when I first started to move into the
spotlight it’s nice to still wake people up.
When you’re out and about do people still
stop and stare at you?
I’ve never had it any other way and, yes, they
do. It doesn’t bother me. I accept it. I can’t be
anything other than what I am and who I am.
I’ve made myself look like me. I’ve continued
my own. I don’t hire make-up artists; I do my
own. I like it that way. I know it’s all me. [Boldly]
If praise comes my way, yes, thank you. If
criticism comes my way, yes, thank you, fuck off.
How did you feel about being called a gender
bender when you first made it big?
I’m in my forties now and there’s always been
that. [Pete was 44 at the time of this interview.]I’m
just waiting for people to call me the new Marilyn
Manson. I’ve been the new Boy George. I think
I’ve got staying power and gay culture in general
knows what I’ve done and they appreciate me for
who and what I am. The mainstream media… I
take no responsibility for.
You were married and also had a male
partner. Is that still the case?
I know from a record company angle it’s like,
“Oh, he’s married and he’s had plastic surgery!”
but I’m still married. Open to offers [laughs

DNA 85
FEATURE /

filthily]. The secret to a happy marriage is no
secrets. It is a happy marriage and I guess it’s
not a conventional marriage but I see completely
dysfunctional conventional marriages. We’re
a male and a female and we’re also very best
friends and not many conventional marriages can
say that. Men and women aren’t usually friends.
Men go off and do their things separately and
so do women and they meet in the bedroom and
maybe the labour ward.
Do you still keep in touch with people you
and sometimes very hypocritical and I would point
those out to him in private and we would argue but
he wanted it his way. I haven’t fallen out with him,
it just didn’t go anywhere because I didn’t agree
with his views on some things. God bless him and
he was interesting but I read the book, I finished it
and now it goes back in the library.
Life does take you on
house and get shot. One of the big faults in
our life is thinking so much about the future.
The future comes no matter what you do but
if you spend so much time thinking about it
and regretting your past you’re not going to do
anything in the present. We worry about what
we’re going to be doing next Saturday. I don’t
even know if I’m going to be alive next Saturday.
[Pauses] Chances are I will, but I’d rather
concentrate on now.
Is it true your mother, a concentration camp

a journey. Don’t jump

were linked with in the press like Morrissey
and Courtney Love?
[Obviously enjoying a good celebrity gossip]
I bumped into Courtney at the VH1 Fashion
Awards a couple of years ago in New York but
we were never really close friends. I love what
she does. Sometimes if you love what someone
does artistically it’s best not to get to know them
because you might not really like them. She’s
unpredictable and dangerous and that’s why I
think she’s fab.
And Morrissey?
Morrissey… peculiar. He was great and very
talented but it was a difficult friendship to
maintain. His views and my views on certain
things contradicted each other and he was not
willing to accept differences. Morrissey is in a
very comfortable position – he’s king of his own
castle. I was not a Morrissey or Smiths fan when
I first met him. I thought Smiths were a brand of
crisps [giggles]. I found his views very staunch
off before the journey is
completed.
You have some very rabid fans, don’t you?
Fan is a short word for fanatic, which means
unhinged, which is what I thought some of them
were. But I started to look at our website and
would read things and realise I’d had an affect on
their lives and taken them on their own journey.
It really touched my heart. If someone did break
into my house and decapitate me for stealing
their husband I could definitely say, “Well, I’ve
affected some people’s lives and some people
will remember that. I didn’t just talk about it, it
wasn’t done for me, I did it!”
Where do you think you’ll be in 20 years?
I really don’t know. I could walk out of this
survivor, inspired you?
[Defiantly] I can take what other people perceive
to be a crushing blow and be like, “Well, your
life didn’t end, so carry on!” I have this basic
philosophy that when things are getting bad pay it
no mind, all things will change. You can be in the
darkest hour and think your life’s gone horribly
wrong but the next day the sun does come up and
you can start again. That’s what I got from her.
She was a German Jew and had been through
terrible things in her life in Nazi Germany. Her
father was gassed and she had to flee from the
Nazis. When she was on the run and hiding in
cellars and thinking she was going to be next in
the concentration camp she never thought that she
would end a few years later in England with kids
and a husband. She thought her life was over.
What life lessons did your mother teach you?
[His voice quavering slightly] She taught me that
your life does take you on a journey. Just don’t
jump off before the journey is completed. 

The Dead Or Alive playlist: That’s The Way (I Like It) 1984 No. 22 UK Chart No. 45 Aust. Chart
You Spin Me Round (Like A Record) 1984 No. 1 UK Chart No. 1 Aust. Chart

Lover Come Back 1985 No. 11 UK Chart No. 13 Aust. Chart

In Too Deep 1985 No. 14 UK Chart No. 31 Aust. Chart

My Heart Goes Bang (Get Me To The Doctor) 1985 No. 24 UK Chart No. 41 Aust. Chart
Brand New Lover 1986 No. 31 UK Chart No. 21 Aust. Chart
DJ Hit That Button 1985 From Youthquake
Big Daddy Of The Rhythm 1985 From Youthquake
Something In My House 1987 No. 12 UK Chart No. 19 Aust. Chart
Hooked On Love 1987 No. 69 UK Chart No. 33 Aust. Chart
I’ll Save You All My Kisses 1987 No. 78 UK Chart No. 47 Aust. Chart
Son Of A Gun 1986 From Bad, Bad…
Turn Around And Count 2 Ten 1988 No. 30 Aust. Chart No. 2 US Dance Chart
Come Home With My Baby 1989 No. 60 UK Chart No. I US Dance Chart
Unhappy Birthday 1991 From Nukleopatra
Sex Drive 1996 No. 52 Aust. Chart
Rebel Rebel 1994 No. 76 UK Chart No. 97 Aust. Chart

86 DNA
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FEATURE /

I SPENT 20 YEARS “
DOING CRACK
AND WATCHING The Calling Your

ALIEN MOVIES IN
Name look.

MY BEDROOM!
HE WAS A STAR OF THE GENDER
BENDING ’80S ALONGSIDE BOY GEORGE
Boy George and
AND PETE BURNS, THEN BECAME DRUG Marilyn at The Blitz.
ADDICTED FOR DECADES. THROUGH
REHAB, A BRIGHT AND BUBBLY MARILYN
IS BACK TO TELL HIS CAUTIONARY TALE.
INTERVIEW BY MARC ANDREWS.

