THEGAYUK

Author: Skylar Baker-Jordan

  • COMMENT | Why Jeremy Corbyn is the best option for LGBT Brits

    Over the weekend, a video quietly dropped on YouTube in which revellers at this summer’s London Pride explained why they are backing Jeremy Corbyn for the next Labour leader:

    “He supported gay rights before anyone else supported us,” one young man explains, pointing out that Corbyn has “never voted against gay rights.”

     

    He’s right. Corbyn has voted against every anti-LGBT bill and for every advance in LGBT equality since he entered parliament in 1983, making him the only candidate who both opposed Section 28 and supported equal marriage. That’s an impressive ally, which is one reason why prominent LGBT activists from Lesbian and Gays Support the Miners’ Mike Jackson to the Guardian columnist Owen Jones have publicly backed Corbyn’s campaign.

    Like them, I’m proud to support Jeremy Corbyn for Labour Leader. And like them, my support is for reasons far beyond up-and-down votes for our equality. Mr Corbyn unequivocally opposes austerity, which is much more than can be said for his opponents, none of whom walked through division to oppose the Tory Welfare Bill, a chainsaw massacre of the welfare state and public services which leaves the most vulnerable in British society out in the lurch.

    At first blush, this may seem inconsequential to our community; equality and austerity, you shrug, are separate issues. Two studies conducted over the last three years, though, suggest otherwise. In 2013, UNISON—the public sector trade union—commissioned a study on how austerity has effected the LGBT community. The findings were startling: not only did LGBT people face “greater financial hardships from redundancies, real term pay cuts and changes to benefit rules,” but that austerity had led to “greater feelings of marginalisation and invisibility as specialist LGBT services and support disappeared.” Last year, the Trade Unions Congress, in their own commissioned report, found that LGBT volunteer and charity services were especially hurt by cuts in public spending, with “their already more than averagely impacted service users… particularly vulnerable.”

    Among the most vulnerable are LGBT youth experiencing homelessness. The UNISON study found that cuts to housing benefits, especially amongst the young, were especially difficult on young LGBT people “as they may find it difficult to find a safe and comfortable shared accommodation with flatmates accepting of their sexuality or gender identity.” The Albert Kennedy Trust, a charity which supports LGBT youth experiencing homelessness, earlier this year found that nearly a quarter of homeless British youth identify as LGBT. When the Guardian cited this study in its expose on homelessness amongst LGBT young people back in May, the government hadn’t yet slashed housing benefits for those under 21 and denied under-25s the minimum wage. This is disastrous for young LGBT people who have been kicked out of their homes by homophobic or transphobic parents and may find it difficult to find supportive flatmates, let alone a way to make rent.

    This is but one way austerity has negatively impacted our community. LGBT people are more likely to suffer suicidal ideations and mental health issues, largely due to homophobia and transphobia, than their peers, making cuts to mental health services particularly concerning to our community; even before the Tories had a majority, austerity measures had cut £253 million from the NHS’ Mental Health Trusts. And zero hour contracts have been notoriously bad for our community, especially; the UNISON study reports a trans woman who could no longer afford her transition because she made less on a zero hour contract.

    Which is why Corbyn, with his pledge to end austerity and bring about a more equitable society, is so appealing to so many, especially young people, at a time when youth unemployment is at its highest since the 1990s and LGBT people still face so much discrimination in employment. Corbyn has a vision that resonates, not just with those on the lower rungs of the social ladder, but with those at the top, as well. He is in every respect the peoples’, including LGBT peoples’, candidate.

    This may seem somewhat shocking considering last week I referred to him as having “all the electability and relevance of a Womble.” And my concerns about his abilities as a leader, not just of the Labour Party but of the country, remain. The same can be said, however, for his comeptitors. Not a single one of these candidates inspires confidence. Owen Jones can see Mr Corbyn as a future prime minister. I’m, from a purely strategic point, not sold yet, if only because he is an unproven leader with unproven results. Mr Corbyn has never sat on the front bench, let alone been in government. How he manages to wrangle the Blairites and Brownites within the party is of utmost concern. (But with grand pronouncements from Liz Kendall about refusing to serve in his shadow cabinet and dire predictions from Tony Blair, if the party splinters, it likely won’t be Mr Corbyn holding the sledgehammer.)

