Aiden Shaw

British-born model, writer and former porn star Aiden Shaw (b. 1966) had a traditional upbringing in England. He came from respectability and has returned to it again, but there’s no ignoring that wild detour in the early 1990s when he established himself as a popular star of gay porn. What set him apart from his adult film peers was that he was a man of intellect.

Shaw made over 50 pornographic films, earning several industry awards along the way. He stood out from the pack of blonds and their smooth all-over-tanned bodies. Shaw didn’t shave his chest and obviously didn’t sunbathe in the nude – in fact, his sharply defined tan line became a trademark. He was further distinguished by his British accent, although his porn roles required limited use of his speaking voice. Shaw’s screen persona was that of a traditionally handsome natural man possessed of a spectacularly generous endowment (and a rose tattoo on his arm). In fact, his penis was as much discussed in the 1990s as international playboy Porfirio Rubirosa’s(*) was in the 1930s (we're all of us too young to remember – just Goggle him). Many of Shaw’s fans noticed a startling facial resemblance to Richard Gere (see photo below).

*OK, I've received numerous E-mails about this, so here's a hint. To this day in Paris, if a restaurant patron wants one of those tall wooden peppermills, he says, "Waiter, may I please have a Rubirosa?" I kid you not.

He became one of the most popular global adult male stars before retiring from the porn industry in 1999 (he was diagnosed HIV positive in 1997). Although a car accident brought a hiatus to his porn career – for a time he was paralyzed and in a wheelchair – he made a return with four more adult videos in 2003/2004.

Nevertheless, it is difficult to reconcile his current appearance as a classically handsome, mature man with salt and pepper hair and a beard with his actual age – 52. He looks years older, in a good way. Talk about aging gracefully.

He comes across as a confident, worldly man, the perfect type for promoting luxury goods. He has modeled for GQ Magazine in Berlin, Le Figaro and El Pais, as well as in other print venues. That his present appearance renders him nearly unrecognizable from his days as a porn star is surely to his advantage, although the rose tattoo is an identity giveaway.

Shaw has worked in diverse fields, as an editor of an interior design magazine, a poet, an HIV activist, vocalist, producer, escort, composer and writer. Print modeling is merely his latest career turn. He undertook formal studies in film, television, photography and video, subsequently taking post- college jobs directing and art directing music videos. Shaw wrote and produced two albums of music, performing lead vocals with his band "Whatever". Individual tracks are available on iTunes.

The first chapter of his autobiography, My Undoing: Life in the Thick of Sex, Drugs, Pornography and Prostitution (2006), begins: “All I could see were pretty shapes and colours, my dick going in and out of his white cheeks.” From his days as an escort, his comment on how to have sex with men who repulse him: “Well, the thing is, very few men physically repulse me. Like a good whore, I can always find something about a man that I like.”

From an interview with Daniel Lee in NYC in 2003:

DL: What makes you laugh hardest?
AS: Getting treated special because I have a big dick.

DL: Would you prefer not to be treated special because you have big dick?
AS: No way!

Well, there you have it.

Shaw’s writing is described by Michael Musto of The Village Voice as prose that “can tug at your heartstrings and your crotch at the same time.” His first novel, Brutal, appeared in 1996, the same year he published a collection of poems titled If Language at the Same Time Shapes and Distorts Our Ideas and Emotions, How Do We Communicate Love? (it sold out), followed by two more novels, Boundaries (1997) and Wasted (2001).

Shaw completed a master’s degree in Creative Writing in 2007 at Goldsmiths University of London, followed by publication of a second autobiography, Sordid Truths (2009). In 2011, Shaw completed training to become a qualified English teacher.

Shaw was recently profiled in the Spring/Summer 2012 issue of Hercules Universal – One Last Colony, the Havana Affair – in which he models luxury men’s clothing (click on link).

http://models.com/mdx/?p=14427

At present Mr. Shaw divides his time between residences in London and Barcelona. In 2016 he reverted to his birth name: Aiden Brady. Here is a sampling of his recent modeling work. You're welcome.

Colby Melvin

Brought up to be a "Southern gentleman," LGBT Rights activist Colby Melvin got a job in the oil and gas industry after graduating from college in Mobile, Alabama. He worked in a major management position while assisting in the recovery efforts following the 2010 Gulf Coast oil spill.

However, one of his bosses discovered that Colby was gay, which unfortunately led to corporate bullying. Even so, Colby stood his ground, determined not to hide his sexual orientation. He came out to friends and his family and left the Gulf of Mexico job, immediately shifting his career emphasis to LGBT activism, with special emphasis on marriage equality.

