Grit: Beefcake and Bonding in an Attic in Rural Indiana

Every summer, and sometimes at Christmas, we visited my Grandma Davis in Indiana.  She had an attic full of old magazines, and my brother and I used to spend rainy afternoons there, leafing through half a century worth of browning ephemera.

Today I get the impression of someone who longed for an urbane, sophisticated life as an artist in Jazz Age New York, but somehow found herself in a farmhouse in rural Indiana, with a husband who was gone weeks at a time, and spent her life lapsing between attempts to rebel and attempts to adapt:

Rebellion:  Nash's, Collier's, The Saturday Evening Post

Adaption: Better Homes and Gardens, The Farmer's Wife, Grit

Grit?

Who would name a newspaper after that gross stuff that gets in your eye after you sleep?

Maybe it was grits, the gross Southern food made out of boiled corn.

It was like a tabloid newspaper, with lots of human interest stories: a blind guy who works as a postal carrier, a woman who found her lost wedding ring in an egg laid by her chicken, a traffic accident that reunited a father and his long-lost son.

Nothing that took place anything near a city: in the world of Grit, no settlement with a population over 2,000 exist in the U.S.

No foreign countries exist, either.  Or black people.  Or Jews.  Or women who weren't housewives.  Or gay men and lesbians.

But -- there were a lot of cute 4-H Boys holding up prize sheep, providing a hint of beefcake on rainy rural afternoons.

Here's a shirtless boy in a bunkhouse at the Millstone 4-H Camp in Ellerbee, North Carolina, 1961.

There were also pages of comic strips, some the old-fashioned dinosaur strips familiar from the Rock Island Argus -- Blondie Prince Valiant, Out Our Way -- and some even older.

Beefcake titles like  Jungle Jim, Mandrake the Magician, and Flash Gordon.

Very nice physique, for a guy from the 1930s with his head wrapped in a plastic bag.

Here's an ad from Grit about selling Grit.  

$6 in 1956 is the equivalent of $50 today.  Not a bad source of income.

Grit was founded in 1885 by German immigrant Dietrich Lamade.  It was especially popular in the 1930s and 1940s, with over 400,000 weekly subscribers, competing favorably with newspapers that wouldn't deliver to rural areas.

The decline of the rural population after World War II, and competition from radio and television, led to a nosedive in subscriptions.  By 2000, there were less than 10,000 subscribers, mostly elderly.

Under new management, Grit has rebranded itself  as a bimonthly blog and print magazine for food and gardening enthusiasts, with articles on free range chickens, hybrid tomatoes, and lawn mower maintenance.






The new Grit is more inclusive, with racial and religious minorities, urban dwellers, and gay men and lesbians:

"Who do you call when you have an animal in trouble?  The ladies next door are at work, and I can no longer phone the gay guys down the street because they have me blocked since we had a shouting match about being invited to a Pampered Chef party, so I call the SPCA."

 It has over 150,000 subscribers.

Daniel Quinn Toye: The Scottish Boy Toye queerbaits "Heated Rivalry," plays gay-adjacent roles, post photos while...you know

 Link to the n*de photos

 I started watching Sterling Point due to an interview where Daniel Quinn Toye said that his Rory and Ellis (Jacob Whiteduck-Lavoie) have a Heated Rivalry-type relationship. Turns out that he was using the term as a cliché: the guys are both straight, competing for the affection of focus character Annie.  Was he deliberately queerbaiting, or so out of touch with queer culture that he had never heard of the gay hockey player show?  To find out, I checked the guy's social media, and found some interesting posts.

First his biography: The Boy Toye grew up near Glasgow, where he attended the Dance School of Scotland.  After graduation, he enrolled at LAMBDA (don't get excited -- it's not the gay symbol, it stands for the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Arts).  

While at LAMBDA, he appeared in Alice (in Wonderland), The Angry Brigade, Measure for Measure, Three Sisters, A View from the Bridge, and The Trojan Women.

He received a B.A. (Honors) in 2024, and was immediately cast in a "minimalist, modern" version of Romeo and Juliet on the West End (May-August 2024), with Tom Holland as Romeo.  The Instagram page has a graphic with R&J superimposed on a Pride Flag, so there must be some queer content, maybe in the Romeo-Mercutio relationship.  But Daniel plays Paris, the wealthy nobleman betrothed to Juliet.  He and Romeo fight, and he is killed. Sounds like the straightest of the crew.

In 2026, Daniel got a photo shoot in the British Vogue, and three on-screen roles:

Sunny Dancer: Cancer survivor Ivy is sent to a chemo summer camp, with many of the actors cast because they have real-life experience with cancer. She falls in love with Jake (Daniel).

 James Norton (left, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) and Neil Patrick Harris play counselors, and Ivy is played by Bella Ramsey from The Last of Us, who is nonbinary and "not 100% straight.  So there's some LGBTQ representation in the cast, even though the story is heteronormative.

