THEGAYUK

Day: 5 August 2013

  • French Anti-Gay Marriage Protest Group Plan To Sue Act Up

    French Anti-Gay Marriage Protest Group Plan To Sue Act Up

    • French anti-gay marriage group plans to sue activism group Act Up after members threw red liquid at the JLF genetic research firm in south-west Paris.
    • ActUp is an international ‘direct action’ advocacy group that formed in 1987.
    • La Manif Pour Tous (LMPT) has staged mass protest rallies in France, but has failed to ignite interest across the world with its demonstrations.

    RFI is reporting that the French organisation intends to sue advocacy group ACT UP after some of its activists threw fake blood and posted posters reading “shame” and “homophobe” on the outside of the Jérome Lejeune Foundation, which is a genetic research firm, where the president of La Manif Pour Tous, (Demo For All), Ludovine de la Rochère works as a communications manager.

    In a tweet La Manif Pour Tous announced its intention to file a complaint after ‘the vandalism of @ActUpParis and one expects a strong response from the authorities.’

    ActUp said it was acting in protest when LMPT allegedly called for help during a rally outside the Russian embassy in May.

    In June, President Putin signed into law a bill that could see citizens promoting “non-traditional relationships” to anyone under 18 face hefty fines and prison.

    A number of boycotts and petitions have started around the world in response to the crackdown on Russia’s LGBT community.

  • New petition urges TEAM GB to wear rainbow flags

    A petition has been created to ask members of Team GB to wear rainbow colours in solidarity with Russian LGBTs.

    • Petition calls for Olympians to wear rainbow colours at the Sochi Winter Olympics in 2014.
    • Petition goes live as many bars across the world continue to boycott Russian produced vodka
    • Petitioners hope for Olympians to speak out against human rights violations.

    The petition hosted at Change.org is asking members of Team GB to wear rainbow colours at the Sochi 2014 Winter Olympics, because ‘Russia are [sic] acting against human rights.’

    The petition that was created by Jade Rayment of Cardiff, has already attracted 227 supporters within days of it going live.

    In June, President Putin signed into law a bill that could see citizens promoting “non-traditional relationships” to anyone under 18 face hefty fines and prison.

    The UK Government has updated its advice for LGBT Travellers to Russia, after TheGayUK contacted the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

    The law has been criticised widely as a countrywide crackdown on Russia’s LGBT community.

    The worldwide LGBT community has responded in a number of ways including petitions and a boycott on Russian produced vodka.

    Last week every gay bar in Leeds committed to boycotting Russian produced vodka just in time for Leeds Pride weekend.

    The petition:

    As UK citizens we enjoy a quality of life that few other places in the world can appreciate. This is our privilege, and one of the many reasons that a life elsewhere is so coveted; we enjoy many rights and freedoms that are easy to take for granted.
    The Winter Olympics has always been a time to shine. We all get excited when we watch our countries compete on a world stage in the sports we excel at best. They are a great teaching tool to teach kids about different nations and cultures, and there’s always a special thrill of excitement and national pride when the games come.
    Russia, the next site for the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, is committing some horrible human rights violations. We cannot turn a blind eye to the plight of not only Russian citizens, but those citizens of other nations that are endangered by the anti-LGBT laws that have been created in this part of the world. We need to stand up and put pressure on them to change.
    This not intended to punish the athletes who have worked hard for this opportunity. It is our hope that all Olympians will stand with us and speak out against these violations, and let the world know that we cannot in good conscience Stand by and allow such atrocities, stand with us, be proud.

    To sign the petition click here

  • INTERVIEW | Queen of the BONK BUSTER Rebecca Chance

    If you don’t know who Rebecca Chance is yet, all you need to know is that she is the author where camp knows no limits. Move over Jilly Cooper and Jackie Collins, RC is the Queen of the Bonk Buster.

    had the pleasure of talking to Ms. Chance last year, just after the release of her book Bad Angels, which was my guilty pleasure of the winter season. Read the review here.

