David Magazine V7-i11 | In The Green

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We want to introduce our community to your community. Meet Wesley Woods Towers, an Atlanta pioneer in easy-going, worry-free senior living priced to be within reach. If you’re thinking about or worrying about “what’s next” for you, we are here and happy to say WELCOME

Wesley Woods Towers is owned by Emory Healthcare and managed by Wesley Woods Senior Living. Centrally located in the Morningside Neghborhood, our community is close to dining, shopping, entertainment, Emory Hospital and Emory University.

Homelessness continues to increase. We are determined to end LGBTQ+ homelessness and envision a world where all youth feel safe and supported to live and love authentically. Living this vision begins with operating our drop-in center. We are more than a thrift store, we offer hope.

MAR 15, 2023

V7-11

DAVID Magazine

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MANAGING PARTNER & OPERATIONS

Brian Sawyer

brian@davidatlanta.com

EDITORIAL Editor-in-Chief

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SALES | EVENTS

Josh King

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Russ Bowen-Youngblood

SOCIAL MEDIA & MORE

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DISTRIBUTION

Some Cute Guy

CONTRIBUTORS

Russ Bowen-Youngblood

Chris Azzopardi

Larry Olsen

NATIONAL AD REP Rivendell Media 908.232.2021

RADIO PARTNER Meak Productions, Inc. www.meakproductions.com

COVER IMAGE

Gunnar wears Nasty Pig Hyper Speed Jock Strap. Photo by Joe McFetridge.

Photos by: Russ Bowen-Youngblood

Billy Porter Is the Change

By Chris Azzopardi

Photos: Fox, Paramount Pictures

You could say Billy Porter was born to play just about all of his roles. This, of course, is true of his portrayal of Pray Tell, the actor’s Emmy Awardwinning part on “Pose,” and his star-making, Tony Award-winning role in Broadway’s “Kinky Boots.” And you definitely can’t argue with the fact that he was put on this earth to bring racial and gender diversity to his Fairy Godmother part in 2021’s modern retelling of “Cinderella.”

The trend continues with Gugu, the iconic choreography he plays in “80 For Brady,” a role he slips into with such natural ease that you might be asking yourself, “Billy Porter who?” When I tell him that having seen him as Gugu, he may now always just be Gugu to me, he embraces it: “You can call me Gugu,” he says, laughing.

In “80 For Brady,” Gugu is where Lady Gaga got her name from, so that makes Gugu immediately important to the whole gay world. He, with his smooth moves and flashy tracksuit, is also instrumental in the lives of four other ladies whose dream he helps to fulfill: Lily Tomlin, Sally Field, Rita Moreno and Jane Fonda, or rather their characters (Lou, Betty, Maura and Trish, respectively).

In addition to “80 for Brady,” the 53-year-old stage and screen actor stepped behind the camera to direct an episode of “Accused,” an anthology series on Fox. The Porter-directed episode, called “Robyn’s Story,” features J. Harrison Ghee as a

drag queen tangled in complicated legal drama after an escalating fling with a closeted man.

In our recent interview, Porter spoke about how his own life experiences inspired the episode, returning to his R&B roots for his upcoming album and why he thinks “80 For Brady” is the gayest sports movie ever made.

I want to know who Gugu is at night when he’s not helping older women sneak into the Super Bowl.

Gugu is fabulous. Gugu is a brilliant choreographer, director of superstar shows, and he sprinkles magical creativity all over the world.

Who else has Gugu worked with, aside from Lady Gaga?

Gugu’s old enough to have worked with Michael Jackson.

Well, I have to say I am not a football fan, but this movie made me think that perhaps I could be, if football always involved Sally, Jane, Lily, Rita, you, and Tom Brady.

“Gayest sports film ever made.” That’s what somebody said earlier.

I think that might be true, honestly. I haven’t seen a lot of sportsball movies, but... I’ve seen a few. It’s the gayest.

Thinking about the toxic masculinity in sports that I experienced as a gay person, this movie is turning sports on its head.

