Today the Spartacus Internationally Gay Guide published its Gay Travel Index. The international travel guide for the gay community, which has been published on an annual basis for the last 40 years, informs its readers about the legal situation for gays and lesbians in each of the 128 countries listed in the guide. The editorial staff stands in regular contact with the Foreign Office, the foreign embassies in Germany as well as LGBT-(Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Trans-gender) activists from around the world.

15 Assessment Categories
“In the new Gay Travel Index we include factors other than the current legal position for homosexuals. These factors are for example the state of gay marriage and adoption or the entry restrictions for HIV-positive people as well as religious influence on governments, the ban of Pride parades and specific marketing activities for gay and lesbian tourists”, according to the editor in chief Briand Bedford. The Index has a total of 15 assessment categories with negative and positive points in each category. The maximum score is 9
points.

And the winner is: Sweden
With an index of 9 points and with it the maximum number of points possible, Sweden is at the top of the list. An exemplary anti-discriminatory legislation, gay marriage and adoption for gay couples make Sweden the most gay-friendly destination worldwide. Just behind Sweden: Belgium and the Netherlands which share the second place, each with 8 points, Iceland and Canada are ranked third with 7 points.

Iran at the bottom of the list
With-14 points Iran is at the bottom of our Gay Travel Index. The ban of homosexuality by law, capital punishment for homosexuals - which is carried out, murders of gays and an extremely high religious influence make this country a place a danger life and limb for gay men. The United Arab Emirates, Jamaica, Nigeria, Jordan, Russia, Egypt and Malaysia are at the bottom of our list of gay-friendly travel destinations.

An exception - the USA
Due to the different legislation in the different US states, we have complied an individual Gay Travel Index for each of the 50 states. Here New York and Massachusetts - thanks to their specific advertising to attract gay and lesbian visitors - have a better ranking than Vermont, New Hampshire and Connecticut The states Alabama and North Carolina land at the bottom of our list.

Winner of the year: New York City, loser of the year: Hungary
Due to the legalization of gay marriage in the US federal state New York, this is one of the raising states and could move forward to reach the top position as the friendliest US states for homosexual tourists. One country which has dropped in our rating this year is Hungary. With a constitutional amendment pasted in 2011 marriage was defined as a partnership between a man and a woman exclusively. In addition the rights of minorities, freedom of the press as well as measures against anti-discrimination were omitted or  weakened as a result of this amendment.

Subject to scrutiny: India, California and Turkey
“Ongoing discussions about the legalization of gay marriage in California or the recent call for a ban of homosexuality in the Indian parliament make it necessary to keep an eye on certain countries and regions”, according to SPARTACUS editor in chief Bedford. “Alone the example India shows that sometimes legislation, religion and public opinion do not stand in harmony with each other. Also with the candidate awaiting entry into the European Union - Turkey we must watch all future developments in a country in which there are no antidiscrimination laws or equal rights for homosexuals.

Gay Travel - a growing market
If one goes out from the conservative estimate that 5-percent of the population are homosexuals, the turnover for the travel market from this special interest group would correspond in the season 2011/12 to at least 1.1 billion Euros. For the US-American market the company Community Marketing, resident in San Francisco estimates this market at around 50 billion dollars. At the beginning of the year German tour operator Dertour introduced an own 100 page catalogue with the title “Gay Travel”. At this year’s travel fair ITB in Berlin the segment “Gay and Lesbian Travel was represented in hall 2.1 together with the Internationally Gay and Lesbian Travel Association IGLTA, Dertour, Spartacus International Gay Guide and others, including the tourism offices of Brazil and Argentina.

The Gay Travel Index as complete chart is available as download at www.spartacusworld.com/gaytravelindex.pdf

All this is possible without the normal, expensive roaming fees, as almost all functions work offline! The big advantage of this App, in comparison with many other electronic guides which are available right now is the international coverage and the proven Spartacus code system: With a click all bars with a dance floor, all clubs with a darkroom or all saunas with a whirlpool are listed - the intelligent search function is a lots of fun and makes life easier.

The regularly updated SPARTACUS iPhone App is now available in English or German in three versions from 6.99 Euros for “Europe”, “The world excluding Europe” and “Worldwide”. A free test app is also available. For more information see: www.spartacusworld.com

2011 offered us a lot of reasons to be proud on what we achieved. Not only have we had a successful business year, we were also very happy to celebrate our 30th anniversary. What started out as a small but enthusiastic project 30 years ago became one of the biggest international providers of gay media.

