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Males in the News |
Beau BreedloveIf you’re a reader of Unzipped magazine you’re going to know that it has recently released its most eagerly awaited front cover photo for years. This is going to be the May 2009 cover and more precisely, the fuss is to do with the fact that Beau Breedlove appeared on the cover. Breedlove has been described, by Unzipped.net, as ‘the world's most famous openly gay political intern.’ This particular story starts some time ago, in 2005, when Beau met and (allegedly) had an affair with the mayor of Portland, Oregon, Sam Adams. News of this affair broke in January 2009 when Beau admitted the relationship. There should be nothing wrong with that and the word ‘admitted’ suggests that the pair had done something wrong. Had they? What’s the controversy all about? Well, there was speculation that Beau was only 17 at the time of the affair and was therefore underage. Chat rooms and forums, blogs and news groups have been buzzing with chat as folk exchange their views on this story, while Unzipped gets ready to release not only an interview with Beau but also a pictorial. He’s your classic, ‘hot jock’ and would grace the cover of any gay magazine, but Unzipped have gotten there first. Actually it was the Oregon newspaper Willamette Weekly that got there first with their expose in January. They revealed that recently elected mayor, Sam Adams, had had a romantic liaison with a young intern, then working for state representative Kim Thatcher. It didn’t take long for Unzipped.net, Unzipped’s home for ‘sexy news’ to publish photos of this youthful hunk. From then on the story simply grew and grew and the airwaves started humming. That humming got louder when it was announced that Breedlove had agreed to do a nude photo session for the publication. And the May edition promises to be sizzling hot with Breedlove baring all about the relationship, the controversy and his life in general – including his sex life of course. Meanwhile the controversy bubbles away in the background. Checking out various forums and chat pages I find that there are several camps. Some folk don’t see what the fuss was about – if he was 18 then he was old enough to give consent; some say that even if he was 17 he still knew what he was doing. Some of the news reporting, being predictably sensational, reads as if the guy was much younger – misleading of course, but it sells papers. Other commentators see nothing wrong with a younger and older guy hitting it off together and many guys simply sound jealous. “I’d go with him!” And similar comments can be found. But there are others on a different side of the fence. Not everyone finds Beau attractive, some have described him as a ‘Media Whore’ while others are simply baffled as to why there should be such a fuss in the first place. There is also a dissenting voice suggesting that Unzipped have made something out of nothing in order to sell more magazines and get more hits on their website. Well, that’s what the publishing business is all about isn’t it? But what of the men in the middle, the guys that the story is about? Well, I didn’t find much comment from Adams but Beau has admitted that this whole thing has been upsetting and stressful for him, as it is bound to be when the media starts fiddling with someone’s personal life. At least Unzipped have given him a chance to put his point of view across. And, apart from the sexy photos, we’ve got a chance to get the story directly from one of the main characters. At least we will have when the edition comes out in May. |
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