E
xactly one decade ago, DNA ran one of
the strangest interviews that have ever
graced these pages. The subject was
Marilyn, a minor pop star from the 1980s best
known for being Boy George’s buddy, being very
pretty and his hit Calling Your Name.
Then – poof! – he disappeared even quicker
than he arrived. Rumours swirled that he had
become a heroin addict – he and George were
inseparable at the time of George’s own smack
crisis. Later, when Marilyn insisted to the press
he was the true love of Gwen Stefani’s husband
Gavin Rossdale it all seemed like a desperate bid
for a few more minutes of fame. Little did we
know that all of this was true.
In 2006 when I interviewed Marilyn there was
all kinds of bizarre backstage shenanigans going
on with a “manager” called Mary who appeared
to actually be Marilyn in disguise except not (!)
and a veritable tsunami of nasty tirades about his
former pop pals from the New Romantic era.
I’d asked Marilyn to comment on Blitz Club
founder and Visage frontman Steve Strange’s bold
declaration that Marilyn was “a heroin addict who
lived at home with his mum”. Marilyn’s huffy
response? “I could let my age show and become
a frightful leather handbag, but I wouldn’t dare
Marilyn today, aged 54,
shooting the video for
Love Or Money.
steal his look. He must be out of what’s left of his
tiny little mind on drugs.”
Fast forward ten years and Steve Strange has
not just faded to grey, he’s passed away. Marilyn,
meanwhile, managed to get himself into recovery
in 2010 after a 20-year battle with drug addiction.
The 54-year-old has now got a new life, a new
boyfriend and a new record (courtesy of some
help from old ex-bestie Boy George) called Love
Or Money.
He’s finally in a good place and, not
surprisingly, has no recollection of our “crack is
whack” interview. That’s addiction for you.
DNA: We last spoke about ten years ago.
Marilyn: Wow. I don’t remember it. Maybe
it was one of the other Marilyns you spoke to
[laughing]!
Marilyn with Madonna
around 1986.
You seemed to be in quite a dark place at that
time, but have turned your life around.
I really have [laughs].
What has brought about all these changes for
the better?
It started with me suffering and I think I’ve
suffered quite long enough really. I was sick and
tired of being sick and tired. About six years ago
I started to get serious about this. I got pneumonia
and was in hospital and it was a culmination of
everything. I had had enough and was fucking
sick of being ill. It was all bullshit. I thought, if
this is living I would rather die and I can’t die so I
had to put away the drugs.
You said recently you spent 20 years doing
crack and watching the Alien movies in your
bedroom. Is that true?
It’s not an exaggeration in the slightest. I basically
sat in a room for 20 years in solitary isolation.

88 DNA
There are lots of things about life that aren’t nice.
There’s a lot of unfairness and people who aren’t
particularly nice to you. It’s not easy when you are
extremely sensitive. That was a lot to deal with.
Deciding to pick up your career and make
a record again, is this all part of the healing
process for you?
It just evolved. It wasn’t thought out or calculated.
My album [1985’s Despite Straight Lines] turned
out to be a bit of a classic really. If you had your
ears and your heart open it’s all right there. It’s a
shame more people didn’t get to appreciate it.
Your new single Love Or Money continues the
reggae vibe of your last hit Baby You Left Me.
My whole thing with that particular song and
look I did in the video is about coming full circle.
I’m working with a lot of the same people again
like (Boy) George. When I locked myself away I
didn’t say goodbye to anyone. I just disappeared
and left everything. This reemergence is about
overtly sexual. It’s about being happy.
You look amazing – what’s your secret?
I’ve been eating everything that isn’t nailed
down! I don’t know if there is a secret as much as
common sense. If you want great skin you have to
look after it and drink a lot of water. All this body
shaming… that you have to have a six-pack…
it’s like, “Oh, fuck off!” My motto is about being
comfortable with who you are. You don’t have to
look a certain way to be sexy. Being confident
and accepting who you are is much sexier than
glutes and a six-pack.
Anyone who has
overcome the
nightmare of addiction
part of me. I am very proud of my first album and
worked very hard to make it come into creation.
It’s part of my life.
On a personal level you’re in a relationship
and seem quite settled now.
Oh, I hate him [laughs]. I’m alive and I’m
experiencing life and I have a partner. Today I do,
anyway [laughs]. There could be someone else
tomorrow if he doesn’t behave himself.
It’s so nice to see you and Boy George back
together as buddies and having fun after all
the shit that went down in your lives.
Yeah, it is. It’s quite a journey but I don’t know
if I’m surprised by that. We are both in really
good places but let’s not get it twisted – it’s not
easy. We’re still who we are at the end of the
day and we still have huge disagreements. It’s a
relationship like any other that goes up and down
and sideways but when you go through recovery
you learn certain guidelines and boundaries and

reestablishing where I left off with everyone. It’s a
weird dynamic, but to be welcomed back the way
I have been has just been an incredible experience
and mind-blowing.
Has George always been there for you or have
you picked up the friendship again recently?
We have phases. When someone is taking drugs it’s
very difficult to know what to do. Unless a person
wants to help themselves there’s not a lot you can do.
You have to get on with your own life and hope the
penny drops. The gut instinct is to want to help and
fix and make it right but that doesn’t work. In reality,
all you can do is reassure the person that when they
are ready you will be around.
Have you made amends to each other?
Well, I have, but I don’t know about her! Like
Diana Ross said, I’m still waiting.
In the Love Or Money video you’re clearly
loving being a sexy fifty-something.
It’s all about freedom, being yourself and being
comfortable with that. I wasn’t trying to be
inspires me!
How easy is it for you to slip into the Marilyn
persona?
It kind of is. Apart from being comfortable being
myself I can also become something else. I let
you in on a secret – Marilyn and Peter Robinson
are one and the same person. So just call me
Marilyn. It was chosen for me. I have earned it, I
lived it, I am it and now I own it. That’s who I am
and I am comfortable being that.
Is there a new album in the works?
We are finishing an album and I am really excited
because I’m getting a show together.
Will you be singing some of the old hits or have
you disowned them?
I love my songs. They meant something at the
time I wrote them and they mean things to other
people. You can’t edit your life. Those songs are a
apply them as you go forward in any kind of
relationship situation. It’s about self-management.
To have two people keeping each other in check
and doing the same thing doubles the power of
one person being in recovery. George and many
other people are in recovery and anyone who has
overcome the nightmare of addiction inspires me.
Will you ever return to Australia after getting
punched during a promo visit in the ’80s?
Oh God, I love Australia. It was the most
incredible place and the people were amazing. I
just happened to have an iffy situation, but that
was my fault as well. I made flippant statements
afterwards because I was really hurt. I had an
amazing trip, despite that awful experience. One
person is not going to taint my whole perception
of a country and the people in it. I would go back
in a heartbeat. 
MORE: Love Or Money is available now to
purchase. For more go to mistermarilyn.com.