But still we have no interest in resting on our laurels, of course. With plenty of new projects and enthusiasm we are up to new projects.

In April we will release a sex guide with a special twist. 69 Positions leads us onto the oh so wide fields of gay pleasure. Two of the most popular Bel Ami models guide us this sensual and inspiring photo book, which also will be released as a hardcover in a special edition. All positions are accompanied by a short informative text.

The perfect addition to this book is Stephan Niederwieser’s Do It Yourself. This comprehensive follow up to his 2011 bestsellers Bend Over and Blow Me is the perfect guidebook for sexual encounters in the most private sense of meaning.

“Bon voyage”-the new and extensively updated edition of our famous Spartacus International Gay Guide will lead you safely around the world.

After the success of Hakan Lindquist My Brother and his Brother we’ll publish another book of the Swedish writer. On Collecting Stamps is a touching and beautiful novel about the secrets of the past and the courage of taking your life in your own hands.

Last but not least we are proud to present you the new adventures of Bike Boy. Since our first comic book by Zack has been remarkably popular with our audience, we have no reason to doubt that Bike Boy Rides Again will be starting from a pole position again when it comes to our comic and art section.

There is much more to discover, of course. Just have a look in our new product catalogue.

More novelties:

- photo books: Mark Henderson, Howard Roffman, Anthologies
- comic & art: Tom of Finland, Zack
- fiction and non-fiction: Jerry Douglas

Find our publishing catalogue online here:

As you might have heard we have a new management team and we are heading towards new directions. We have many different projects and ideas-and a couple of them have been already realized, as you can see in our new publishing catalogue.

With our photo books we continue investing in anthologies that are sexy, entertaining and informative. With Tom of Finland - Life and Work of a Gay Hero we present you an impressive catalogue of a unique artist’s work with lots and lots of drawings, photos and his authorized biography. But first we’ll give you Rick Day’s Players Two - the long expected follow-up to his bestseller.

Our new fiction and non-fiction section also has some exciting titles to offer: Stephan Niederwieser’s guide to oral sex-Blow Me!-tells you everything you have to know about performing a good blow job. You’ll Hear From Me is a wonderfully touching novel by Luis Algorri-a story about a young man who falls in love with his girlfriend’s younger brother.

If you are more into graphic novels you will certainly enjoy our superheroes anthology Heroes with Hardons … or, if you are more the down-to-earth kind of guy, by Zack’s Bike Boy Rides Again.

Of course there is much more to discover. Just have a look at our latest publishing catalogue-we gave it a completely new design. As you can see it’s all about the one thing: good books for gay men!

+++ Tino Henn becomes CEO +++ previous co-managing director Michael Taubenheim becomes partner +++ founder Bruno Gmünder remains on the board as a minority shareholder +++ the publisher celebrates its 30th anniversary +++

Berlin, 7 June 2011. The Bruno Gmünder Verlag is changing ownership after 30 years. The contracts were signed on 3 June in Berlin. The entrepreneurs Tino Henn and Nik Reis (both from Munich) and hitherto co-managing director Michael Taubenheim (Berlin) have acquired a majority stake of the Bruno Gmünder Media Group. Bruno Gmünder will remain with the company as a minority shareholder and advisor.

Tino Henn, CEO: “I am delighted to be able to build on 30 years of successful media and business activities for the gay community. In its segment, Bruno Gmünder is one of the most valuable gay umbrella brands in the world. In the coming years we want to push our media and trade sub-brands (e.g. Männer, Spartacus, Bruno’s) more actively on the Internet, expand our service portfolio and develop new business segments.”

The Bruno Gmünder Verlag was founded in Berlin in 1981 by Bruno Gmünder and Christian von Maltzahn. Today, with approximately 80 permanent employees and numerous freelance staff and annual sales of 9 million Euro, the group is among the global market leaders in gay media and is internationally present with a wide range of up to 150 new titles per year. With numerous publications the fields of magazines (e.g. Männer) film, photography, travel, comics, fiction and nonfiction, we are offering a great variety of subjects for the gay community worldwide. The international travel guide Spartacus is one of our most important books, published in house - currently selling over 65,000 copies per issue, it is the best selling gay travel book in the world.