I feel like I know that art has the power to transform hearts and minds, and what I loved about this when I read the script is it creates a space for us to have really complex and complicated conversations subversively without even knowing we’re having them, and I think that’s what art does so beautifully at its best, at its core. So it was very exciting for me to be a part of it for that reason. It’s very queer and it’s very positively queer in spaces that aren’t so positive, historically, with queer subject matter or anything that’s queer. So it’s really lovely to see that collective humanity modeled through this piece. It really is lovely.

Did you play sports as a kid?

Honey, they tried to have me play something, tried a couple of things. I tried softball. I tried tag football, I think they called it. I got sacked one day and the wind got knocked out of me. I had an asthma attack, and I never went back.

This movie has four national treasures in it. What was your reaction when you knew you’d be in a movie with Jane, Sally, Lily and Rita? Well, when I lifted my chin up from the ground… these ladies have been an inspiration to me for decades. I am a student of life. I’m a student of the arts. I’ve studied, I’ve trained, and I’ve watched these women in their careers and have been inspired not only by their work, but also how they move through life. The humanity, the philanthropy, the activism, all of those things. The 360-holistic approach that they’ve all had to their lives has just been inspiring and a blueprint for me in how I have tried to make choices and set up my own path. So it’s been magical.

Was there a particular moment that you shared together that was just something that you’ll never forget?

My favorite part of doing this was being able to sit in holding with all the ladies while they were setting up the camera shots, because that was the fun part. That was the really fun part. We got to know each other, we got to talk, we got to kiki. They’re fun and naughty.

Had you hung out with any of them before? No. I mean, I knew Sally. Sally actually gave me my Tony Award [for “Kinky Boots”] on stage with Matthew Broderick back in 2013. She’s really good friends with Tony Kushner and she has a place in P-town. I just happened to be there one summer, a few summers ago, so we had tea together and watched a lunar eclipse.

What do you think is the affinity or the connection between gay men and older women?

I think queer people relate to anybody and

anything that feels like an outcast. An underdog or an outcast, we always relate to because that’s what we have to navigate from the moment we can comprehend thought. And so, I think that alignment, it brings us together and makes us feel hopeful, helps in helping us continue to just breathe and put one foot in front of the other when we can see examples of, “Oh, it can be joyful.” There are no time limits to your dreams. There is no time limit to anything. Ride your life until the wheels fall off with joy and hope and loving kindness and compassion and all of that.

Do you have any Super Bowl traditions?

I don’t really have any traditions — other than when the Steelers are in it. Because I’m from Pittsburgh, I watch it. I usually tape it so that I can see the concert. I call it “the concert.”

I watched the episode of “Accused” that you directed. As somebody who has seen where a story like this can go, it did not go where I expected it to.

Well, that’s [series creator] Howard Gordon who saw the script and did the thing that allies are supposed to do and picked up the phone and called me because he knew that I was one of the people on this planet that could deliver that story in the way that it should be. And I’m grateful for that.

Your stamp is certainly on it. What was it like to put your big queer stamp on an episode of a show that is otherwise not particularly queerfocused at all?

It’s one of those moments where you just... I stand in awe of what has happened to me once I chose my own authenticity. I got a second chance. I failed as somebody else very early in my career, and I’ve decided to choose myself. And so when you watch that episode, it’s a manifestation of

that. It’s a manifestation of living a true and authentic life, and I get to then be able to tell the story of what that feels like in a really real way. I love that they’ve taken the risk with this particular episode.

We need to have tough conversations. As artists, we get to get right in the middle and have conversations and create safe spaces to have conversations that otherwise are rejected. This is a Middle America show that’s going to come on in Middle America on a Middle America network at a Middle America time. Folks will be changed after watching this, and I am so grateful to be able to be at the helm of something like that.

What do you hope those viewers walk away with after they see this episode?

I think the biggest thing that I’m hoping for, and in all of my work, is to be reminded of our collective humanity. There’s a dehumanization that’s prevalent in this world right now, and I’m hoping that my work can remind people of our collective humanity, because that’s what heals.