MARILYN ON PETE BURNS

The death of Pete Burns was a huge blow to
Marilyn. After hearing the news and declaring he
was in “absolute shock” Marilyn tweeted a photo
of himself with Pete – dressed up like Marilyn
Monroe – with the caption “two glamorous icons
together”. (See left.) A few days later he told fans
“sometimes, in my life, the only thing that gets me
through is my music”. Soon after… “Yes, my eyes
have seen a lot of sorrow, but they’ve born witness
to so much happiness too. The trick is to see the
beauty in both.”
He also retweeted a fan comment that Pete
loved Marilyn’s 1985 single You Don’t Love Me
insisting it should have been a much bigger hit
than it was at the time. Go to YouTube to see if you
agree with Pete and check the original video that
features classic ’80s footage from Maz’s tumultuous
Australian promotional trip.

DNA 89
FEATURE /
Josh Thomas as Josh in
Please Like Me, season four.
JOSH THOMAS’ AWARD-WINNING
SERIES PLEASE LIKE ME CONTINUES
TO DELIGHT FANS WITH ITS QUIRKY,
BRUTALLY HONEST TAKE ON
RELATIONSHIPS, MENTAL ILLNESS
AND SEX. MATTHEW GALEA ASKS THE
FAMOUSLY GEN-Y COMEDIAN/ACTOR/
WRITER WHERE TO NEXT?
DNA: Do you feel Please Like Me has a life
of its own now, beyond how you initially
imagined it?
Josh Thomas: Well, once, somebody sent me a
message that they were watching it while they
were in labour. I didn’t know that was a thing! Or
sometimes people will be like, “Oh, me and my
ex-boyfriend used to watch your show together.”
And that’s cute to imagine, isn’t it? My show was
their show that they watched.
We really want things to work out for Josh
and Arnold; is that going to happen?
Its television so things aren’t going to pan out
90 DNA
“I JUST WANT
PEOPLE TO LIKE IT.
IT’S IN THE TITLE!”
for the main couple because that’s what happens
on TV. Unfortunately, that’s how it has to be.
People watch the
Nobody really wants to watch a happy couple for
very long. I mean, they’ve been together for like
at least 14 episodes so that’s a very long time for
a TV couple.
show and think, ‘Josh
will help me with my
What do you hope people get from watching
the show?
I honestly just hope that they like it. You want it to mental illness,’ but I
make them feel an emotion, right? You hope that can’t. It’s not a thing I
know how to do.
they’ll laugh or that they’ll feel sad for someone.
Television can introduce you to people and make
you feel empathy for them and that’s good and
healthy. I just want people to like it. It’s in the title!
We’re not trying to do anything that big with it; it’s depicted very honestly so there were a lot of
just a little, cute show that I hope people watch and people who were excited about seeing it in the
go, “Oh, that was nice to watch.” show, which is nice. My mum’s psychiatrist liked
There’s a lot about mental health in the it. She said it was really useful. People send me
show, have you had much response from messages sometimes which I find quite difficult
people living with mental illness or health because they tell me their problems and they’ll
professionals? ask for advice and it’s, like, oh God, I don’t
Yeah, and it’s always been positive. A lot of know, you know what I mean? I can’t solve your
people with anxiety disorders haven’t seen it problems for you.
You’re not qualified for that!
Yeah, they watch the show and think, “Oh, Josh
will help me with my mental illness” but I can’t
help you. It’s not a thing that I know how to do.
But, as you said, it’s good that there’s a
reaction to it and its helping people.
Yeah, you want people to either see themselves in
a character and feel like someone understands, or
for people who haven’t come across someone like
this [maybe] they’ll be able to get to know them
and get a new understanding of the world. I guess
that’s the aim of scripted television.
If you could have anyone join the cast, who
would it be and why?
It would just be Harry Styles and then he would
kiss me. That’s it.
That would be great! What kind of character
would he play?
Just like a really slutty guy who likes me a lot.
He’s getting into acting now so that could very
well happen!
Is he!? Oh, great, I’ll send him an email!
Growing up, what did you love watching?
What was your Please Like Me?
I can’t think of anything that was that similar. I
wasn’t watching anything cool, you know, I was
just watching Seinfeld and Friends.
Both of those shows are about people with
real life problems. They were just real like the
characters on Please Like Me.
Skins is one of the first TV shows that I really
loved. I was in love with Mitch Hewer. He’s so
cute! People have mentioned Seinfeld in reviews
of Please Like Me and I don’t really understand
it. I don’t think they’ve got anything in common
aside from the fact that not much happens. There
isn’t really a central premise. But I’m thrilled!
I’m glad to be compared.
Please Like Me blurs the line between Josh the
character and Josh Thomas the real person:
has the show changed you as a person?
I don’t think so. I mean, there are a lot of things
that I’ve had to learn from doing the show. Like,
I’ve had to learn to work with people. When I
was a stand-up I was on my own all the time
and now I had to convince people that my ideas
are good or their ideas are bad. It’s just a thing
that’s part of my job. It’s not something that I
would’ve had the social skills to pull off when
we began but I’ve had to learn how to do that in
a nice way, like, telling someone that their idea
sucked… with a nice tone.
You had to learn people skills?
Yeah! I had, like, no people skills, really. I was
just a stupid, awkward kid. Also, I’ve been
Keegan Joyce (Arnold)
and Hannah Gadsby
(below) as Hannah.
CATCH SOME
PLEASE LIKE ME
BEHIND-THE-
SCENES STUFF
employed for five years, which is great! It’s nice
because before, when I was doing stand-up, I was
constantly like, “Okay, what am I doing next?”
and it’s very inconsistent and you end up doing
pretty weird shit, but this has been like a normal
job that people have.
What do fans often say when they meet you?
The good thing about Please Like Me fans is that
they’re really reasonable, nice people and they don’t really give a shit anymore and you need
just come and say, “Hi josh! Sorry to interrupt. that desperation for approval to make you do a
