THEGAYUK

Day: 3 December 2013

  • Britney puts her foot in it – Gays: ‘They’re Somewhat Girls…’

    It seems as though Britney has landed herself into some troubles by calling her gay fans “Somewhat girls.”

    The Work Bitch singer has garnered some negative attention after saying, “They’re somewhat girls” about her gay fans.

    In an interview with PrideSource, she was talking about how her gay fans inspire her music, as she talked about her brand new album ‘Britney Jean’.

    ‘I get inspiration from them on almost all of my songs,’ Spears says. ‘They’re somewhat girls, so it’s so inspiring to do stuff that they like to hear, like the cool “in” stuff. Whatever I do for each record is definitely inspired by them.’

    However ,there’s been quite a bit of backlash from the gay community.

    As Queerty points out, Britney was criticised when she likened her gay beauty team to puppies, calling them “adorable and hilarious”, in an interview with San Fran’s 99.7 NOW FM.

    What do you think, was she wrong to say that gay people are like girls?

  • Gareth Thomas: ‘What Tom Has Done Is Very Significant’

    Gareth Thomas: Tom Daley will inspire young gay people, Ex-rugby international hopes many take inspiration from Olympian’s honesty and future success.

    Writing in his blog at Sportlobster openly gay former rugby star Gareth Thomas shares his thoughts of Olympian, Tom Daley’s ‘coming out’ video.

    “Hopefully this will give other kids and adults the strength to be honest and take a lot of inspiration from his story,” says ex-Wales rugby international, Gareth Thomas, who announced he is gay in 2009, becoming one of the first openly homosexual male athletes in any major sports team.

    “I don’t think someone coming out is enough – I think it’s his story after coming out that will inspire others. If he goes to Rio and wins the gold medal and has a fantastic life after that it will show other athletes that being honest and open is a good thing to do. Hopefully he can re-focus now and concentrate on his sport and show that being a gay athlete doesn’t define who you are.

    “Tom now needs to be true to who he is and not be who anyone else wants him to be. He has a big responsibility as he is now potentially responsible for many people having the confidence to come out publically about their sexuality. His announcement will change people’s lives and make lives better. He is now a role model who has influence over thousands, maybe even millions of people so that’s a huge amount of responsibility, which I’m sure he’ll take seriously once he realises just how much influence he has.

    “I came out to my family and close friends, and then two years later I came out in a newspaper. Often people ask me why I felt I had to come out, as it’s not an issue for them. We’re now in an age dominated by social media and so many people are interested in celebrities and their lifestyles outside of what they do for a living, that you have to come out publicly if you want to walk down the street hand in hand or go to a pub and drink without people talking and spreading vicious rumours. I came out in a public way because I wanted to live my life in a way that I wanted to and not be judged by people.

    “I thought it was very personal the way Tom made the announcement – you’re watching on YouTube and it’s almost like he’s talking to you. I thought it was a very humbling and genuine way of doing it and I take my hat off to him. People might look at the life he is living and think it’s fantastic but he’s been through a lot. You could see in his eyes that all he really wants is to be Tom Daley the diver and not have lots of people questioning him for his sexuality.

    “What Tom has done is very significant in other ways, because he’s so young and he’s fairly near the start of his career – it’s a great positive message to the world. For him to do it at such a young age is not only testament to him but to society. When I was playing it just wouldn’t have been possible to come out at his age in the rugby world. It was very much a different place then and I wouldn’t have found the acceptance that I found when I eventually did do it.

    “Tom is a great diver and this is just a declaration of who he is sexually, not a declaration of who he is as a person. I’ve watched him in the Olympics and, like most of the nation, felt like I was standing on the edge of every diving board with him. I know he’s a hugely successful young lad with a great life ahead of him. I just hope that this announcement makes his life even better.

    “I was never under pressure to come out and I didn’t do it because I wanted to be some kind of flag-bearer, it was just a position that I was put in. The more people that come out as being gay, the better the world is.

    “The world is constantly changing and people get educated every single day. When I first started playing rugby, being openly gay and progressing at the sport wasn’t possible. Now it’s been proven that it can be done, not just in rugby but across all sports.”

    Work has begun on the movie of Gareth Thomas’ life story, with Oscar-nominated Mickey Rourke, who owns the rights to the film, playing his part.

    Read Gareth Thomas’ Sportlobster blog: https://sportlobster.com/news/20567/congratulations-tom-daley-why-your-announcement-is-great-for-sport.html

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Boylexe, The Shadow Lounge, London

    ★★★ | Boylexe, The Shadow Lounge, London

    Last Friday, the Shadow Lounge in Soho, paid host to the boylesque show, Boylexe, which the company performed to a packed house of rowdy guys and gals, clearly in the mood for a fun night out. In the event, I’m not sure they got quite what they expected.

