Neal Boulton is the editor of Genre, the gay men's magazine, and something called BastardLife.com, a bisexual men's web magazine. Clearly the man has a thing for mixing media and gender identity, as the various "anonymously sourced" items about Boulton's NYC sexing — which reek of having been planted by Boulton himself — also suggest, as does his former editorship of Men's Fitess, which is basically a magazine for straight guys to ogle other guys. Not terribly surprising, then, that his on-and-off (and back on) partner for the last 16 years, Claire, used their sometimes open relationship to sometimes enjoy the company of other women while her husband was off dabbling with homos. And now, like The Pregnant Man, they're on a road to sharing their story with the world. Read on, America, for the next great chapter of the GLBT movement. CONTINUED »
Model Ben Massing sent us a note this week insisting he's not a homophobe, charges he incurred after suing gay magazine Genre for running sexually suggestive pictures of him without his permission. Wrote Massing via an attorney:
Numerous media outlets focused on the fact that the images appear in a publication geared toward the gay community. Based upon these reports, some have mischaracterized me as homophobic, which could not be further from the truth.
We were beginning to feel a bit bad about this Massing business, but then we obtained a copy of his lawsuit against Genre and photographer Rick Day and it's one of the most blatantly homophobic documents we've read in a long, long time.
QUEERTY: Gay people are mad at Out owner Paul Colichman for saying he won't endorse Barack Obama. Neal Boulton, who works for rival Genre, said, "By tearing up his check for Obama, he basically wrote one to McCain." Boulton doesn't really care, of course - he just wanted his name in an item about Barack Obama. CONTINUED »
Genre editor and HX consultant Neal Boulton is back with wife Claire, moving into their old place in Brooklyn and going on dates together. Boulton, who has said there aren't enough numbers on the Kinsey scale to pinpoint his sexuality, has also recently been seen by our spies making out with women at bars in Chelsea. So these days he's straight, if not entirely monogamous. Then again, he has a history of not being straight … with readers, at least. [P6]
DOUBLE DIPPING Former Men's Fitness editor and pseudo-gay Neal Boulton now has his hands in two homo rags: Genre and HX. What's next — Out's Aaron Hicklin running The Advocate? [Queerty]
Whether he's playing it straight or gay, or editing Men's Fitness or Genre, one thing is clear: Neal Boulton likes chiseled abs on his covers. [Queerty]
Remember One Park Avenue, the American Media reality series that never got off the ground? (Trust, it was for the best.) The above promo takes us back, with then Star leader Bonnie Fuller telling us about "what it takes"; David Caplan, before he decamped for 24Sizzler.com, on how the tabloid biz is like high school; and a Star staffer who insists she "looks forward to coming to work."
Oh, and there's former Men's Fitness and current Genre chief gay Neal Boulton talking about how much he loves his job — because he's "around hot sexy women all the time, partying my ass off."
Excuse us for doing this, but: ROFL.
[Note: The show's lawyers asked us to take down the video. They were very nice, so we agreed and will cherish memories of what counts as one of Boulton's straightest moments.]
Accept this as evidence that some editors-in-chief understand the importance of a sleek editor's letter photo. While Avery Cardoza may not, new Genre EIC Neal Boulton does. Enter Exhibits A and B from his recent photoshoot for his gay mag debut.
We're immediately forwarding this post to Jann Wenner with the subject line, "See what you've been missing?"
When the sometime-Jann Wenner paramour isn't at Genre's offices, he can be spotted training at Trinity Boxing on Greenwich Street.
(Oh, we thought you answer to the headline question was "Yes." Sorry about that.)
As Neal Boulton tells it, he just called up Window Media president David Unger and said, "Let's relaunch Genre." A few brainstorming back-and-forths later, and the former Men's Fitness editor ends up taking over Genre magazine today. Or something.
Neal has already changed the out-going voicemail message on the line of Chris Ciompi, Genre's editor until this morning. (We checked in with him, who would only tell us he's in the middle of Harry Potter.) And even though Ciompi just closed the September issue last night, to Unger's approval, the bossman wanted him out right away. Ten minutes after Ciompi met with Unger, Boulton was in the door and celebrating with food all around.
So what's Boulton's course of action?
Word is coming in that Genre EIC Chris Ciompi – boyfriend of Rush & Molloy junior gossip Patrick Huguenin – has just been axed from his role. His replacement? None other than former Men's Fitness chief and Jann Wenner sometime plaything Neal Boulton. No word yet on why Chris was given the boot – and Genre's phone answer people tell us he's "out of the office" – but one source says Genre-owner Windows Media is declaring bankruptcy for the division so they don't have to make good on their bills (office rent, freelancers). That leaves Genre to move in with corporate cousin HX, which might explain why they just got rid of their sales staff.
Though Details' Dan Peres insists it's not a gay men's publication, his circulation department might think otherwise. Rumors are swirling that the Conde Nast book purchased the subscriber list of Windows Media's Genre magazine.
Readers of that gay magazine have suddenly found themselves receiving comped issues of Details as well as come-ons to subscribe.
In a gay magazine like Genre, you think this headline would've been used, like, 6458 times before.
Editorial Director