You’ve been in front of the camera and behind. What is different about both for you? Are you more comfortable doing one over the other?

It’s not about more comfortable or less comfortable. It’s just about exercising another creative muscle. My mind never stops, so directing uses every single piece of my being. It activates all of it, and I love that. Acting has its own thing, and I love it when I get to be in front of the camera. It’s another way of communicating humanity. I love them both.

What can you say about your new music?

The single, “Baby Was a Dancer,” has been pushed to March. “Children” came out last year. “Stranger Things” came out around the election. The album is called “Black Mona Lisa.” I’m really excited to return to my original roots as a singer. My first R&B album came out back in ’97. A lot of people don’t know that. I’m just really excited about this work. I got a chance to work with Justin Tranter, one of the greatest music writers of our time. I’m really excited about the work. I’m really

excited about the message. I’m really excited to be able to put myself out in that way again.

With February being Black History Month, could you draw on your long career as a Black person in this industry and tell me what changes you are noticing, for better or worse?

I think that’s a great question because I want to start with the change that has already happened. We, as human beings, are sort of hardwired to only speak of the negative, always take in the negative more than the positive, always push out the negative more than the positive. If you watch the news, it bleeds; if it bleeds, it leads.

There’s not a lot of focus on the positive things that have happened in this journey. Me sitting here talking to you is the positive in the moment and in the space that we’re in. The fact that I can exist in my own authenticity in this world and show up the way that I do is the change. That’s the change.

I encourage all of us to lean into what’s positive about what’s happening right now on this planet. I think about this Biden administration. Just do a deep dive on what has really been going on. There’s a lot of good stuff. We’ve made a lot of good strides. A lot of stuff is great, and we have a long way to go. And so, the hope for me is that we can take the time to regenerate ourselves through acknowledging the positive. We can revive ourselves. We can take a moment of selfcare so that we can recharge and come back out swinging.

This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.

Chris Azzopardi is the Editorial Director of Pride Source Media Group and Q Syndicate, the national LGBTQ+ wire service. He has interviewed a multitude of superstars, including Cher, Meryl Streep, Mariah Carey and Beyoncé. His work has also appeared in The New York Times, Vanity Fair, GQ and Billboard. Reach him via Twitter @ chrisazzopardi.

The 9th Annual  Manatomy Awards

By Larry Olsen

Often referred to as the nude Oscars, Mr. Man’s Manatomy Awards recognized the past year’s naked male achievements in film and TV. The big screen winners this year included Harry Styles, who made his nude debut in My Policeman, and “Best Butt” winner Chris Hemsworth for his nude scene in Thor: Love and Thunder. “Best Picture” was awarded to the Hong Kong film, Apostles, and Antonio Banderas won the coveted “Lifetime Achievement Award” for his fourteen nude roles spanning three decades.

Small screen titles once again dominated at this year’s Manatomy Awards. HBO Max won the “Best TV Show” award for Minx. Also, the second season of it series, The White Lotus, won awards for its full-frontal scene starring Stefano Gianino and for one of the most talked about scenes of the year, Leo Woodall’s shocking sex scene with Tom Hollander.

Paramount Plus’s Queer as Folk won “Best Rebooty” and Netflix took home honors for Jackass 4.5 and Evan Peters’ strip-down scene in Dahmer Hulu won multiple awards for its series, Euphoria, including “Best Nudecomer” for Henry Eikenberry’s shower scene. Also, its series, Welcome to Chippendales, won “Best A-List Gay Scene” for the graphic romp in bed between actors Murray Bartlett and Andrew Rannells. This is the second year in a row that Mr. Bartlett won the “Best Gay Scene” award. He won last year for his scene with Lukas Gage in The White Lotus

All photos courtesy of Mr. Man

Josh O’Connor, best known for playing Prince Charles in The Crown, won “Best Full Frontal” for his scene in the independent romance film, Mothering Sunday.

Several men over 50 took home awards in 2023, including Mark Wahlberg for his nude scene in Me Time, adult film star John Strong for the independent film, Pleasure, and Morris Chestnut won the “Best Nude Over 50” award for his role in The Best Man: The Final Chapters.