I just want to say that I really love your show.” good performance. You need that to drive you.
And I say, “Thank you,” and that’s it! When I If I got on stage in front of 800 people now and
used to be on commercial TV, people would they all hated me, I’d just be like, “Fine, that’s
stop and yell, “Hey, you’re that funny cunt!” just another 800 people to add to the pile.” I’m
But nobody does that anymore because they’ve not worried about it, which is not what you want
forgotten me unless they watch this show and all when you’re paying money to see someone. I
the people that watch this show are, like, nice. don’t think I’ll do it for a while. I’ll take a break.
That’s the good thing about making a show that’s What amazingly good thing would you like to
really quite sweet. They’re the people that you see happen in 2017?
get. From stand-up comedian to TV exec – the I have no idea. I don’t know what I’m going to
unstoppable machine that is Josh Thomas shows do. I guess I’d like to be employed, that’d be
no signs of slowing down. good. And maybe, well, I won’t call out Donald
Do you see yourself doing stand-up again Trump, everyone’s so bored with that. I just don’t
anytime soon? know. I don’t have an answer. 
No, I don’t think so. I don’t know if I’ll ever do it
again. When I was younger I used to get up there
and really want the audience to laugh but now MORE: Catch Please Like Me on ABC TV, ABC
iView or download the series from iTunes.
I’m just a bit more relaxed. If they don’t like me I
DNA 91
NEWS FEATURE /
Nothing Left To Lose
W
e are currently witnessing a human
tragedy on an epic scale. There are
65.3 million displaced people in
the world, according to the United Nations High
Commission on Refugees. There are a further 21
million refugees, and 10 million stateless people. A
staggering 34,000 people are forced to flee their
homes every day due to conflict or persecution.
In the last few years, millions of people have
arrived on Europe’s southern shores from the
Middle East and Northern Africa to escape war,
persecution and hunger.
Some of them are gay. They’re escaping the
horrors of their homelands for the same reasons
as everyone else, but in the cramped and unstable
atmosphere of refugee camps, their sexuality can
make them vulnerable.
Many have never come out or even met an
openly gay person. Resettling in the West offers
the hope of not just a better life, but a life in
which they can live and love without mortal fear,
prejudice or judgement.
Getting out is just the start of a terrible journey.
Marc Andrews prepared this special report from
the front line in Greece. Photography supplied by
Rando Wagner.
*Wassim, Daniel and May’s names have been
changed for the purpose of this story to ensure
their safety.
WASSIM’S STORY:
Escaping Civil War In Syria
DNA: What made you decide to leave Syria?
Wassim: I’m 17 now but I first left Syria when I
was 13 years old because was in danger. I was a
young, tall teenager so the army wanted me to join
them as a soldier even though I was just 13. When
I finished middle school I escaped and lived for
two years in Lebanon. On my first day there, I took
a taxi and was sexually harassed by the driver. He
took me to the middle of nowhere and I couldn’t
do anything. He was more powerful than me. I
couldn’t tell my family; I couldn’t tell anyone. I
moved on again, this time to Turkey, where I spent
almost one year, and then I came to Greece.
92 DNA
Wassim, free from oppression but
still a refugee on the streets of
Athens. (below) Boat arrivals off the
coast of Athens, helped by NGO
volunteers.
Where do you live now?
In Athens. I was living in the squat but it was an
awkward situation there for me so I moved to my
own room.
How long have you been in Greece?
Three months.
Did you realise, at age 13, that you were gay?
Yes. I thought I was too young and something I
didn’t care about at the time. I knew that it would
be a problem though.
How did you get from Turkey to Greece?
It was a weird journey on the boat to the island.
There were almost 40 people in the boat. It was
like a plastic one and not a real boat. It took about
two hours.
When you arrived what happened?
People saw us coming and helped us with clothes,
food and drink. There was a bus that took us to
a place for refugees. In the morning they did the
papers for the people from Syria to stay for six
months. I went and bought a ticket to Athens and
here I am.
Did it surprise you that people were very
welcoming when you arrived?
I knew there would be a good reception because
other people had come before me and I knew that
there were good people.
What did you tell your family?
I am in touch with my family. They don’t know much
about me, though. They don’t know that I am gay.
Could you have tried to stay in Syria?
In Syria, if you’re gay, you have to live in secret.
When I was a young kid they made fun of my
voice and my walk. Even my father told me to
walk and talk like a man. Life as a gay adult in
Syria would have been very bad.
What would have happened if you had been
outed as gay in Syria?
It would have been a big problem without a
solution. Thankfully I didn’t get that problem, but
the gay refugees all have to be very much in secret.
When you see images of ISIS throwing gay
men off building to their death, does this
frighten you?
I didn’t think about it because ISIS is in the north
of Syria but they are not in my city. I was in a safe
place from ISIS.
What are your plans for the future?
I am going to go to Norway where my brother
lives. I am going to complete my high school
studies. I am interested in art, music and physics.
I have so many things on my mind. In Norway I
will have to be secret about being gay, too, with
my brother. He thinks gay people are mentally ill
and told me that if I was going to stay gay that I
shouldn’t come to Norway.
Are you happy now?
Yes. I feel free here. If I find a real partner then I
would like to be with him and live a life, but I am
still young.
How is it that your English is so excellent?
I used to watch a lot of American TV shows
[laughs]. My favourite was The Big Bang Theory.
The lead actor on that show, Jim Parsons, is
openly gay. Does that inspire you at all?
I am proud that gay people are famous.