    Still, I have more faith in him than in Yvette Cooper, Liz Kendall, or Andy Burnham. They expected to trample over him, and in all fairness, Mr Corbyn didn’t enter this contest expecting to win. Yet here we are, with the MP from Islington North—a 30+ year backbencher—leading by double digits. Which, when you consider the mood of the British public, shouldn’t surprise any of us.

    As Vice reported last month, Mr Corbyn’s positions on a whole host of issues—from renationalising the railways and utility companies to dismantling Britain’s nuclear arsenal—are more in step with public opinion than any of the other three contenders. And as I wrote in my post-mortem after Ed Miliband’s throttling in the general election, Labour lost because they didn’t run far enough to the left. In these regards, he is just the candidate Labour needs to reclaim Number 10 in 2020.

    And that’s what is most important to the LGBT community. We need to roll back austerity in order to protect the most vulnerable amongst us. We need a champion who has been on our side his entire political career. We need someone with clarity of vision and purity of heart.

    That man is Jeremy Corbyn.

    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.

  • COMMENT | Why Is This Labour Leadership Race So Boring?

    Can I just say what we’re all thinking? Watching this Labour leadership contest is about as exciting as watching various shades of red paint dry.

    I’m sat here trying to come up with an interesting, fresh angle on this election, but I’m about two (okay, five) drinks in and all I can muster is:

    “Liz Kendall isn’t all that bad,”
    “Jeremy Corbyn reminds me of my grandpa,”
    “Yvette Cooper is also standing,” and
    “Andy Burnham has pretty eyes.”

    It’s a far cry from 2008, when Barack Obama galvanised the US Democratic Party with a sense of hope and a promise of a better tomorrow. Though I championed Hillary Clinton in that year’s primary, I remember watching his acceptance speech at that year’s convention with a sense of awe and genuine excitement.Even the 2010 Labour leadership contest seemed to offer some sense of renewal. There was, of course, the brothers Miliband, fighting to take the party in different directions. And Diane Abbott, that stalwart London socialist who provided a breath of fresh air—an actual leftist! A woman, and Black!—that is sorely lacking this go round.

    That’s the problem. Cooper and Burnham, both either tarnished or bolstered by their roles in in the last Labour government, depending on who you ask, are stuck quietly in the middle, mostly ignored and largely forgotten. Kendall and Corbyn would both have you believe that a bitter civil war is raging, with the soul of the Labour Party at stake. Each is positing themselves and their opponent as the devil and angel on your shoulder.

    But Kendall isn’t David Miliband, and Corbyn isn’t Diane Abbott. Both lack the charisma, the gravitas, and the star quality of their 2010 counterparts. And when the majority of Labour MPs can’t even bring themselves to vote against Tory austerity, you have to wonder what the whole point of the party is. If Her Majesty’s Loyal Opposition can’t even be counted on to do a bit of opposing, it might make people question whether they’re worth voting for at all.

    The LGBT community certainly seems to be asking itself this question. In a YouGov poll conducted back in March, the Tories were in a dead heat with Labour when it came to LGBT vote share. Meanwhile, the Greens were increasing their support amongst our community, with The Guardian reporting a 16% increase in support from 2010 to 2015.

    Used to be that Labour was the natural home of our community. However, the Labour Party is no longer the only sanctuary for queer and trans Brits, as it was in the 1980s and 1990s. The Conservatives have softened their rhetoric, if not their voting record, on LGBT issues. Prime Minister David Cameron and Equalities Minister Nicky Morgan both champion equality, even if the former couldn’t convince his backbenchers (including the latter) to vote for same-sex marriage. On the opposite end of the political spectrum, many LGBT voters are flocking to the SNP and Green Party.

    This would seem to give credence to the civil war scenario Corbyn and Kendall present. After all, it does appear that, at least in terms of LGBT voters, the party is bleeding support on both ends of the political spectrum. And while all four candidates are touting themselves as champions of LGBT equality, with Burnham and Kendall having given exclusive and in-depth interviews to PinkNews, not one candidate seems to be capturing the hearts and minds of LGBT Labour.