Colby now works as a spokesmodel for Full Frontal Freedom (FFF), a coalition of independent artists and media executives who use their talent and creativity to raise awareness and enhance civil discourse. Colby appeared in an FFF video that was a parody of a One Direction hit, and that “Disclosure” video (at end of post) was one of the most-watched political videos of the 2012 campaign season. For his work on that video Colby received the Human Rights Award for Political Performing Arts from the Jim Owles Liberal Democratic Club in New York.

Colby recently announced his engagement to Brandon Brown, and Gabriel Gastelum, who designed and compiled their engagement album (and took the two photos above), said, "I’ve worked a lot with these two and they have become incredible friends. No fancy lights, no magazine or online features, no concepts. Not this time. Just love. Colby and Brandon are fighting hard for their love. It shouldn’t have to be that way. It’s hard to love yourself, let alone someone else, when there are a lot of ignorant people out there who don’t accept you for who you are. Well, you know what? Screw them. Yeah. I said it. It doesn’t matter who you love. Underneath it all, it’s the same love. Colby and Brandon. Thank you so much for letting me capture your love. It was truly special."

You likely do not know that Colby Melvin and his fiancé Brandon Brown have both worked as Andrew Christian underwear models. Colby took that job because it combined his love of politics with his flair for entertainment – a perfect fit (pun intended).

A photo from Colby's modeling days:

Last year Colby starred in Full Frontal Freedom's "Disclosure" political video:

Omar Sharif Jr.

Photo by M. Sharkey for OUT Magazine

The grandson of legendary Doctor Zhivago actor Omar Sharif has been the face of Coca-Cola for the Arabic world (2006) as well as a Calvin Klein model for a major print campaign in Egypt (2008). But last year he made a bold move when he published a letter in The Advocate, in which he came out as gay AND half-Jewish. He went on to castigate Egypt’s government for denying its citizens basic human rights.

From The Advocate:
 “I write this article in fear. Fear for my country, fear for my family, and fear for myself. My parents will be shocked to read it, surely preferring I stay in the shadows and keep silent, at least for the time being. But I can’t.

And so I hesitantly confess: I am Egyptian, I am half Jewish, and I am gay.”

The Jerusalem Post noted that Sharif's Jewish heritage comes from his mother's side, making him fully Jewish according to rabbinical tradition. His maternal grandparents are Jewish Holocaust survivors, Muslim tradition, however, is patrilineal, meaning the faith is passed down via the father. Omar Jr. was born in Montreal (1983) with the given name Omar Joseph El Sharif.

“That my mother is Jewish is no small disclosure when you are from Egypt, no matter the year. And being openly gay has always meant asking for trouble, but perhaps especially during this time of political and social upheaval. With the victories of several Islamist parties in recent elections, a conversation needs to be had and certain questions need to be raised. I ask myself: Am I welcome in the new Egypt?

...While to many in Europe and North America mine might seem like trivial admissions, I am afraid this is not so in Egypt. I anticipate that I will be chastised, scorned, and most certainly threatened. From the vaunted status of Egyptian actor and personality, I might just become an Egyptian public enemy.

And yet I speak out because I am a patriot.

I am a patriot who remembers a pluralistic Egypt, where despite a lack of choice in the political sphere, society comprised a multitude of beliefs and backgrounds. I remember growing up knowing gay men and women who were quietly accepted by those around them in everyday society.”

Sharif, an actor like his award-winning grandfather, received wide acclaim and international recognition by appearing on a hit Egyptian TV show in 2007. This breakout role propelled Omar Jr. into the world of stand-up comedy, where he has since worked on five continents and in five languages (!).

Mr. Sharif left Egypt in January, 2011, just before the revolution, and today resides in Los Angeles, where he studies at The Lee Strasberg Institute of Theatre and Film. He has since made appearances across the US in some of the most reputable stand up comedy houses.

Omar Jr. holds a Master's degree in Comparative Politics from The London School of Economics and a Bachelor of Arts (Honours) from Queen's University. Fluent in English, French, Hebrew, Arabic and Yiddish, he also speaks conversational Spanish. In 2011, he was selected to be the lone male trophy presenter at the 83rd Annual Academy Awards, during which he participated in a comedic sketch with Kirk Douglas, the two men grappling over a cane.

Victor Garber

In a recent interview character actor Victor Garber confirmed that he is gay. Garber is currently on-screen in the much-lauded hit film Argo, in which he plays the Canadian ambassador. The Argo ensemble cast has been nominated for a Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Award for Outstanding Performance by a Cast in a Motion Picture.