Through brunos.de, the Bruno’s Mailorder catalog and in five Bruno’s shops in Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne and Munich, the Bruno Gmünder Handels GmbH sells thousands of products, from DVDs, to exclusive underwear, to sex toys. Particulary we intend to expand in the apparel sector. Through international sales and marketing partners, the products of our media group are represented on all continents and in major cities like New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, Sydney, Hong Kong, Tokyo, London, Paris and Moscow.

Photo (from left to right): Bruno Gmünder, Tino Henn, Michael Taubenheim, Nik Reis
Right Of Use: Bruno Gmünder Verlag, Photo Credit: Brigitte Dummer

The event takes place in March and is organised by the Tom of Finland Foundation, which has been protecting, preserving and promoting erotic art of the last 25 years.

Henning von Berg, who released his first photo book “Alpha Males” via Bruno Gmünder in 2007, has gained a lot of press attention when he photographed six naked hunks in the dome of the Berlin Reichstag and in front of the Brandenburg Gate. He has been a regular exhibitor at the fair during the last years.

(c) Henning von Berg

Sculptures and paintings, photographs and drawings, digital art and comics: If you like to get an impression on how multifarious erotic art can be, you should not miss the 2011 Erotic Art Fair. You can find a survey of the art you’ll find there here.

The fair runs from March, 25th to March, 27th in West Hollywood, Los Angeles. Find all locations and dates here.

Bruno Gmünder Publishing is–like already in the years before–on of the top candidates to win an award at the annual GAYBIES.

The GAYBIES are presented by TLA, one of the biggest distributors for gay media in the United States. Customers can choose their ultimate favourites out of a selection that presents the highlights of the year.

Nominated in the category “Best Photo/Art Book” are twelve titles … seven of them released by Bruno Gmünder. Remarkably, all of the four comic books that were able to snatch a nomination were published by Gmünder.

Other categories present movies, actors, TV series and fiction/non-fiction. Anyone is allowed to vote–which doesn’t mean that one has to consider every single category. By all means you should pick your favourite Bruno Gmünder book, though …

Ready for voting? Just click here …

We proudly present our seven nominees for a GAYBIES award. Click on the cover to see more details and leaf through the books a little.

During the last decades some countries and cities have become of special interest for gay men’s wanderlust–no matter whether it’s because of their leading role in the gay rights movement and their political emancipation (like San Francisco, Berlin or Amster-dam) or because of the natural, breathtaking beauty (like Mykonos and Bali).

GAY HOT SPOTS introduces 20 top, gay destinations from around the globe in short, informative portraits. In addition it features a double page with the top ten places-to-be as well as more hot spots of the gay community for each country/city … and of course a lot of pictures. All information was gathered by the editorial team of the famous Spartacus International Gay Guide. With GAY HOT SPOTS there won’t be anything standing in the way of your perfect holiday.

Editor Dirk Baumgartl is an expert on gay travel. After studying German language and literature in Germany and Amsterdam he worked for several newspapers and magazines and became an editorial journalist for Germany’s gay lifestyle magazine MÄNNER in 2004. For his reportages in the Spartacus Traveller magazine he flies around the globe throughout the year.

These elaborately colored drawings show us an ideal of the American man–muscular, sensual and drop-dead gorgeous–without overdoing it. Breyette charmingly masters the balance act between comic and art, for which he doesn’t need any words. He rather lets the magic of the moment speak. SEASONS OF LOVE reveals what we already divined: Love’s season never ends.

Michael Breyette grew up in the province of the East Coast of the United States. When he started drawing, he simply did it to let out his gay fantasies. Nowadays he lives in New York and he neither hides his sexuality nor his wonderful art. With his artworks he was able to gain fans and collectors world wide.

In Florida you can currently see a retrospective with the art of photographer Henning von Berg: “NAKED” gives you a stunning overview of his works from 1997 to 2010.

Henning von Berg first made a name for himself with his photo shoot in Berlin’s Reichstag: In 1999 he photographed six naked men–later known as the “Reichstag Rascals”–and created an international sensation, catapulting von Berg into the international limelight. He’s maintained his penchant for architectural backdrops and bizarre, erotic group scenes to this day, both things that make his images so distinctive. He prefers to work with natural lighting and in unusual settings. In 2007 Bruno Gmünder released the first photo book with the art of von Berg: Alpha Males.

DENNIS DEAN GALLERIES

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