    Our community seems mildly disinterested, but genuinely divided, if the rainbow avatars supporting Kendall, Cooper, and Corbyn on my Facebook feed are any indication. I’ve seen people come out in favour of all three candidates, but only because they have to support somebody. Not a single one of them seems to have the kind of zealous acolytes of Obama in 2008 or the Milibands in 2010.

    Anecdotally, at least, the only candidate not receiving ringing LGBT endorsements seems to be Burnham, whose record on LGBT rights is often described as tepid, at best. He missed a vote on gay adoptions in 2002, which he contends was due to paternity leave, and as Benjamin Butterworth wrote last month at the New Statesman, he twice voted for amendments which would require lesbians receiving IVF to name a father figure, despite the fact that in a lesbian relationship there really isn’t one.

    A look at their voting records—which you can see here —shows that all four candidates are at least marginally progressive on LGBT rights, though all four have offered more platitudes than policy at improving our lot in life. And not a single one of them appears to be galvanizing the support of LGBT Labour voters. This may be why LGBT Labour has said it won’t endorse any candidate.

    Of course, that may also be for strategic and political moves—the group has to work with whomever is elected leader, after all—but I can’t help but wonder if it’s not because they’re all so dreadfully dull, too. Of the four candidates, only Corbyn, who barely garnered enough parliamentary nominations to even make the ballot and who the Parliamentary Labour Party is now scrambling to defeat, seems to be generating any sort of real excitement among the party base.

    I use the word “excitement” loosely, because even those of us supporting Corbyn (which I do, and which you can read more about next week) do so with the most tepid of enthusiasm. He’s no Mhairi Black, with rousing rhetoric and fresh-faced tenacity. But he’s at least offering hope, which can’t be said for the others. While Kendall, Cooper, and Burnham keep talking about what Labour did wrong, about why it lost, and about lessons to be learnt. It’s an important conversation to have, but it’s also incredibly demoralising to a base which desperately needs inspiration and, dare I say, leadership.

    Corbyn offers a bit of that, but questions as to his electability remain, and are certainly worth asking. It’s not just down to his socialist pedigree, either. Jeremy Corbyn is a fine left wing MP, but he’s about as exciting and relevant as Leon Jackson’s latest album. Don’t know who or what I’m talking about? Yeah, exactly.

    Which basically sums up this leadership contest. The one candidate many of us can be passionate about has all the electability and relevance of a Womble, two of them (Cooper and Burnham) are like rocks at Stonehenge—around forever, thick as stone, and mired in the past—while Liz Kendall is basically your mum or dad criticising every choice you’ve ever made.

    None of which inspires confidence in the base, and none of which brings out the passions of supporters. This contest is proving to be as long and drawn out as an EastEnders anniversary plot: annoying, trite, and done before. We can only hope that, despite our lowered expectations, it has a payoff nobody saw coming.

     

    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.

  • Meet Scott Turner Schofield, America’s First Transgender Soap Star

    In 1998, Julie Hesmondhalgh made history playing Coronation Street’s Hayley Cropper, the world’s first regular transgender character on a soap opera. 17 years later, an American soap finally broke that same barrier when The Bold and the Beautiful’s Maya, played by Karla Mosley, was revealed as a trans woman. A couple months later, the soap introduced another trans character, Nick, played by the actor Scott Turner Schofield.

    What makes Schofield’s casting historic is that he is the first openly transgender actor cast in a US soap. Shows such as Loving and All My Children have featured transgender characters, but they were fleeting storylines featuring minor characters played by cis actors.
    The Bold and the Beautiful—seen daily by 35 million people in 100 countries—has taken it to a whole new level. “It’s being told in a way that I have wanted trans stories to be told for over a decade. It is telling a love story, it is telling a family story, it is telling our stories right,” Schofield says. He credits the show’s writers and producers, led by head writer and executive producer Bradley Bell, for consulting with GLAAD and getting the story right. “I can’t tell you how happy I am with the writers and being able to deliver text that is so smart… It’s taking a transgender woman of colour and taking a white transgender man and… opening that whole world up in an inclusive, intelligent, and correct way.”