Canadian-born Garber, 63, lives in New York City’s West Village with his partner, portrait artist Rainer Andreesen, age 49. Andreesen has also done modeling work for Armani, Gucci, Valentino, Hugo Boss and Ermenegildo Zegna. Victor and Rainer have been partners for thirteen years, and on Sunday, January 27, they plan to attend the SAG Awards ceremony in Los Angeles as a couple.

Garber also appears in the current TV series Deception and has been nominated six times for an Emmy award. Among his film roles are shipbuilder Thomas Andrews in Titanic and San Francisco mayor George Moscone in Milk. He has also appeared frequently on stage, earning four Tony Award nominations.

Rainer Andreesen:

Andreesen’s oil portrait of his partner, Victor Garber:

Gerald McCullouch

“Officially” out Anderson Cooper has some competition for the title of Silver Fox. Openly gay actor, singer, stand-up comedian, pianist, TV host, model and film maker Gerald (hard “g”) McCullouch provides us with this succinct Twitter profile:

“CSI’s Bobby Dawson/OUT 100 honoree. A brazen misfit livin’ the bicoastal dream & diggin’ it moocho. My Gs hard & I end w/an ouch. Life’s short. Choose laughter.”

For more than ten seasons McCullouch (b. 1967) has played the recurring character Bobby Dawson, a ballistics expert, on the popular CBS television series CSI: Crime Scene Investigation. His first appearance was in episode two. McCullouch has also appeared on Law and Order, Beverly Hills 90210 and Melrose Place.

But Gerald’s television career is just the tip of the iceberg, and there’s so much accomplishment that I can only cover the highlights. He is perhaps most proud of his award-winning short film The Moment After (2002), for which he was producer, writer, director and actor. The basic plot centers on the “many things that seem to stifle the courage it takes to say ‘yes’ to life.” In an interview he recalled that after a Fresno screening, there were lots of CSI fans waiting to talk to him, but “this kid came up and hugged me. He was crying, so we went outside for a moment. He just kept hugging me and said, ‘Thank you. Your movie helped me understand my mother’s suicide.’ It was a really beautiful moment, because it illuminated the story we told.”

McCullough is generating buzz these days, because a sequel to the film Bear City (2010) is making the rounds of gay film festivals. The original film was a sort of “hirsute ‘Sex and the City,’ following the adventures of a group of bears (and their cubs) in New York City.” From the New York Times review (Oct. 21, 2010): "Warm, funny, thoughtful... a triumph in the audience-appeal category." Bear City was the winner of two OUTFEST Grand Jury Awards, and the film was a standout because it tackled a subject of gays discriminating against gays – in this instance, bears and cubs not revealing their inclinations to their other gay friends/family for fear of intolerance. 

The sequel, Bear City 2: The Proposal (2012), will have its East Coast premiere July 22 at Philadelphia’s QFest. Featuring most of the original cast from the first film, this sequel further explores the gay bear scene as the gang travels to Provincetown for Bear Week to celebrate the wedding of Roger and Tyler (Gerald McCullouch and Joe Conti). Much drama ensues.

Gerald created the lead role in Dan Via’s off-Broadway stage play DADDY (2010), which went on to enjoy a successful run in Santa Monica, CA in 2011, being extended several times. He has worked with such notable actors as Jeff Goldblum, Robert Redford, Natalie Portman, Heather Locklear, Liev Schreiber and William Shatner, among many others.

In November 2010 McCullouch was named one of Out magazine’s “top 100 most compelling members of the LGBT community”, an honor that took him by surprise.

For all things Gerald McCullouch, visit his web site:

http://gerald.biz/

And here’s the trailer for Bear City2: The Proposal. Catch it at a film festival near you.
 

Ari Gold

He describes his own sound as "smooth, soulful, jazzy and funky." Born and raised in the Bronx by parents who were Orthodox Jews, he first gained recognition as a singer when he performed a solo at the age of five for his brother’s Bar Mitzvah. A guest at the Bar Mitzvah happened to be putting on a Jewish children's song festival and invited Ari Gold to participate. He performed along with his two older brothers, and they won first prize. From there, the festival engineer told him about an audition, and Ari got the lead. Then he got an agent and was regularly taken out of Yeshiva to go to work.