For the complete list of the 9th Annual Manatomy Awards winners, visit mrman.com/manatomy-awards-2023 where all winning scenes are viewable in their entirety with free signup on Mr. Man.

Photos by: Russ Bowen-Youngblood

Photos by: Russ Bowen-Youngblood

Dining

BARS

BARS not on map

B

Photos by: Russ Bowen-Youngblood

BARS & CLUBS MIDTOWN

BLAKE’S ON THE PARK

blakesontheparkatlanta.com

227 10th St NE

BULLDOGS

893 Peachtree St NE

FRIENDS NEIGHBORHOOD BAR friendsonponce-atl. com

736 Ponce De Leon Ave NE

MY SISTER’S ROOM mysistersroom.com

66 12th St NE

X MIDTOWN xmidtown.com

990 Piedmont Ave NE

THE T modeltatlanta.com

465 Boulevard SE

CHESHIRE

HERETIC hereticatlanta.com

2069 Cheshire Bridge Road

BJ ROOSTERS bjroosters.com

2043 Cheshire Bridge Road NE

A snapshot of Gay Atlanta’s favorite destinations. View their ads in DAVID & visit their websites for weekly event listings.

SNAPS

WESTSIDE

MARQUETTE

868 Joseph E. Boone Blvd NW

840ATL

840 Joseph E. Boone Blvd NW

ANSLEY

ATLANTA EAGLE 1492 Piedmont Ave NE

FELIX’S 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

THE HIDEAWAY 1544 Piedmont Ave NE

MIXX mixxatlanta.com 1492 Piedmont Ave NE

OSCAR’S oscarsatlanta.com 1510 Piedmont Ave NE

WOOFS woofsatlanta.com

494 Plasters Ave NE

EAST ATLANTA, GRANT PARK & EDGEWOOD

MARY’S marysatlanta.com

1287 Glenwood Ave SE

SISTER LOUISA’S CHURCH

sisterlouisaschurch.com

466 Edgewood Ave SE

DINING MIDTOWN

CASA ALMENARA

991 Piedmont Ave NE casa-almenara.com

HENRY’S henrysatl.com

132 10th St NE

LA HACIENDA lahaciendamidtown. com

900 Monroe Dr NE

TUK TUK THAI FOOD LOFT TUKTUKATL.COM

1745 Peachtree Rd NW

DEKALB

LIPS ATLANTA atldragshow.com

3011 Buford Hwy NE

RETAIL MIDTOWN

BARKING LEATHER AFTER DARK barkingleather.com

1510 Piedmont Ave NE

CHESHIRE

SOUTHERN NIGHTS VIDEO

2205 Cheshire Bridge Rd NE

ANSLEY

BOY NEXT DOOR MENSWEAR boynextdoormenswear.com

1000 Piedmont Ave NE, Ste A

GCB & PLEASURES brushstrokesatlanta. com

1510-D Piedmont

Ave. NE

FITNESS

MIDTOWN

URBAN BODY FITNESS urbanbody tness.com

500 Amsterdam Ave N

CHESHIRE GRAVITEE FITNESS graviteeatl.com

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SPAS/BATHS ADULT

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76 4th St NW

EMAIL iNFO@DAViDATLANTA.COM FOR FREE BUSINESS LISTINGS THERE IS ROOM FOR YOU!

Dear DAVID

QI love the guy that I’m dating, but I prefer him when he’s naked. Both because he looks great and is very sexy that way, but also because he has terrible style – or rather no sense of fashion or style whatsoever. I work in the fashion industry, and I pride myself by my excellent taste and stunning wardrobe, and I really want to change up his style a little so we can be seen in public together.

The times we have been out at events, I have almost been embarrassed at what he was wearing, and when I bring it up, he gets very defensive and argues that he has style, just not mine. I want him to be classy and cool like me – how do I make him dress better?

