THEGAYUK

Author: News Desk

  • Owen Jones “absolutely gloating” over Katie Hopkins LBC departure

    Owen Jones has confirmed that he is celebrating that LBC and Katie Hopkins have parted company.

    What does Owen Jones think about Katie Hopkins
    Owen Jones celebrates the departure of Katie Hopkins from radio station LBC

    Following the news that Katie Hopkins will no longer be on the presenting roster of radio station LBC, Owen Jones that has made it clear that he’s “absolutely gloating over Katie Hopkins’ sacking”.

    Katie Hopkins has not yet spoken about her removal from service and it has not been confirmed that Ms Hopkins has been fired or sacked.

    The move to remove Hopkins from the LBC schedule follows on from a boycott call from Guardian writer, Owen Jones, who suggested that guests who contribute to the station should withdraw their services until the station removed Hopkins from its roster of presenters.

    Following the suicide bombing in Manchester on Monday, Katie Hopkins sent a series of tweets from her Twitter account, after a number of terror-related incidents were reported after the fatal attack on Manchester Arena. In one tweet she questioned whether it was “Ramadan” and called upon “Western men” to “stand up, demand action” and not to carry on as normal.

    Taking to Twitter Mr Jones said, “we stood against hatred, and, this time, we won”.

    He added that no one should try and say that the departure of Ms Hopkins should be seen as an “attack on free speech” as Ms Hopkins could “keep freely spouting her hatred, and tragically will”,

     

     

     

     

  • Katie Hopkins leaves LBC with immediate effect

    Katie Hopkins and the radio station LBC have parted company.

    LBC and Katie Hopkins part ways
    LBC and Katie Hopkins part ways. The departure was announced by LBC via Twitter

    “Effective Immediately” reads a Tweet from LBC’s official account as the station announces that controversial host, Katie Hopkins will no longer work for the station.

    The move follows on from a boycott call from Guardian writer, Owen Jones, who suggested that guests who contribute to the station should withdraw their services until the station removed Hopkins from its roster of presenters.

    Following the suicide bombing in Manchester on Monday, Katie Hopkins sent a series of tweets from her Twitter account, after a number of terror-related incidents were reported after the fatal attack on Manchester Arena. In one tweet she questioned whether it was “Ramadan” yet and called upon “Western men” to “stand up, demand action” and not to carry on as normal.

    She went on to say that she accepted the criticism levelled against her and called her critics “eunuchs”. She tweeted,

    “This is your response to slaughter 1) attack hopkins 2) say you stand united 3) celebrate diversity”

    Taking to Twitter Mr Jones said, “we stood against hatred, and, this time, we won”.

    He added that no one should try and say that the departure of Ms Hopkins should be seen as an “attack on free speech” as Ms Hopkins could “can keep freely spouting her hatred, and tragically will”,

     

    Ms Hopkins has not responded and THEGAYUK reached out to her for comment.

     

  • Boy George calls for bomb making instructions to be removed from internet

    Boy George has called for the removal of bomb-making instructions to be razed from the internet following Monday night’s catastrophic suicide attack in Manchester.

    Singer Boy George has called for “zero tolerance” at entry level and the removal of bomb making info from the internet. His calls come after 22 people were killed and over 100 injured at an Ariana Grande concert on Monday night in Manchester.

    He said,

    ‘Time to remove bomb making info from the internet and time for zero tolerance at every level’

    His fans were quick to reply – leaving the star besieged with responses. He answered with a simple,

    ‘I love you and that’s all you need to know!’

    Meanwhile, Ariana Grande has returned to the US and has suspended the rest of her European dates with her promoters saying,

    “We ask at this time that we all continue to support the city of Manchester and all those families affected by this cowardice and senseless violence. Our way of life has once again been threatened but we will overcome this together. Thank you.”

    She had been scheduled to perform two dates at the London o2, but these were cancelled. Many fans pleaded with the venue to cancel the shows so that Ariana would have time to “heal” and not feel obliqued to sing for them.

     

     

     

     

     

  • Gay Sporting Icon and Olympic Gold Medallist Honoured With Blue Plaque

    Gay Sporting Icon and Olympic Gold Medallist Honoured With Blue Plaque

    One man’s determination to revive the reputation of a gay sporting icon and Olympic gold medallist has paid off with the news that the forgotten hero is to be honoured by a prestigious Blue Plaque.

    In 1976, Birmingham-born John Curry made figure skating history at the Winter Olympics taking home two gold medals for team GB and becoming a sporting hero, winning BBC Sports Personality of the Year. But in the years that followed, Curry slowly slipped out of the public consciousness after he was famously ‘outed’ in the German tabloid press, and his untimely death in 1994 left a generation completely unaware of his achievements.

    Actor and writer Tony Timberlake embarked on a personal journey to change this, first through his one-man show, Looking for John, which premiered at Birmingham Repertory Theatre last November and secondly by nominating John Curry, with the support of The REP Theatre to be honoured with a Blue Plaque in his home city.