DANIEL’S STORY: Smuggled
Out To Freedom
DNA: Where were you born?
Daniel: I was born in Iran. My family are Muslim
and my father is very religious. I’m 17.
When did you leave Iran?
In September 2015. I went to Turkey, to Istanbul.
I had some serious problems with my family, my
neighbours and the government and after three
years my father told me: “This is your last chance.
If you go I am not going to stop you. I just don’t
want you to go a dangerous way.” So he came
with me to Turkey and gave my hand to a people
smuggler. I spent a week there. My smuggler put
us in a hotel for a week for $1,000. Then I came to
Greece by boat and it was terrible. It took one-and-
a-half hours. Sixty-five people were on my boat.
The people were half from Iran and half from Iraq/
Syria.
Were you the only gay person on the boat?
I think there was one other. I arrived in Greece
and was told the borders were closed to Iranians.
I spent my money to get a hotel for one week and
find another smuggler. I had $8,000 and paid two
different smugglers. They gave me fake papers as
an Afghan. I left for Macedonia five times and they
beat me and rejected me. It was terrible. It was also
cold. I didn’t get there. I was suffering and then an
organisation, Save The Children, told me that they
knew my papers were fake and I was not 18. They
gave me a safe place and got me a ticket to Athens
and I was sent to a shelter for underage people.
Did you tell them that you identify as gay?
No. I have now been there for five months. A lady
called May came to our shelter as a teacher and
talked to me because no one else had good English
there. She told me that they need help in Pireaus
Port in Athens and asked if I wanted to work as a
volunteer. She opened a shelter for LGBT people
and knew I was gay. I am going to be an English
teacher for them.
What are your plans for the future?
I am going to school in September and then I am
going to Australia next year. My uncle is there and
sent me an invitation. He lives in Melbourne and I
think it is better than Greece. If I tell my uncle that
I am gay he will be okay because he is living in
Australia and very open-minded. I would not tell my
parents though because we only fight when we talk.
I would like to be a
brain surgeon, an
actor in Hollywood. I
have just met someone.
I would love to be
married to him.
How do you think telling your story can help
others?
It is not good to be gay in Iran, of course, and it
is dangerous. All of the gays in Iran are suffering.
It is so difficult now and hard for them to run
away. Iran is such a big and powerful country,
but the only problem is that we have an Islamic
government. If it were European rules there then
I wouldn’t have left at all. We also have thousands
of gays in the refugee camps but they do not show
themselves because they are scared. I want them
to know that they have LGBT rights in Greece and
they can be free.
Do you feel free?
Yes, I feel free. I would like to be a brain surgeon
in the future, as well as an actor in Hollywood.
I have also just met someone. I would love to be
married to him in the future.
What would you say to those who call you
“economic migrants” rather than refugees?
I find that disgusting and cheating when people
say all they want is to go to Germany because they
want money and Germany is giving it to them. I
came here for a better place.
How did you learn English?
My parents travelled a lot so it was a tradition in
our family to learn Arabic and English at school.
My grandfather previously lived in Canada, so
he taught me. Since I was a kid I was watching
English movies without subtitles and my favourite
English music was Just Dance by Lady Gaga. I
thought she was a boy then [laughs]. I am still a big
fan and love her music. My biggest wish is to meet
her and I have her picture everywhere. >>
Do We Do Enough?
Refugee and Asylum Seeker policy in
Australia has become deeply politicised, and
there are many myths and misconceptions.
Here are a few…
MYTH: They are “illegal”
It is not against Australian law to arrive
without a visa and apply for protection as a
refugee or asylum seeker, even if you arrive
by boat and have paid a people smuggler.
This law is based on article 14 of The
Universal Declaration Of Human Rights.
MYTH: They are “queue jumpers”
There is no queue. The UN resettlement
program is not “first come, first served”; it is
based on need.
MYTH: They are bad for the economy
Studies show that resettled migrants and
refugees generate economic benefits in
communities by filling gaps in the labour
market, making homes in non-metropolitan
areas, and starting small businesses.
MYTH: Australia hosts its fair share
The top ten host countries for refugees are
Pakistan, Iran, Lebanon, Jordan, Turkey,
Kenya, Chad, Ethiopia, China and the USA,
according to the Red Cross.
DNA 93
NEWS FEATURE /
RANDO’S STORY: The Party Boy
Who Became A Rescuer
German-born, London-based airline worker Rando
Wagner was a gay party boy for many years. His
lifestyle centred around sex, drugs and rocking his
own world. Then something startling happened
– he found purpose in life by helping others. He’s
currently helping gay refugees.
DNA: You went from party boy to refugee
volunteer. What made you change?
Rando: While on holiday in France last June
I saw refugees sleeping rough in the middle of
Nice. There were babies crawling on the floor
and no one even seemed to notice. Those images
stayed in my mind all summer. Then the first
border clashes happened and I saw a Facebook
post by an Aussie friend travelling around
Europe helping refugees at the border between
Serbia and Croatia. I asked him for a contact and
two days later was on my way to “the front”.
What did you see when you got there?
I saw thousands of people walking across
Europe. It was obvious all these people were
fleeing war. The images were very similar to
ones from 1945 where millions of Germans
walked westward. All of my life I saw refugees
fleeing from one part of the developing world
to another in the news, so when I saw this
happening in Europe and heard how the media,
and even some friends, dismissed them all as
economic migrants, terrorists or extremists, I
knew, for the first time in my life, that I had to
stand up for what I thought was right. I didn’t
want to end up like my grandparents who said
[about the Jews]: “We knew they closed their
businesses, but not about the camps!” I arrived
around 1am, with my hire car filled with €1,000
of food I had bought in Belgrade. On my way, I
passed a seemingly never-ending line of humans
carrying with them only a small bag, or many