    Schofield’s character, Nick, debuted in May as a close friend of Maya, whom Schofield describes as the show’s “leading lady.” Since then, he has shared screen time with some of daytime television’s biggest stars, including Thorsten Kaye and Jacob Young, calling them “lovely, lovely men.” Kaye, he says, helped calm his nerves on set, while Young took to Twitter to defend the “love story” being told between his character, Rick, and Maya. “What an ally,” he says of Young.

    But he saves some of his deepest praise for Mosley. Before meeting her, he said she was “of the opinion that only transgender people should play transgender roles.” He asked the producers what Mosley’s reaction had been, to which he says they responded with “how can I possibly do this justice? I have to do this justice,” saying she has researched the role and talked to trans women, including Janet Mock, in an effort to get it right.

    “I have full respect for Karla,” he adds. “She’s a wonderful person, her heart is in the right place, and she knows what she’s doing.”

    Still, he does hope his casting will open the doors for other trans actors on television. “There is a slew” of other trans actors just ready for the big break, he says. “The floodgates are about to open.”

    It’s been an uphill battle for trans actors, including Schofield. Despite the emergence of icons such as Laverne Cox and Caitlyn Jenner, and Schofield’s on praise for his co-star Mosley, the bulk of trans roles still go to cis actors. For Schofield, The Bold and the Beautiful marks his television debut, something he’s been working a decade toward. “I always wanted to be an actor,” he says. “I was the kid who got in front of the TV and pissed off my parents by trying to perform all the time.”

    The pressures of living in a society that often ostracises trans people took a toll, though. “You can become an excellent actor (as a trans person) because you’ve been training your entire life” by being misgendered at birth, “or you can go into a place where you are never yourself,” he says.

    “Because I was transgender, I couldn’t get any roles. I was doing great in my classes. My teachers all said I was a good actor.” But, he adds, casting directors could tell he wasn’t completely being himself. “Coming out as trans and really living my life… is what enabled me to get this role on The Bold and the Beautiful.”

    Though the show is his biggest role to date, it’s not the first time Schofield has been in the limelight. He has produced and starred in two internationally touring one-man shows and given a well-received Ted Talk, each focusing on gender identity and trans experiences. “I like to try to elevate the narrative,” he says, explaining that for him “transition (wasn’t) about me. I knew who I was. I had to transition the world.”
    “I was walking in a world where people were calling me a she when I knew I was a he, and that wasn’t about me. It was about everybody else.”

    His aim is to challenge not only assumptions and misconceptions about trans people but also the social construction of what it means to be a man. “We need to talk about masculinity,” he says. “Coming up there and being a white guy, yet being a white guy that you really need to think about—I think if we thought about being white guys more, if we thought about being men and what that means, that would push us further in society.”

    While his duration on The Bold and the Beautiful is uncertain (Schofield is not under contract), he’s already busy working on his next project. Ze Said/She Said, a web series he created and stars in with his fiancé, Jessica Lynn Johnson, debuted on YouTube last month. Though scripted, he describes it as “the bastard child of reality television and comedy.” Based around their own lives, it’s a romantic comedy featuring a trans Yogi (Schofield) and a cisgender Christian (Johnson).

    Regardless of whether acting for the stage, television, or the internet, Schofield hopes to have a positive influence. With not only his own burgeoning profile but a growing understanding and acceptance of trans people, he has high hopes for the future.

    “I think that people who are kids now won’t have to come out as trans. They will just live into that.”

  • COMMENT | UKIP Deserves No Place At Pride

    I can’t believe I even have to say this, but UKIP is homophobic. That statement should be as obvious as, say, the sky is blue, or Liam is the fittest member of One Direction (sorry not sorry).

    Is every Kipper ready to go out and bash a gay? Of course not. But the party, as a whole, has a storied history of homophobia and transphobia, which Michael Segalov succinctly catalogued at Vice.

    So when it was announced that LGBT in UKIP would join LGBTory, LGBT Labour, and other party queer contingents at Pride in London, there was an understandable and wholly predictable backlash. A petition to prevent them marching was quickly launched, and several prominent individuals, including the veteran equalities campaigner Peter Tatchell, condemned the decision to allow them to participate, telling the Mirror Online “I don’t think it is appropriate for any organisation that opposes gay equality to participate in the Pride London parade.”