Pressure, about the preparation for D-Day, June 6, 1944, when the Allies invaded Normandy, marking the beginning of the end of Nazi control of Europe.  No gay content.  Daniel plays Private Michael Gregory.

And Sterling Point, which has a lot of lesbian characters.

Two upcoming projects:

Cry to Heaven, based on the novel by Anne Rice. At age 15, Venetian nobleman Tonio Treschi (Nicholas Hoult, n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) is c*strated by his half-brother to ensure that he doesn't have any heirs.  He becomes a famous castrato, and seeks revenge.  In the original novel, he has romances with another boy, Domenico (not in the cast list), and his mentor, Guido (Aaron Taylor-Johnson).   So there's LGBT content in the original, even if they straighten him for the movie. 

Daniel's character is not mentioned in the cast list.

Voltron, about the robots who combine into a bigger robot.  Daniel plays Keith, who pilots the head and torso (voiced by Neill Ross in the 1980s and 1990s series and Giles Panton in 2011). He's got a crush on Princess Allura.  

So Daniel has only played straight guys, but four of his six projects have some sort of LGBTQ content, subtexts, cast, or source material. 

Better than most actors. 

The Heated Rivalry reference after the break.  

Oskar Viniar: Russian boy with two gay-positive and a homophobic project, a queer tease, a lot of "girl!" songs, two backsides, and some d*cks

  

Link to the n*de photos

Next guy in my "profiles to do" file whom I've never heard of: Oskar Vinier.  According to his Instagram, "You're here for fun! Acting! Music!"  Actually, I'm here to see if you've played any gay characters, or are gay in real life.

Oskar Vinier lives in Miami, but he's got a definite European vibe.  

Like sitting "too close" to a buddy.  In the U.S., this would be an invasion of body space, unless they are boyfriends.  But this is at a theatrical competition in Orlando, and Oskar sits this close to several other dudes.

Maybe he just likes dudes.

Like his mom or sister wearing a frilly dominatr*x outfit at the kitchen table while they play a Gummi Bear game.  A very s*x-positive family.  

According to his official website, Oskar moved to Miami from Russia in 2019.

He has ten acting roles listed on his resume:

Taylor in Pimp My Life (2020), by Benjamin Renassia. Google only finds three references to this movie, in the resumes of Oskar, communications student Oren Salman, and John Cain

A boy in The Joke (2020), an experimental short film by visual artist Alain Gr-Polanco, who uses they/them pronouns and presents as female.

Son in the documentary Dear White Parents (2020), encouraging them to have discussions about racism with their kids.

Son in the experimental horror short Let's Play (2021), about two robbers who pick the wrong house.

Then there's a gap, probably due to his singing career, but he played a background student in four 2025 projects:

The Life List: A woman can't get her inheritance until she completes the bucket list that she wrote at age 13.  With Kyle Allen (frontal parts and backside on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

More after the break

Alfie Williams and Recker Eans on a double date? With a gay ghost, a drag boy, Jonathan Groff, and Colin's c*ck

Link to the n*de photos

 Alfie Williams, the star of 28 Years Later and 28 Years Later: Bone Temple,  always seems to surround himself with LGBTQ people; I get a lot of profile ideas just by checking who he's hanging out with.  His social media has been sort of dry for several months, so I was happy to see this photo posted earlier today (August 2026): Alfie at the new Spider-Man movie with three guys, with the background song "In Bloom," by Nirvana:

He's the one who likes all our pretty songs, and he
Likes to sing along, and he likes to shoot his gun, but he
Knows not what it means.

I have a pretty good idea what it means: Looks like a double date.  But even if it's four buds hanging out, it gives me three new probably-gay guys to research.

Milo Maharlika (far left).

A Hawaiian actor of Filipino ancestry, the 13-year old is best known as Demi Hauntley, an over-zealous 600-year old ghost sent to assist the vampire girl in live-action Vampirina (2025).  Fans say he's a gay stereotype.

Is that a pink triangle, babe?  Do you even know what it means?

Milo also played Gavrouche in the national tour of Les Miserables, starred in several shorts and the Filipino slasher-comedy Nurse of the Dead, and will be skewered by gay actor Jeff Hilliard in a chicken costume in the upcoming Cluck.  Cameron Cowperthwaite (n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends) also gets to run around like a chicken with its head cut off.

When he's not singing, dancing, and acting, Milo quotes Aristotle, likes Buster Keaton, and has a hot dad.  On the IMDB, his s*xual orientation is listed as "straight," but that's probably from his parents.  . 

Alfie Williams, second left.  

The 15-year old actor from Newcastle-upon-Tyne played Spike in the post-Apocalyptic zombie movies 28 Years Later (2025) and 28 Years Later: Bone Temple (2026).  He has two upcoming movies:

The Banquet; A woman's perfect life starts to unravel when her son (Alfie) returns and starts digging up horrifying family secrets.

Left: Google Images thinks that this is co-star Corey Mylchreest co-stars, but I think it's Jonathan Groff (n*de on RG Beefcake and Boyfriends).