    As she answered the phone to me, I heard her laughing, asking what she found funny, she told me she had been watching the Olivia Newton-John and John Travolta Christmas video on a loop and couldn’t stop rewinding it to the line dancing bit. Her cackling makes me love her instantly.

    No stranger to adding a bit of man on man action to her books, I asked her about it,

    ‘I’m bringing my editor along for the ride,’ Chance giggles, ‘She’s kind of got stabilisers on, little training wheels, on at the moment, she says as long as it’s “tender and sensitive” and I’m like ‘yeah…’ she giggles. ‘I mean I’ve been watching gay porn for 20 years… Catch up with the rest of us…’

    As for gay friends, Chance has over 30 of them, where as she collected them all from?

    ‘All over the world, It’s fantastic I’m a sailor with a wife in every port, it means I don’t have to hang out with straight men very much, it’s not that I don’t like them, it’s just that I don’t have a lot in common with them, most of my readers are women, gay men and one straight man called Brian – and I know him.’

    After just after speaking for 7 minutes and 39 seconds I can already see why she has attracted so much gay male attention.

    I ask her if she’d be all right at the dinner table if we all started to talk cock;

    ‘Oh darling,’ she quips, ‘that’s just at the cocktail stage!’

    What does Chance love about writing bonkbusters?

    ‘I was born to write these things, I can put all these things that are normally hard to get into books: I can be funny, I can write about sex, I can do social commentary.

    ‘I’m quietly bringing on my sexual political agenda, which is that you don’t have to be really pretty to have a great time in bed, you have the right to be happy whether you’re gay or straight or whatever colour you are – and I’m doing in a way that you don’t realise I’m doing it most of time.

    ‘You’re gonna come out the other end (of the book) thinking “oh wasn’t that a lovely gay couple it’s so lovely that they’re in love” – you won’t realised I’ve messed with your prejudices a bit, like an evil elf working at a meta level… I love it.’

    Her new book is called Killer Queens, a story about Chloe Rose, who is about marry a charming, sensitive loving… prince. Her life isn’t all fairytale though – her sister-in-law to be, is spiteful and the rest of his family looks down on her.

    Within 30 pages, the first rompy sex scene happens and you won’t look at bananas in the same way again. Oh yes and there’s some man o man action too. Perfect for a summer read.

    I ask her about her mornings, what can’t she get up without?

    “Prosecco, coffee and Solpadine.”

    There’s no arguing this lady knows her audience.

  • OPINION | Fat?

    Recently, myself and a friend had a photo taken with a celebrity; he was a reality TV star, porn performer and current member of the dream boys.

    He was sunbathing when we met him and was wearing only a pair of shorts. I was wearing an open shirt and a t-shirt underneath. Of course, he was really charming and looked great and I joked with him and my friends that this would be great for my self-esteem. This would prove worryingly accurate.

    Let me just explain, I’ve always been confident in my own body, I’m not chubby I’m not big boned. I’m fat. I’ve always been overweight since being a teenager and it had been a journey to become comfortable in my own skin. I’ve not exactly led a lazy lifestyle; I didn’t have a car so I walked everywhere. I previously enjoyed hiking and would often walk 10 miles without breaking a sweat. I’m a bigger guy but I’m healthy. I had tried joining gyms and different exercise classes. I even experimented on every fad diet over the years and my body has altered but I’ve accepted that whatever I try I will always be a little bit fat. This can put me at odds within the gay community as I don’t exactly fit into any category, I’m never going to be wearing skinny jeans and a tight t-shirt but apparently I’m not big enough to be a chub.

    Since I stopped fighting this and accepting this I’ve become more confident as a person, like my sexuality; it’s who I am. When I first met my boyfriend and began dating I asked if he was a chubby chaser in a jokey manner. He responded that he thought this was an offensive term and that I wasn’t fat. He said that he loved my body and would hate for me to lose weight. I obviously love him.