times only a plastic bag. I saw women carrying
infants and people in wheelchairs. I dropped
the food off to what turned out later to be some
Canadian missionaries. Every time I attempted
to finish for the day, I saw another mother with
kids, or young guy on crutches. It took me a long
time before I learned to accept you can’t help
everyone.
What else did you learn from your first few
days helping the refugees?
That by showing a little initiative I can make
a big difference to people. When I stopped the
94 DNA
Rando feeds newly arrived refugees
with supplies he bought; and Rando
with refugee children.
car next to an exhausted looking family
and the young mother thanked me, it was
the first sincere thank you I ever heard.
There would be many more thanks yous
over the coming months when putting
heat blankets on terrified and wet people,
giving out chocolates or water bottles to
the thousands of people waiting outside
the only existing camp on Lesbos, which
had a capacity of 2,000. One day in
November we had 5,000 people arrive.
It was a never-ending row of rubber
dinghies arriving.
You’ve since been back many times to
help the refugees. How has that been? It was such an eclectic mix of people on that
More boats kept arriving, but temperatures beach – Israeli nurses, Greek anarchists, an
dropped to below zero for four days in a row Adventist doctor, a bunch of macho British
in January. Thirty, forty people were drowning Pakistani guys with headbands, some housewives
every night and whole boatfuls were arriving and students from every single European country
with hypothermia. All the volunteers were and then me, the gay party boy. This stretch of
financed by private donations. The governments beach, for all its tragedy and 3,000 drowned
didn’t get involved for many reasons. NGOs like bodies, seemed for those seven months like the
Oxfam and Red Cross couldn’t meet the boats way the world should be. It inspired me to set
because of health and safety rules for their staff up a Facebook group called One Human Race
and also because the refugee crisis unfolded so as more and more friends and friends of friends
quickly. This feeling of all working together for asked me how they could get involved.
the greater good to simply help fellow humans, How has your Facebook page helped the
no matter where they are from and who they pray refugee situation?
to, was another step in my rapid metamorphosis. It has grown to more than 1,500 people now
You were openly gay and helping out with the and enabled volunteers to create an incredible
refugees. How did you find that? network across Europe and the Middle East.
Within a few minutes I can now find help
for a refugee in Berlin, find out about other
volunteers around Europe and doctors in
Greece.
What is the country of origin of most of the
gay refugees?
They are from Iran, Syria and Iraq.
How are you helping them?
We have new safe houses with a particular
emphasis on gay minors. The Zaatar
organisation has so far helped a number of
teenage gay men who fled by themselves from
Iran and Syria. One has already been given
asylum in Greece. When the founder, May, first
told me of her plans to rent a large old building
in central Athens as a safe house for gay
refugees, I was apprehensive. My first thought
was that no one will have the training and
experience to deal with very vulnerable young
guys who might be traumatised. She convinced
me by saying you can’t apply European
standards here anymore and that by opening the
safe house there will at least be somewhere for MAY’S STORY: Creating
them to go. Otherwise, there is nowhere. An LGBT Safe Space
How do these refugees deal with you as an
openly gay man? DNA: Why does your NGO, Zaatar,
Homosexuality in
During my last two trips to Athens I met run a project specifically for LGBTQ Afghanistan, for
two openly gay refugees from Syria. Just refugees?
May: Refugees mostly come from a very
example, is a serious
crime and punishment
last week two guys I have known for three
months came out to me, neither came as a conservative background where being
huge shock [laughs]. It only took a tiny bit of a member of the LGBTQ community may include the death
penalty.
help in opening those closet doors, which I is either socially and cultural despised,
unknowingly gave them. I found out I was the or even a crime against the local law.
first openly gay man either one had ever met. Homosexuality in Afghanistan, for
Coming out is a big deal to most gay men and example, is a serious crime and punishment
I can’t even begin to imagine what these guys may include the death penalty. In Iran there
must have been going through. They were are similar punishments for members of the community in two ways. Firstly, we advocate
stuck in limbo between closed borders and a LGBTQ community. In general, any other for LGBTQ rights through our network and
home country they can’t go back to, due to war, sexual activity outside a [heterosexual] volunteers. Refugees coming to Greece from
conscription and their sexuality. marriage is strictly forbidden. Traditional a conservative background get information
Have you had any negative response to the schools of Islamic law, based on Quranic on the legal status of LGBTQ people in
volunteer work you do? verses, consider any homosexual act a sin Greece and are further educated in the social
Gay guys often ask me, “Why are you helping and furthermore a punishable crime. acceptance of LGBTQ rights in Greece.
Muslims? They want us all dead!” Firstly, I Why is there a need for such a project in Secondly, we provide a safe-hub for the
have not had one negative reaction from a single Greece? LGBTQ community to have a place of
refugee about my sexuality. Even though I am Even though homosexual marriage is legal discussion and exchange. In the long run we
not religious, the right to worship openly or live in Greece, refugees staying in camps are are aiming to have a shelter for such a place.
your life as you choose is something we all need still exposed to people who do not accept The aim of Zaatar is to support minority
to fight for. The same people that turn against the LGBTQ community. A safe hub is groups, such as the LGBTQ community, as we
Muslims or Jews will turn against us next. needed for these people to protect them think it is important to hear their voices and to
from potential violence and oppression. care about their future.
How are you helping improve the lives of
MORE: Find the One Human Race page on LGBTQ refugees?
Facebook. You can also help fund Rando’s life-
changing work on We are trying to support the LGBTQ MORE: Go to zaatarngo.org

