Lifestyle
Just 55% of Americans believe LGBTQ people “face a lot of discrimination”

With rising support for marriage equality and the LGBTQ community comes a bit of a distorted view on the issues of discrimination those within the community still face.
According to a new report from FiveThirtyEight, “only 55 percent of Americans believe that gay and lesbian people face a lot of discrimination in the U.S., down from 68 percent in 2013.”
But those numbers may be skewed, depending on how the person responding is surveyed. According to the same article, a 2014 report “found that Americans were 14 points less likely to say gays and lesbians experience a lot of discrimination when responding to an online survey than when a pollster called them.”
Related | Tumblr’s traffic takes a dive after its ban on adult content
What’s more, an increasing number of Americans seem to be believing the idea that fighting for LGBTQ rights is largely unnecessary. A 2017 Gallup survey found that 46 percent of people do not think “news (sic) civil rights laws are needed to reduce discrimination against lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender people.” A 2018 survey from PRRI revealed that 49 percent believe the U.S. “has made the changes needed to give gay and lesbian people equal fights with other Americans.”
It’s nice that people believe LGBT citizens have been given the rights to make them equal with other Americans, but it’s simply not the case, especially when you consider that new rights don’t always mean increased acceptance. In fact, anti-LGBTQ hate crimes rose 3 percent in 2017, according to the FBI. Of the 1,470 victims who “were involved in 1,249 separate bias incidents,” close to 60 percent were against gay men and 25 percent were against “a mix of LGBTQ people.”
The number of hate crimes in the U.S. against those in the LGBTQ community has increased every year since 2014.
This article was originally published March 21, 2019.
Health
5 best booty exercises for men to strengthen and shape their glutes

We all know that big, round butts have made a resurgence in popularity in the last few years, thanks in no small part to social media and physique-envy. Where once people craved small booties like runway models and having a “big ass” was the worst insult one could muster, we’re now a society proud of some extra junk in our trunks.
And if you’re like many people who exercise regularly, on a quest for a plumper peach (and health and overall fitness, of course), then you aren’t alone.

But did you know that aside from filling out your pants easier, the advantages of having strong glutes are actually quite innumerable? For example, strong glutes can decrease your risk of injury in your knees, hamstrings, groin, and
If you’re looking to up your “booty gains” and round and firm your butt, we’ve put together a list of the 5 best exercises to do just that with examples of strength training.
1. Squats
The benefits of squats are many, especially because they’re great for targeting all kinds of muscle groups. They’re especially effective, however, when it comes to rounding out and shaping your butt muscles.
There are plenty of variations of squats, but the barbell squat “allows you to hit the glutes and hamstrings with more volume…”

When you squat, you want to make sure you have proper squat technique, while focusing on your stance and always putting safety first.
Check out the video below to see how to do a squat:
If you’re looking for different kinds of squats, you can also try out the goblet squat and bottoms-up squat.
2. Hip Thrusts
While fun to do because they’re quite sexually suggestive, hip thrusts are a definite must when building your butt muscles. The barbell hip thrust, as demonstrated in the video below, involves sitting with a bench behind you and placing a weighted barbell across your hips.
These are also known as Bridge and Weighted Hip Extensions.
3. Lunges
Honestly, lunges are the exercise I hate the most but always leave my legs feeling the best afterward. Lunges focus heavily on your quads, but it’s your glutes that help you “return to a standing position.”
They’re fairly simple to execute, as you can see in this video below on how to properly squat.
But make sure you avoid a few common lunge mistakes, like the “tightrope lunge,” the “heel pop,” the “upper-body drop,” and more.

4. Deadlift
Referred to as “the king of mass gaining exercises” by Bodybuilding.com, I’d think that’s enough of a ringing endorsement to convince you to add deadlifts to your gym routine.
In fact, deadlifts aid in developing core strength because it assists your body “in almost every movement and position.” It’s also the best movement for developing strong glute muscles.
If you’re curious to try this exercise out, watch the video below to see how to properly do a barbell deadlift:
5. Bulgarian Split Squats
According to Bodybuilding.com, positioning is key when it comes down to how to do a Bulgarian split squat properly because the farther your front leg is in front of you, “the more emphasis you place on your glutes.”
Extra
Strength training is a vital part of any fitness routine. Why? It reduces fat, increases lean muscle mass, and burns calories more efficiently. According to Mayo Clinic, the benefits of strength training include developing strong bones, managing your weight and chronic conditions, and more.
Before you start, make sure you’re prepared and educated and that you understand the science and practice of strength training. Always speak to a doctor or fitness professional who can guide you and assist you in creating a strength training workout plan. For yourself, learn about how much weight is best for strength training, which strength training exercises are best, and anything else you might not be certain of.
Note: The tips in this article should not be taken as medical or professional advice. Always consult a doctor or fitness professional before engaging in any fitness activity.
This article was originally published on January 27, 2019.
Lifestyle
This Grindr chat between two bottoms is all kinds of right

