THEGAYUK

Day: 11 November 2018

  • Does Joe Sugg from Strictly have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?

    Does Joe Sugg from Strictly have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?

    Strictly star Joe Sugg is getting fans hot under the collar and they’re wondering if he’s dating anyone and if that person is male or female.

    (C) BBCJoe Sugg is best known as a YouTuber, racking up over a billion views but he’s also Zoe Sugg’s younger brother. If you’re scratching your head and wondering who Zoe Sugg is, you might know her by her Vlogging name, Zoella. On YouTube, his channel is better known as ThatcherJoe. His channel currently has 8.2 million subscribers. He started his channel in 2011.

    His channel features pranks, impressions and challenges.

    Joe was the fourth celebrity to be confirmed by the BBC for this year’s show.

    Does Joe Sugg have a boyfriend or a girlfriend?

    The 26-year-old YouTuber is not gay or bisexual or at least has not identified that way publicly.  He is apparently currently single. In the past, Joe has been accused of gay-baiting his fellow vlogger Casper Lee.

    Where is Joe Sugg from?

    Joe hails from Wiltshire in England, although he moved to London and lives with fellow video maker Casper Lee.

    Speaking about joining the show Sugg said, “I’m honestly so chuffed to be involved in the show this year!

    “Not going to lie, I’m very nervous about it, it’s totally out of my comfort zone and I know it will be a huge challenge but that’s what life is all about I guess.”

  • MP Steve Brine urged to extend HPV vaccines for boys up to 18-years-old

    MP Steve Brine urged to extend HPV vaccines for boys up to 18-years-old

    Health experts call on the government to offer ‘catch-up’ HPV vaccination to boys up to age 18 to protect them against fatal diseases

    16 leading experts in the field of HPV and the diseases it can cause have written to the public health minister Steve Brine MP urging him to offer HPV vaccination to boys aged up to 18 as a catch-up programme. This would run alongside the vaccination programme for 12/13 year old boys which the government intends to roll out from September 2019.

    The experts have also called on the minister to make a firm commitment to starting boys’ vaccination next year rather than just saying he intends to do so.

    The letter’s signatories include: Mick Armstrong, chair of the British Dental Association; Professor Michael Escudier, Dean of the Faculty of Dental Surgery at the Royal Collage of Surgeons; Hisham Mehanna, Professor of Head and Neck Surgery at the University of Birmingham; Ian Mills, Dean, Faculty of General Dental Practice (UK); Professor Chris Nutting, Consultant Clinical Oncologist at the Royal Marsden Hospital; and Dr Olwen Williams, President of the British Association for Sexual Health and HIV.

    Ministers have so far rejected the case for a catch-up programme for boys on the grounds that boys are partly protected by the vaccination of girls. The experts point out, however, that the government’s own vaccination advisory committee (JCVI) recommended HPV vaccination for boys precisely because vaccinating girls offers boys inadequate protection. Moreover, men who have sex with men are completely unprotected by the girls’ programme. The experts also state that when the girls’ programme was introduced in 2008, they benefited from a catch-up programme and boys should be entitled to the same on the grounds of fairness.

    The announcement of the decision to vaccinate boys was long overdue. It was originally promised in 2015 but took three more years to become policy. In that time, around one million boys missed out on HPV vaccination and they are therefore at risk. The experts argue that the opportunity must be seized to vaccinate as many boys as possible while they are still at school and therefore easier to reach.

    Commenting on the letter, HPV Action’s Campaign Director Peter Baker said: ‘The government must not ignore the views of 16 leading experts in the HPV field. It must reconsider its short-sighted decision not to offer boys a catch-up programme and it must also make an unequivocal commitment to start vaccinating boys from next September. Boys can no longer be left at risk of developing potentially fatal cancers and other diseases caused by HPV.’

  • Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest begins!

    Fringe! Queer Film and Arts Fest begins!

    Fringe! returns for its eighth year with a diverse, provocative and outrightly political programme of film screenings alongside workshops, panels and parties, transforming venues across East London over six days.

    Founded in 2011 as a community-led response to cuts to arts funding and the detrimental impact on LGBT+ art and cultural production, the festival is committed to celebrating the best in queer filmmaking, from the DIY to the high budget. Fringe! remains entirely volunteer-run and not-for-profit, whilst having become a landmark cultural event in London’s queer calendar.