    A few years ago I had joined a local gym to get in shape for a hike that I was doing for charity. I was offered a free session with a personal trainer to show me how to work out properly. During the session he made several remarks about how my self-confidence would increase as I lost weight. He also said if I was single, that if I was more toned than I would have no problems with the ladies, After one remark too many I told him I wasn’t that interested in what weight I was or how fat I am, I was there to get healthier for the task of raising money for cancer research, I stated to him that I probably had a better body image than most of his clients if his idea of coaching was to call them fat, I also told him I was gay, know your audience.

    Coming back to the here and now, I am still confident in myself and the body that I own, realistically I’m not a stripper or model, the only six pack I will ever own will be beer. I don’t train every day nor am I ever likely to. Of course I have had snide remarks from vicious queens over the years because of my size but they don’t live in the skin. The only opinion I truly care about is the person who stares back at me in the mirror, because I have to look him in the eye for the rest of my life.

    Confidence is not an absolute it is a state of mind. I had a wobble and momentarily compared myself against someone else and came up short in my own mind. So what did I do? A couple of days later I was supposed to go swimming before work but felt unmotivated to get up.

    I talked to myself sternly, it’s ok to feel unhappy with your body from time to time, but there is only you that have the power to make any change mentally and physically. I used the negative energy to drag my arse out of bed and into the pool.

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, its management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | WAG! The Musical, Charing Cross Theatre

    I have struggled over writing this review for a full week, primarily because I just couldn’t find the words to describe the excitement, hilarity and fabulousness that went into… oh, no, wait, that was another show. This was just awful.

    Awful.

    Anyone who knows me will know that I champion London theatre as much as possible. I think we are in really exciting times with new challenges and technology bringing a whole new mindset to the stage. However, WAG! is a blemish -a very, very dull blemish – on the London stage, and one I would be happy to see the back of.

    The plot revolves around two female shop assistants, each in an ill-advised relationship (one with a married man; the other with an abuser). All day, they serve the bevy of glamorous WAGs that come through the department store and dream of becoming one of them.

    THE POSITIVES (both of them): Katie Kerr as the fabulous Blow-Jo was a delight every moment she was on the stage. Out of the show’s characters, she was the only one I warmed to even slightly. Alyssa Kyria appeared as her regular character, Ariadne the Greek Wag, who is fairly well-known on the comedy / cabaret circuit. Kyria wrote her scenes herself, and they very much stood out from the tedium.

    Acting-wise, Tim Flavin played Mr Frank well. However, the character was a tired old cliché and not one I enjoyed watching. In fact, I enjoyed watching Lizzie Cundy more, mainly to see if I could spot her apparently-Botoxed face move. On the plus, she is at least the genuine article – a real-life WAG, and definitely looked the part.

    A succession of other, equally forgettable characters “graced” the stage. Another WAG, another bad actress, a camp designer, each as dreary as the last.

    I simply cannot spend another minute thinking about this complete travesty of a show, so I will leave you with the words of Andrzej Lukowski of Time Out, who says: “Wag! sort of blunders on in a dull, well-meaning muddle, two-and-a-half drab, weakly-sung, low-budget hours.”
    Well said, Andrzej. Well said.

    WAG! The Musical is listed at the Charing Cross Theatre until 24 August, although I can’t see it completing the full run. I heard on the grapevine they’re hoping to tour it in 2014 too. Tickets cost… oh, I don’t know. Save your time, money and sanity by not buying one.

  • Pride To Be Open Manchester Store

    Married lesbian couple open greeting cards and gift shop in Manchester.

    (more…)

  • Tom Daley ‘Appreciates’ His Gay Fans

    It seems that the Olympian Tom Daley, 19, can really tick all the boxes of being a media darling: Good looks, year round tan and an appreciation of his gay fans, especially after they voted him Attitude’s sexiest man.

    Speaking to Heatworld.com the diver said:

    “It’s cool, any support I appreciate.

    “Everyone’s been so supportive. [The Attitude voters] are the people cheering me on during the Olympics, these are the people that give me extra motivation during training . I really appreciate it.”

     

    He’s not just Attitude’s hottest hunk, in January Daley was voted Heat’s very own Hottest Hunk.

    There you go: a talented, nice young man you can take back to your folks…