Soon he had 400 jingles under his belt, and he sang backup for Diana Ross (on her Swept Away album), well on his way to a successful professional singing career. He was also harboring the secret that he was gay, even from a very young age. Gold finally came out to his best friend at Yeshiva high school when he was 16, and to everyone else at age 18. It was not a huge surprise, because he had a shrine to Madonna in his room and had mostly played with girls (and their Barbies) when he was younger. He admits all that likely did not escape his parents’ attention. "C'mon, they're not clueless. They were pretty sophisticated Orthodox Jews."

His parents were fairly accepting, but along with coming out, he stopped being observant. That was more difficult for his parents to accept than his revealing his homosexuality.

Ari released his self-titled debut album in 2000, receiving acclaim from Billboard, HITS and VIBE for being the first openly gay pop singer who was out from the beginning of his musical career. The debut album included something unprecedented in R&B/pop: explicit gay love songs. He has released five albums, the most recent being Between the Spirit & the Flesh (2011). "This one was a big deal for me," he says, "every level of my identity: as a Jewish person, as a homosexual and where we are in the gay civil rights movement – all these layers of my identity." Assuming the role of a vampire for the video to "Make My Body Rock" panders to the metaphor of revelation and transformation.

Ari attended Yale and graduated with honors from NYU. He gives talks at community centers, synagogues and universities about growing up gay and Orthodox and is a contributing writer to the anthology CRISIS: 40 Stories Revealing the Personal, Social, and Religious Pain and Trauma of Growing Up Gay and Religious in America. Sir Ari received his Knighthood at the 24th Annual Night Of 1000 Gowns by the Imperial Court of New York for his commitment to LGBT issues and HIV/AIDS. Ari's activism and charity work also includes the HRC, UJA, Soulforce, Ali Forney Center, ACLU, Bialy House, amFAR, Live Out Loud and GMHC on HIV/AIDS awareness and research, homelessness and human rights. His career has also encompassed turns as a songwriter, music producer, actor and model. Whew!

He continues his tireless work as an advocate for the gay community and the pursuit of equal rights. "Music is political, and I don’t like when people try to pretend it’s not," he says, always using his platform as an out gay artist. "It’s never too late to learn and that’s something that both my parents (who were teachers) have always taught me." But between his responsibility to nourish his spirit and feed the flesh, Sir Ari still finds time to dance.

Ari celebrates a birthday this Saturday, February 11, when he will turn 35. He still lives in Manhattan, where he is a fourth generation Lower East Sider.

My Favorite Religion
(music video, the third from the album Between the Spirit & the Flesh, released a few days ago)

To say that this video is edgy is understatement. It contains both full rear nudity (Mr. Gold has a sexy, muscular butt – as you’ll note at the 2:21 timing mark), a Tallit (Jewish prayer shawl, at the 3:40 mark) and implied sex with a Christian cleric (at 3:04). And you can dance to it. Have a look and listen:

J.P. Calderon

Professional Volleyball Player, Model, Reality TV Star, Activist

Calderon attended California State University in Long Beach, where he played for the school's nationally-ranked men's volleyball team (he graduated in 2000). Born to a family of Costa Rican heritage, Calderon had grown up in the beach lifestyle of coastal Los Angeles. For five years Calderon was assistant coach for the Long Beach State University women's volleyball team. He began his own professional volleyball career in 2004 and became a nationally ranked Association of Volleyball Professionals player.

Then Calderon burst onto the national celebrity scene when he successfully auditioned as a contestant on television’s "Survivor: Cook Islands" in 2006.

He returned to television for The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency reality show. As part of his experience on the show he was featured on the February 2007 cover of “Instinct” magazine – a publication that requires its male cover models to be openly gay. He was and did – he was thus one of the few gay men to come out on prime time TV.

The reaction? "All of my fears, everything that I was scared of... it was the complete opposite," he said. "It's been great. All of my friends, the volleyball world, absolutely everybody has been supportive. No one has shut me out." His family has also been supportive, which astonished Calderon, given the macho, intolerant atmosphere in the Latino family community. His older brother has been particularly supportive.

In 2009, Calderon again graced the cover of a popular gay magazine, the French publication "Têtu". All the while he was becoming a popular, successful underwear and swimsuit model. At the time he and his partner were based in Marina Del Rey (coastal Los Angeles area), while Calderon still coached girls’ volleyball.

It was announced during the 4th season finale of The Janice Dickinson Modeling Agency TV show that Calderon would head the male division of the agency when it moved to New York City. Calderon is also signed to the KULT Model Agency in Germany.

Calderon has made appearances at important gay functions, increasing his stature as a voice of gay activism.