www.gofundme.com/humansasone

DNA 95
NEWS FEATURE /
Incredibly, HIV treatment drugs are free,
JAMAICA: WORK but getting an HIV test could ruin your
reputation. Condoms are widespread,
IN PROGRESS
but buying lubricant involves social
shaming. Welcome to the contradictory
world of Jamaica, long considered a
homophobic hotspot in the Caribbean.
Things are changing, though, activist
Jumoke Patrick tells Andrew Creagh.
DNA: Would it be fair to say that it’s
not easy to live as an openly gay man in
Jamaica?
Jumoke Patrick: Yes, that’s true. We still
have far to go to acceptance and tolerance.
We know that there are difficulties. We know
that on the broader population does not accept
homosexuality but we now know that that
can change and are working towards a place
of more respect and dignity. Surprisingly, to
many people, we have been working with the
government on this. Publically they will not
support us but in our private meetings they
tell us how they feel. At the end of the day
your political career depends on what your
constituency has to say about a particular issue.
Where does the hostility in Jamaican society
come from?
Predominantly it comes from religious values
and beliefs. Religion has been the dominant
argument against equal rights for people who
are same-sex attracted.
Is that a colonial religious belief or an
indigenous belief?
More colonial. We have “The Buggery Law”
which means that you can be locked up if
you are caught having sex with somebody
of the same sex in the anus. Or you can be
charged for public intimacy “offenses against
the person”. Even more recently we’ve had a
lot of evangelical groups form to prevent any
discussion the government may want to have
with human rights groups about removal of the
law or legalising or providing equality.
Do these laws and attitudes prevent people
who may need access to HIV services from
going to a doctor?
Yes, because it is illegal, because buggery is
illegal. As a gay man, for instance, if I can’t
access private health care services, which are
expensive, I may be unwilling to go to a health
care facility, to a clinic or to a hospital.
J-Flag activist, Jumoke Patrick.
Why?
96 DNA
I would be unwilling to go to a clinic because
if, for example, I had an anal wart I’m going
to be fearful that it becomes known that I’m
having same-sex relations, that I’m gay. I lot
of men who have sex with men are afraid
to access basic HIV prevention services.
Currently, among men-who-have-sex-with-
men in Jamaica the prevalence of HIV at 33
percent. That means that one in three gay men
are positive.
How can that sense of stigma be reduced?
The issue we have in Jamaica is that if I
go to a doctor I should expect to be treated
professionally, no matter what, but we have
doctors who are unwilling to separate their
professional duties from their private beliefs.
Many health care workers are adamant that
their religious beliefs should come before their
professional standards.
We have doctors and
health workers who
are adamant that their
religious beliefs should
come before their
professional standards.
Are many of the hospitals and clinics run by
religious organisations?
Well, no, but we are a very religious country.
Everybody goes to church. Even if they don’t
live by all the rules every day, everybody
says they are Christian when it comes to
condemning homosexuality and judging
homosexuals.
If you become HIV-positive in Jamaica,
would you have access to antiretroviral
drugs? Are they affordable?
Antiretroviral drugs are free. That’s good.
But am I willing to disclose my sexuality?
Some men die because they are fearful of
the judgement of their sexuality and so never
seek treatment.
Does that mean that a lot of people don’t
know they are positive?
One of our studies found that there are an
estimated 32,000 people living with HIV and
half of them don’t know.
 Is the gay population aware that one in three
in the community are positive?
I don’t think so. There’s a lot of difficulty getting
them to realise that they need to use a condom.
Currently, it’s very hard to access lubricant. You
have to go to a pharmacy, but it’s not on the shelf,
you have to ask the pharmacist to go and get it
from behind the counter.
Has that been done on purpose to prevent
people from using lubricant? To shame them?
I don’t know, but there have been a lot of
conversations about that. You can access
condoms very easily from a convenience store,
they are distributed by a lot of organisations, but
lubricant is not.
What do people use instead?
Skin lotion, moisturiser, olive oil… none are
good for use with condom rubber.
Is there a black market in lubricant?
No, there isn’t.
Does this complicate getting the safe sex
message out there?
Because Jamaican gay men operate on the downlow
it’s very hard to reach the middle class. It’s easy to
reach the lower class and the sex workers because
they are the ones who are more likely to turn up to a
clinic because there’ll be free food or condoms, and
they have less to lose. But the more educated ones,
the ones who live uptown and may be married with
kids, don’t want to be seen in that setting. It’s wrong
according to the bible. People are afraid. There’s a
lot of fear and challenges.
How do you break down those fears and
address those challenges?
We have to have more people showing their face
and saying, “Hey, I’m just like you. I’m your
boss, I’m your doctor, I’m your lawyer…” The
perception of gay people in Jamaica is that they
Pic via Vice.
are flamboyant, from the lower class, and are sex
workers… That’s the image a general Jamaican
has of a gay man.
What happens if you come out but you don’t
fit that stereotype?
They don’t believe you! Even to this day, some of
my friends don’t believe that I’m gay.
What do they think is going on with you?
Some think it’s a disorder, a phase… “Oh, you
just need to have sex with a female,” they say,
and you’ll change. They gave all sorts of theories
about why people become gay because people
aren’t supposed to be born gay.
Is there an idea that “gay” is a white thing?
Oh, yes. Some people think that you become
gay because you want to get money or advance
yourself. There’s many different stupid ideas,
even among the more educated. You have to
wonder!
Have things improved over the last few years?
Yes, we have come a long way. A couple of years
ago you couldn’t talk about LGBT issues in the
open. You couldn’t have a meeting in a room and
talk about LGBT issues. It was hush hush. Now
we are having those conversations on TV, people
are showing their faces. Last year, in Kingston,
we had our first Pride.
How did it go?
It was good. We had the support of the mayor,
and the minister of justice and a lot of people.
When people from outside the gay community
start supporting us, that’s when we start to see
change.
Right. We have been noticing that. A small
change is happening and it’s continuing. We are
going to have our second Pride and it’s going to
be bigger than last year. Ellen Page supported
us last year and she is again. This year we are
Ellen Page at a flash mob
during Kingston’s first Gay
Pride in 2015.
THE BUGGERY LAW
The criminalisation of
homosexuality in Jamaica dates back
to the British 1864 Offences Against
The Person Act, which calls for up
to 10 years imprisonment with hard
labour for those convicted of the
“abominable crime of buggery.”
having a sports day, a black-tie event, a launch…
Sounds great. Can you invite DNA?
You should come!
As an openly gay man in Jamaica does having
a successful Pride event have a positive effect
on your life?
It does. You can walk around in parts of
Kingston with your rainbow flag and people
can know you are gay without you having to
be afraid. You can’t do that everywhere. I hope
that in a couple of years from now it should not
be an issue. Who you decide to bring into your
bedroom should be a non-issue.
What has brought those changes?
Well, I was not here when it started but, even
with my organisation, at the beginning, there was
no face to it. People did not use their real names.