    According to one of its performers, Phil Ingud, Boylexe is “a great night out filled with cabaret, stripping and touching stories… and a LOT of flesh!” which I suppose describes it pretty well. When I asked him how the show would differ from strip shows like The Chippendales and Dreamboys, he talks about the art of burlesque being different, less sexual, more about teasing and titillating, with no full frontal nudity.

    So far, so good. Only I felt that none of the routines we saw at the Shadow Lounge on Friday night were titillating enough. Clothes were divested much too quickly and there was no real sense of teasing the audience with the possibility that they might catch a glimpse of someone’s naughty bits. Not that we need to see them, of course, but there should always be the prospect, the possibility. That is what titillating means.
    A mixture of stripping and monologues, the show didn’t seem to know quite where it was pitching itself. MC, Alp Haydar presides over proceedings with an energy and enthusiasm, which manages to be both naughty and disarming at the same time, and the audience really responded to him, but this in itself caused problems, meaning that when Phil Ingut delivered his monologue about HIV, it was greeted with a rather uncomfortable silence. Maybe that was the intention. If so, it wasn’t made clear enough. Other monologues were less memorable and the strip routines, such as they were, did at least come as a welcome relief.

    We got a whiff of the circus or music hall with the entertaining strong man routines by The Mighty Moustache (aka Sir Alexander Leopold), and there was a clever reverse strip by drag queen Mr Mistress, who defiantly takes to the stage naked and drags up before our eyes.

    The line-up is never quite the same from show to show, and this Friday (December 6th), they will be joined by Nick Stiletto, who, I am told, delivers routines that are cheeky and fun, with a deft use of props, which is certainly more in the true spirit of burlesque.

    As it is, it is a somewhat uneven evening. There is the potential for a great night out, but it needs to have a clearer idea of what it is trying to achieve. According to the strippers in Jule Styne’s “Gypsy”,

    You can sacrifice your saccro
    Working in the back row.
    Bump in a dump till you’re dead.
    Kid, you gotta have a gimmick
    If you wanna get ahead.

    Maybe it’s gimmicks that are lacking.

    Boylexe plays at the Shadow Lounge on Fridays throughout December.

  • OPINION: Haters Back Off Tom Daley

    OPINION: Haters Back Off Tom Daley

    So Tom Daley came out, cue the cynical tweets jokes and comments. W, ll maybe it’s just time for haters to back off.

    Tom Daley first rose to public attention at the age of 15 as part of the Team GB in the baiting Olympics. He was the public schoolboy living the dream. He was competing on an international stage and doing what he did best and staying at the top of his field. Media profile has always been pretty high due to public appearances and interviews.

    Of course speculation about his sexuality has been rife. When he fronted the popular ITV show “splash” screen grabs flew around of him “checking out” one of the contestants . On Twitter, The results read like a witch-hunt and were particularly vicious.

    At the time I had written an article defending Tom and have since contemplated using his name in an article about celebrity’s coming out. However I took the decision to not publish in either. As a gay man, I was unwilling to add my voice to what I perceived as an online witch-hunt of a younger man.

    While I was defending him, adding my voice to an ongoing narrative seemed wrong and like I was only adding to the debate. Straight or gay everyone deserves the opportunity to come to terms with their own sexuality and their limits on their own terms. Tom has grown up in the public spot light and has been hounded by this question. For some of us, we are sure of our sexuality and proud of who we are. It’s easy to forget that some people don’t have the luxury and need to be comfortable in it before they tell people. Aside from their own comfort it’s also their right as a human being.

    When you are becoming comfortable with your own sexuality, it’s neither helpful nor useful for people to be speculating or questioning you on the matter. It one thing to be able to come out to your friends and family. It’s another to have to do it on a national stage. I wonder how many of the people critising Tom online have had to come out in those circumstances?

    People don’t come out for various reasons, confidence is one and guilt and shame are others. The constant questioning can often make the announcement seem bigger than it is. I notice that the online criticism is around what Tom actually said. He neither used the term Gay or Bisexual just simply confirmed that he was in a relationship with a man. He is using terms that he is comfortable, he feels safe in the relationship and this has given him the confidence to be able to come out publically.

    So for all the people ready to jump in with the comments:

    “This is news?”

    “About time?”

    “I knew all along”

    “In other shocking news, water is wet”

    I’m shocked at the lack of empathy being shown by the gay community, clearly coming out was so long ago that we appear to have lost touch with the frustrating and scary feelings around what can be a defining moment in any person’s life.

    The news is not that Tom Daley has come out; the news is that Tom Daley is done with hiding who he is. He’s stated that he’s happy in a relationship and ends the video by talking about his next training session and hoping that people still want to follow his journey. He’s an Olympian and that’s clearly where his life is focused. Maybe it’s time to let him get on with it. Gay straight or Bi makes no different to his performance but I hope he can walk a little taller and a little more confident in himself

     

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