Not all Grindr experiences are horrible. This chat between two bottoms on the gay social app prove just that.
In screenshots shared by Twitter user @dps_moira, two gay men exchange the quickest of messages that, while simple, have upped my belief that there is humanity on an app that’s typically more of a stomping ground of “masc4masc” action.
Along with the Twitter caption, “I really hope he is doing ok,” the chat went like this:
#1: Hi. Are you a top?
#2: Hey
#2: No sorry
#1: Never. never ever apologise for being yourself – that’s how the straights kept us down for a hundred years
I really hope he is doing ok pic.twitter.com/l7jildgrWX
— artoo detoo baby super fcking artoo detoo! (@dps_moira) May 16, 2020
Related | A pilot used Grindr to hit on one of his passengers mid-flight
To no one’s surprise, the tweet was a hit online, quickly amassing nearly 100K likes and over 16K retweets, with one user replying, “hope he found his top.”
here’s hoping you meet him again someday he dropped this 👑
— melody jane (@doodlestrudels) May 18, 2020
I love him.
— Adda M. (@AddaMeirelles) May 18, 2020
— Boi (@RandomGuyXoXo) May 18, 2020
And that’s that on that. Kindness is alive and well. Gay rights!
Health
5 basic reasons sleeping naked is the way to go

We all know how good sleeping naked feels and anyone who tells you they hate it is probably lying. But as it turns out, bedtime without the extra layering of pants and underwear can mean a few really good things for your body.
A survey from Mattress Advisor has found that 65 percent of millennials prefer sleeping naked, while 69 percent of people say sleeping naked is more comfortable, 54 percent say it’s far more relaxing, and 54 percent say they sleep better overall.
5 reasons you need to be sleeping naked
1. Protect your sperm and your testicles
So apparently we can all just throw our underwear away because according to Atlantic City-based urologist Brian Steixner, M.D., sleeping in your underwear can actually increase your likelihood of getting an infection. Since bacteria thrive in warm, moist, areas, your underwear that keeps that heat and moisture in need to go.
Plus, Allan Pacey, a leading fertility expert and researcher at the University of Sheffield in England, told the New York Post, “We have known for some time that men who increase the temperature of their testicles, either through the heat exposure at work or by wearing tight underwear, have poorer semen quality compared to men whose testicles are cooler.”
2. Better sleep quality
We all know how hard it is to fall asleep if you’re too hot, right? Since your core body temperatures need to drop by about half a degree or so for you to fall asleep, shedding those briefs before bed means that your body can cool down quicker. And while you may not lose sleep overall if you’re too warm, you will notice you’re lacking in that really important deep sleep that leaves you feeling refreshed when you wake.
View this post on Instagram
3. Burns calories
A 2014 study in the journal Diabetes found that sleeping in a cold bedroom may activate brown fat cells (a healthy fat that’s stored in your neck and burns calories in order to generate body heat).
Two months into the four-month study, in which five healthy, young men slept in a climate-controlled bedroom for four months, brown fat volume had almost doubled. Those same men burned more calories throughout the day and their insulin sensitivity improved.
Related | Oh look, Colton Haynes is naked and covered in pain in new Instagram photos
4. Increase oxytocin production
It’s no secret that laying naked with your partner is a good thing. But it can actually have some physiological benefits. Skin-to-skin contact can trigger the release of oxytocin, which can protect the heart by lowering blood pressure, reducing anxiety, and boosting your immune system.
View this post on Instagram
5. Give your love life a boost
According to a survey of 1,000 British adults, couples who sleep in the nude tend to have happier love lives. The survey found that “57 percent of nude sleepers were happy with their relationship, compared with 48 percent of pajama-wearers.”
Article originally published November 18, 2018