    Within days, organisers had reversed their decision, citing safety concerns in rejecting LGBT in UKIP’s participation and stressing the decision was not politically motivated. It’s a move Mr Tatchell called “a cop out” and Flo Lewis, the chair of LGBT in UKIP, denied, telling The Guardian that their petition was not rejected but, rather, their initial invitation was rescinded.

    Whatever the reason, the reaction on social media was almost unanimous, with people across the political spectrum tweeting to express their opposition to Pride in London’s reversal. At first glance, it seems fair enough; no organisation should be banned because their safety cannot be guaranteed. That’s a poor reflection on not just parade organisers but also our community in general. Vodka, not violence, I say. But that doesn’t change UKIP’s horrendous record, both in policy and rhetoric, on LGBT equality. And it doesn’t mean they should be included.

    Pride traditionally takes place in June for a reason. It commemorates the anniversary of the Stonewall Uprising of 28 June 1969, widely viewed as the genesis of the modern gay rights movement in America and from which the UK’s largest LGBT organisation takes its name. Originally, Pride events throughout the Western world were political acts of radical resistance to queer oppression. For years, it was one of the few times that LGBT people could be out and proud and reasonably assured of their safety. It was, if you will, the first public “safe space” for LGBT individuals, rooted in queer and trans liberation.

    For many LGBT people, it still is. Despite the corporatisation of Pride over the past decade, it is still a space that is ultimately about affirming LGBT identities and equality, one that is supposed to be free of judgement, fear, and oppressive politics. How, then, can UKIP—which opposed the introduction of equal marriage, supports the rights of Christian businesses to discriminate against LGBT people, and has more than its fair share of homophobic members—be included in good conscience?

    It can’t.

    And while it’s true that UKIP didn’t even mention LGBT rights in their manifesto, that silence is deafening—and part of the problem. Every other major party did, in one way or another, affirm a commitment to equality. UKIP refused. Instead, they let their party members speak for them. And oh God, did they. Like their candidate who called us “disgusting old poofters.” Or their MEP who said homosexuality is “abnormal and undesirable” as opposed to something to be “celebrated” (which is, you know, the entire point of Pride). Or the time a UKIP candidate claimed we cause floods. The list goes on and on.

    That doesn’t mean there aren’t pro-equality members of UKIP, or that the party isn’t making incremental progress. Richard Hendron, a former PPC, told the Mirror Online that the decision to march in the parade had the “full backing of (UKIP’s) National Executive Committee”. This is welcome news, and might well signal a shift in tone, if not policy. But it’s not enough.

    And it’s not as if LGBT Kippers have been banned from participating in Pride in London. They are just as welcome as anyone else in our community. But their party isn’t. That’s an important distinction. Of course LGBT members of UKIP are welcome. But LGBT in UKIP is not, because the party represents everything that Pride opposes: homophobia, transphobia, marginalisation, and prejudice. The group has refused to call the party on it. So while they can’t march under their party’s banner, the individuals can still participate. And I hope they will.

    But I also hope they’ll go back to UKIP and outwardly and openly challenge their party on its homophobia and transphobia. Change, more often than not, comes from within, and until LGBT in UKIP are willing to challenge the bigotry and hatred within their own ranks, the organisation has no place at Pride. Until they follow in the footsteps of the Stonewall revolutionaries, whom Pride commemorates, they have no place marching alongside those who do.

     

    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.

  • 10 Reasons British Gays Are The Best

    Our colleagues over at NewNowNext recently reignited the 90’s East Coast/West Coast rivalry, fought not over hip hop but homos. While I have nothing but love for American gays (I am one, after all), let’s be real: we all know that British gay men are the best gay men. Here’s just ten reasons why: (more…)

  • Five Things Straight Men Who Sleep With Gay Guys Should Know

    On Monday, New Next Now reported on a straight-identified Redditor who recently hooked up with a gay man. Afterwards, the man finds himself right in the middle of a Sam Smith song; he decides he actually is hetero, but fears the gay man wants to take the relationship to the next level. (more…)