    Highlights:

    Fringe! 2018 opens with powerful and effervescent documentary When the Beat Drops, which charts the development of ‘bucking’, an energetic and competitive form of dance, through the ambitions of a group of black gay men in Atlanta.

    In what can sometimes feel like dark political times, Fringe! burns bright with a focus on activism in film. Criminal Queers is an astute comedy, taking aim at the prison industrial complex in the USA with a tongue in cheek charm, complete with cameos from prison activists Angela Davis and CeCe McDonald. In Obscuro Barroco, we meet an icon of Brazil’s queer subculture, Luana Muniz, who guides us through a contrasting world of protest and beauty.

    A decidedly literary theme runs throughout this year’s programme. Closing night film Wild Nights with Emily offers a comic reimagining of Emily Dickinson’s rumoured sapphic encounters, with Molly Shannon playing the famously reclusive poet and cameos from the likes of Genevieve Turner. The UK Premiere of The Rest I Make Up revisits the life of Maria Irene Fornes, arguably one of the most influential and yet least known playwrights of the 20th century as well as being Susan Sontag’s lover.

    In a new partnership, Fringe! has worked with Hackney based LGBT+ youth support group, Project Indigo, to curate a free shorts programme which will be screened at festival hub, Hackney House. Over the course of four months, a group of 13 to 25-year-olds worked collaboratively with Fringe! to create a selection of eleven shorts from over 400 submissions.

    Other highlights include a screening of 1978’s The Wiz which takes the festival’s regular late-night singalong slot celebrating campy classics from the cinematic past. This often overlooked cult gem is at turns mesmerising and downright strange, offering a magical urban reimagining of the 1900 children’s novel The Wonderful Wizard of Oz. With a notably entirely African-American cast, The Wiz stars Diana Ross, Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor among others, and is screened in partnership with BlackOut UK .

    As ever, Fringe! boasts a broad array of free events from zinemaking workshops to performance nights, live podcasts (including from female-focused film podcast Broad Appeal ) and queer pottery! All this in addition to eleven free short-film programmes ranging from the experimental to the sexy, and more! 

    For more information and schedule, please click here;
  • COMMENT | Gay, 35 and single

    COMMENT | Gay, 35 and single

    I’m 35 years old (how many years is that in gay years?)

    Free-Photos / Pixabay

    I’m single and I have been for quite some time. Most people my age have settled down. Some met a long time partner, a husband or a wife. Many already have kids.

    As I get older, I find it more and more difficult to avoid questions such as: When are you going to get married? How come that you don’t have a partner? Do you never think about having kids? Countless times I used excuses such as: I’m too focused on my career right now. I’m too busy for a relationship.

    I want to travel first before I settle down. All those are true, but in all honesty, the main reason why I didn’t settle down is very simple: I just haven’t found the right guy yet. Yes, I do have high standards, and I wouldn’t settle for less.

    Why is his not an issue?

    While we live in a society that makes us feel as though being single is something to be concerned about, it really isn’t how I perceive it. I was n a couple of serious relationships. Was I happier then? No!

    I think it is a common mistake to assume that we need someone to make us happy.

    In my opinion, that couldn’t be further from the truth. My happiness doesn’t depend on anyone but me.

    I wouldn’t put the key to my own happiness in someone else’s pocket.

    Imagine what a responsibility it would be for the other person!

    Also, let’s not forget about the many advantages of being single: I can focus on my career, I can travel on a whim, I have more time to pursue my hobbies, I can have the full bed for myself…

    Basically, I can do whatever I want whenever I feel like it. And I am so much more relaxed emotionally!

    What really makes me happy?

    qimono / Pixabay

    Being single allowed me to get in touch with myself and to (re-)discover the true beauty of the little things that we often take for granted: seeing a beautiful sunset, stargazing, eating my favourite meal, listening to my favourite song, dancing like there is nobody watching, falling asleep while the rain gently beats against my window, swimming naked, making someone smile.

    Does this mean that I would like to be single forever? Absolutely not!

    It would be great to find someone special to share all these things with. I am definitely open to that possibility.
    My point is: That it doesn’t define my happiness. I would so pleased if people would stop asking me why I’m still single.

    Instead, ask me if I’m happy.

    Miguel Martins – Mister Senior Netherlands 3rd Runner-Up (www.facebook.com/MyOwnFado)