AFeeling the need to change anyone is not the best premise for any relationship – please be aware of this before anything else. I understand perfectly why your boyfriend gets mad at you for trying to change him, especially because it pertains to his appearance. You may think that fashion from your perspective is what everybody should adhere to, but you work in the fashion industry, so your fashion sense can be pretty skewed compared to everyone else.

Of course, there is such a thing as dressing appropriately for an event or occasion, but as long as your guy doesn’t show up wearing something completely out of line, and he’s otherwise fit to be out in public, how dare you be embarrassed about him? Instead of changing him, you should think about why you feel the need to convert him. If you really can’t picture yourself with him because of what he is wearing or you don’t want to be seen with him in public, it is pretty obvious, that you need to make some serious changes – not to him, but to yourself.

MAGAZiNE DAVID

Ruby Redd’s Birdcage Bingo

@ Atlanta Eagle | March 15, 8 pm

Ruby Redd’s Birdcage Bingo is always free to play, and all tips go to charity!

St. Patty’s Party

@ The Hideaway | March 17, 10 pm

The Big Irish or Day of Green celebration is on a Friday night, that’s Right! No cover, DJ Mister Richard, and plenty Irish whiskey shots.

Emerald Party

@ The Heretic | March 17, 10 pm – 3 am

Wear your green, queen, and head to Heretic for the ST Patrick’s Day Emerald Party with DJ Joe Gauthreaux.

Jersey Party!

@ Atlanta Eagle | March 18, 4-8 pm

It’s time to get bust out your team’s new jersey or get the old one out of the back of the closet! Come socialize with the rest of the league as we celebrate the opening of the HSL season.

Furry Night

@ Atlanta Eagle | March 18, 9 pm

Spring fever is upon us and all the animals are getting feisty. Whether you are a furry, fur fan, or just want come hang out - we will see you there.

Mistress Isabelle Brooks

@ X Midtown| March 18, 9 pm

X Midtown presents Mistress Isabelle Brooks from RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15! Come out to X Midtown for the 8 pm viewing party, meet & greet with Mistress at 9 pm, and the 10 pm show headlining Mistress

and the cast of the Diamond Divas.

SPRUNG

@ My Sisters Room | March 18, 9:30 pm

Your favorite drag queen’s favorite drag queen and RuPaul’s Drag Race season 15 front runner Sasha Colby is coming to headline at MSR Atlanta. Tickets at wussymag.com.

The GAG Ball

@ Underground ATL| March 18, 10 pm – 4 am

Alchemy and Wolftones are teaming up to proudly present: The GAG Ball. This kunty party will be serving glitz, glamour, and stunts galore, featuring deep & dirty house music spun live by a killer DJ lineup. Tickets at universe.com.

Blackout Party

@ The Heretic | March 18, 10 pm – 3 am Blackout party at the Heretic with DJ Mike Pope. No cover all night.

Don Quixote

@ Cobb Energy Performing Arts

Centre | March 18, 9 am - 8 pm

Atlanta Ballet Presents Don Quixote, a classic ballet story loved by audiences for its dramatic score and lavish staging by choreographer Yuri Possokhov. Tickets via Ticketmaster.

MUG CHECK!

@ My Sisters Room | March 19, 8 pm

Mug Check is back every Sunday, providing an open stage to everyone from newcomers to tenured talent.

We all have those moments of ‘wait, did they just say that?’ Lucky for you, we compile the best of the best right here on this page. Want to join in on the b*tch session? Submit your own nuggets to info@davidatlanta.com.

Listen, girl, don’t come for me, I will f*ck your husband.

I just want to be a stay-at-home husbear. You know, with a couple of maids, a chef, a billion dollars, and plastic surgeon on call. Nothing more.

Why doesn’t Grindr have a notice like Netflix “are you still lookin’?”

Please don’t do cocaine on the charcuterie board – it’s Williams & Sonoma!

I want to write poetry about things I really love. Like poppers.

When did being gay become this expensive?

So what if there are UFOs – are they going to take over and make us work ourselves to death with no healthcare? Make the planet unlivable? Bitch, please.