Friend Thing: In 1996 Seattle, a "sensitive" 14-year old boy (Alfie) is torn between his friends and The Girl, before "a family tragedy shifts his perspective."   

Wait -- "sensitive" is code for "gay," and why are there no teenage boys in the cast list for him to be friends with?

Ryder and Recker after the break

It's Raining Men (Hallelujah!)

 

Humidity's rising, barometer's getting low
According to all sources, the street's the place to go.
Cause tonight for the first time, just about half past ten
For the first time in history, it's gonna start raining men

"It's Raining Men" was written in 1979, by gay composer Paul Jabara ("Disco Queen," "Last Dance"), and Paul Shaffer, then a member of the house band of Saturday Night Live.  They offered it to many vocalists, including Barbra Streisand, Cher, and Donna Summer, but they all refused.  Even Two Tons O'Fun (Izora Armstead and Martha Walsh), then performing as backup singers for pop star Sylvester, balked, thinking the song too weird to chart.

 Finally they agreed and released "It's Raining Men" on their third album, Success, in 1982.  They also released it as a single, and performed in the music video as the Weather Girls.

In October 1982, "It's Raining Men" hit #1 on the U.S. Dance Club Chart.  It also charted well in Europe.

There have been covers from everyone from RuPaul to Geri Halliwell to the Vamps to Miss Piggy.

In 2014, after a British politician blamed the UK's recent floods on gay marriage, a Facebook campaign was launched to get the song on the British charts again.  It hit #21.

Why is this a gay anthem?  It has nothing to do with liberation, and it's strictly heteronormative.  The men are raining down upon women.

God bless Mother Nature -- she's a single woman too
She took over heaven, and she did what she had to do
She taught every angel to rearrange the sky
So that each and every woman could find the perfect guy

Maybe because it's fun for gay men to think of being deluged by men, especially after growing up in a desert where gay romance was assumed not to exist.

It's raining men, hallelujah!

It's raining men, amen! 
I'm gonna go out, I'm I'm gonna let myself get
Absolutely...soaking....

See also: Ocho Rios

Jimmy Olsen's Secret Life, Part 2: Keefe singing, Jimmy (censored), and Gideon (censored)

How "I'm Coming Out" Became a Gay Anthem

"Let's Hear it for the Boy"

Mo Bakker: Santa Claus's grandson and his boyfriend cruise in Kenya, cuddle in Greece. With bonus Belgian d*cks

Link to the n*de dudes

English-speaking audiences are most familiar with Flemish actor Mo Bakker for the three Claus Family movies: 

Die Familie Claus 1 (2020): Christmas-hating teenager Jules discovers that his grandfather is Santa Claus, about to retire and expecting him to take over the family job

Die Familie Claus 2 (2021): Jules goes on a trial run to grant a little girl's holiday wish.  Plus the kids try to fix up Mom with her best friend, not realizing that he is gay and has a husband.

Die Familie Claus 3 (2022): Jules and his sister Noor work together to fix the mess Grandpa made of the gift-delivery. Plus Mom's new boyfriend Jeff (Kurt Rogiers) drops towel.

Throughout, Jules is heavily queer-coded, with an interest in musclemen and no romantic interest in girls: he keeps partnering with girls, but they are always relatives or just friends.  Although there are no undeniable queer codes, no boyfriends, or "I'm gay" statements, the series, and especially the first, appears every year on lists of "The Best LGBTQ Holiday Movies."

But what about actor Mo Bakker.  Surely he wasn't cast because he was gay.  At age 14, he may not even have known.  So let's check to see if he is out now.

Mo was born in 2006, son of Belgian actor Kuno Bakker, who played a gay guy in Feast (2022).  

Older brother Kes, also an actor, has 12 credits listed on the IMDB, including the teen drama High Tide, available to stream on Netflix.  He plays a gay character, falls in love with a dude, and drops towel.

Mo's acting career begins with August (2014), a short about a boy with a girlfriend.   He has several other projects listed, with plot synopses and trailers only in Flemish, including:

Niet Schieten (Don't Shoot, 2018): A boy is dying, and his grandfather feels guilty.

The tv series Please Love Me (Zie miej graag, 2017-20): A divorced woman is "trying to put her life back together."  Mo and his brother Kes play her sons.

Sisyphus at Work (2021): A film director is dying.

Finn's Heel (Finn's hiel, 2022): Two boys (Mo, Brecht Dael) bond over boxing lessons, and hug.  This one sounds gay.

The teen tv series wtFOCK (2023), about students in a prestigious high school in Antwerp.  There are gay guys in the cast (who make out in the pool), but Mo plays a heterosexual athlete who gets his girlfriend pregnant.

Not a lot of gay content here.  Let's check Mo's Instagram to see if he is gay in real life.

I'm always jealous of Europeans, who can jet to my top 10 favorite countries (outside the U.S.) in a couple of hours.  Here Mo and his boyfriend are cuddling on a raft in Nicosia, Cyprus: five hours from Brussels, 14 hours from Minnesota.

More after the break