If they appeared on television you did not see
their faces. We made a decision that people have
to see a face, they have to see pictures, and an
identity.
You can’t argue for acceptance while living in
the shadows.
That’s the only way. You have to say, “Listen, I
am a real person.” The organisation decided to be
more bold in lobbying. The election before last,
that conversation started happening. Our Prime
Minister said she was going to put it on the table
in the parliament to talk about the issues effecting
the LGBT community and suddenly everyone
was talking about it, whether they agreed or not,
they were talking about it. And when people start
talking about it some of them realise that their
bias and their prejudice was baseless. We have a
lot of allies now, who help us with lobbying and
advocating. Last IDAHO day (International Day
Against Homophobia) we had 36 meetings with
government and embassy officials to talk about
LGBT issues as human rights. 
Special thanks to Shawn Clackett of The Pacific
Friends Of The Global Fund for helping arrange
this interview.
DNA 97
URBAN HOMOSEXUAL /
#high #anxiety
Taking two temazapam within twelve hours of
your last line of coke is probably not the best idea.
Just before you board a plane.
For a long haul international flight.
Particularly when the clothes you are wearing at
time of coke-taking are squashed in your hand
luggage, you haven’t showered, and some of said
coke was spilt on those same clothes while in
drunken, drug-fuelled stupor.
And there’s a fine line of it still encrusted along the
edge of at least one of your credit cards.
None of which helps with my general travel-
nervousness.
Now, it may surprise you to know that I am a
nervous traveller.
Particularly if you’ve followed my adventures over
the years.
It’s worth mentioning that this nervousness has
increased with age.
In fact, it was almost non-existent when I was a
child.
I remember one positively perilous adventure that I
embraced with great delight.
I was 9 years old, and on holiday with my family.
We had landed in Fiji, amidst a dreadful storm.
During the time it took to disembark, retrieve our
luggage and board the bus for our hotel, the storm
had escalated into a hurricane.
The bus driver was obviously working to a
schedule, so we set off anyway.
At great speed, around narrow mountain roads,
the bus battered by flapping palm leaves, the rain
beating it from all directions.
My mother was a wreck, and the trip took hours.
And I loved every minute.
Much as I did heading out into the Hong Kong
night at the age of 15 while on a stopover on a
school trip to China.
I abandoned the other students, teachers and
parents for the bright lights of this big foreign city,
no idea where I was going or how I’d get back.
Upon completing high school, just shy of my 18th
birthday, I headed to the UK and Europe for a gap
year full of foreign adventure and foreign men.
Often armed with little more than a transport pass,
a phrase book and a guide book with map (this
pre-dates the internet) I approached every day
intrepidly, often finding myself at the beginning
the next day in the bed of some strange man, a
long way from my own accommodation.
Language was no barrier to a good time.
And perhaps ignorance was bliss, for I never felt in
any way in jeopardy.
I had liaisons on trains, in cubicles, and little dark
98 DNA
“CRITO, I OWE A COCK TO ASCLEPIUS; WILL YOU REMEMBER TO PAY THE DEBT?”
Socrates.
alleys.
Going forth gaily, with no sense of danger.
Today, however, it’s a different matter.
Perhaps I’m scarred by a conviction for possession
of an illicit substance, a warning for indecent
exposure (technically nothing was exposed as my
dick was in the other man’s mouth, however, we
were on the sidewalk in an alleyway) and multiple
tickets for jay walking – thank you!
All of these occurred on my home turf yet I still
find myself with increasing anxiety when I travel
too far outside my bubble.
As was evidenced by a recent trip, the one which
ended in aforementioned coke-and-temazapam
before departing flight.
I had the trip planned to London with a traveling
companion, a similarly-aged, similarly-jaded,
terminally single faggot.
It would seem that between @jaded_single_faggot
and I we have slept with every poofter in Sydney
and Melbourne (my friend has even cut quite a
swathe through Brisbane, too).
It was time to re-visit foreign climes, reacquaint
ourselves with foreign fare (read: men), and be able
to trawl the bars indiscriminately, wrapped in the
reassuring blanket of anonymity, London being the
perfect melting pot and international hub for such
a sojourn.
Two days before our departure from Sydney, a long
time after our flights and accommodation were
confirmed, @jaded_single_faggot was offered the
opportunity to attend a three-day conference in
Bologna, Italy.
He gladly took this up, leaving me with mixed feelings:
I was inspired by the thought of visiting Italy
again and re-connecting with the good looking,
well-dressed Italian men that I remembered from
previous trips, taken long ago.
But I was also instantly hit by a sense of panic.
The thought of wandering an unknown foreign
city on my own for three days with limited Italian
language skills filled me with apprehension.
FAMOUS LAST WORDS
Plus, a last minute change to schedule is
guaranteed to mess with my head, and trigger all
my control issues.
It also, of course, brought on a wardrobe crisis, for
while I am a last-minute packer, I have a mental
Urban Homo is a work of fiction. Any resemblance to actual people or events is coincidental. DNA does not endorse drug use.
file of my luggage neatly packed away in the back
of my mind and Italy is a completely different
fashion proposition to London.
Needless to say, this all brought on quite the attack
of anxiety.
I should add here that in general my anxiety has
increased over time; it’s not just limited to travel.
And it manifests itself physically, so an attack of
anxiety can, in fact, feel like a heart attack or a
stroke.
Which does nothing to abate the anxiety.
Is this part of the human condition?
Or am I just a neurotic old queen?
My psychologist thinks both of the above are true.
But she also thinks I sit somewhere quite unique.
My first session with her was an hour and a half.
I had been anxious that I was going into a situation
that I wasn’t sure how to work in my favour.
Anxious that I wouldn’t know where to start.
And anxious that I’d tell her the wrong things.
Or, when push came to shove, that I’d have nothing
to say.
I needn’t have worried.
I just talked the whole time.
I didn’t draw breath.
And she barely got a word in.
Well, she started me off with a couple of subtly
probing questions.
And she did steer me with the occasional well
placed suggestion.
But most of the time she was vigorously note-
taking.
While nodding sagely.
And at the end she took a big breath and said,
“Right, well, there’s quite a lot there.”
And indeed there is.
And there’s a whole lot more to come…
 WAIT, THERE’S MORE…

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FASHION EXTRA /
The Short Story
2EROS HAVE launched their Summer 2016-
17 Collection and one of the key pieces
this season is the Bondi Short.
Of course, you don’t have to be
at Bondi to appreciate the style and
versatility of this garment. Although
perfect for taking a dip in the ocean or
pool, the Bondi Short makes great gym
100 DNA
wear and is stylish enough for hitting
the trendiest beach bar as it’s not just
comfortable and breathable, it’s also
quick drying.
This sexy new fit has side-entry pockets
and a back-zip pocket that allow you to
stash away your essentials. With a low-
riding waist and a high UPF (Ultraviolet
Protection Factor), you’ll feel just as good
as you look.
Originally launched in navy and white,
the Bondi Short is now also available in
black and emerald.
Check out 2EROS’s Summer Downunder
Collection at 2eros.com, where you’ll find
the Bondi Short (code: S60).
DNA 101
MILKBEACH

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