    The Lord Mayor of Birmingham, Cllr Carl Rice and John Curry’s brother, Andrew, unveiled the Blue Plaque, awarded by Birmingham Civic Society, in honour of John’s achievements on Monday, May 15th. John grew up in Acocks Green, Birmingham and the plaque will feature on the house where he was born at 946 Warwick Road, now Arden Lodge Residential Home.

    Tony Timberlake said.

    “Getting recognition for John Curry has been a labour of love. Watching him win Olympic gold forty years ago had a huge impact on me as a youngster and it’s never left me. My play Looking for John made me think about John’s legacy – how he changed the world of figure skating and how he never denied who he was in his personal life. I felt he deserved to be remembered and celebrated again in the city where he was born and then died. I’m thrilled that John Curry will be celebrated once more and remembered forever in this way.”

    John Curry OBE (1949 – 1994) was a world champion ice skater and gold medal winner at the 1976 Winter Olympic Games. He was born in Acocks Green and first learnt to skate at Solihull Ice Rink.

    Gavin Orton, Chairman of Birmingham Civic Society said,

    “Towards the end of last year the Society received a nomination from Tony Timberlake and the Birmingham Rep for a Blue Plaque to John Curry.  The REP were about to premiere a play, Looking for John, directed by Tessa Walker, an Associate Director at The REP, and written and performed by the actor, Tony Timberlake. This nomination was supported by the Lord Mayor and we are delighted to be honouring John’s achievements today.”

    The Birmingham Civic Society has been responsible for erecting Blue Plaques in the city since 1953 and there are currently over 80 around the city.  The society receives several nominations every year and there’s currently a waiting list of over 20 years. To be honoured with a Blue Plaque, a person must have been born, lived or worked in the city and have achieved greatness, by, for example, making a significant contribution to their community or by excelling in their career.

    Tony Timberlake’s play – Looking for John will be at The Assembly, Edinburgh as part of the 2017 Edinburgh Fringe from 3 – 20 August 2017.

  • University of Leicester academic co-curates special exhibition on Joe Orton

    University of Leicester academic co-curates special exhibition on Joe Orton

    The new National Justice Museum launches its first crowdfunding campaign for exhibition exploring role of crime in Joe Orton’s life and work
    The National Justice Museum has launched its first-ever crowdfunding campaign to celebrate the work of Leicester playwright, Joe Orton.
    The museum is hoping to raise £10,000 as part of an Art Happens campaign, hosted by national charity Art Fund, to help create a special exhibition – featuring archival materials provided by the University of Leicester – and exploring for the first time the fascinating role of crime in Joe Orton’s life and work.

    Titled Crimes of Passion: The Story of Joe Orton, the exhibition will mark the 50th anniversary of Orton’s death and the 50th anniversary of the decriminalisation of homosexuality.

    The exhibition is co-curated by the renowned Orton academic at the University of Leicester, Dr Emma Parker.

    Dr Parker, of the School of Arts, said,

    “This exhibition will examine, for the first time, crimes committed by and against Orton alongside Orton’s treatment of crime in his plays. It offers a valuable insight into shifting conceptions of social justice.”

    Orton was born in Leicester in 1933 and after winning a scholarship to RADA in 1951, he met Kenneth Halliwell, an actor and writer seven years his senior. Halliwell would become Orton’s friend, mentor, partner and eventually his murderer. Throughout his life, Orton wrote many acclaimed plays including: Entertaining Mr. Sloane, Loot and What the Butler Saw.

    The exhibition will pay homage to Joe Orton’s principle format of work – plays and will feature objects on loan from the University of Leicester’s Orton Archive [1], including archival material and the Morocco diary.

    Artist (and Orton’s nephew) David Lock, will also be commissioned to create new artwork and a large-scale collage inspired by the one that lined the walls of Orton’s and Halliwell’s bedsit in London which featured images stolen from library books.

    Donations for the museum’s Art Happens campaign, start at just £5 and donors can take away a selection of limited edition rewards; from badges and tote bags, to prints and original artwork from artist David Lock.

    Tim Desmond, Chief Executive of the National Justice Museum said,

    “We’re excited to launch our first ever crowdfunding campaign with Art Happens. Joe Orton is a gay icon and a working-class hero from the East Midlands and we hope to bring focus to his life and work through the themes of crime and punishment as part of a new special exhibition. It is important to us that the 50th anniversaries of Joe’s death and the decriminalisation of homosexuality are recognised as part of our programme of public learning as to how the law can and does more to protect fundamental but neglected personal rights.”

    Donations can be made via the National Justice Museum’s Art Happens page: www.artfund.org/joe-orton [2]

  • THEGAYUK moves to make website more secure with encrypted connection

    THEGAYUK has become the first LGBT+ outlet in the UK to move its entire website to a secure and encrypted connection.

    © belchonock Depositphotos

    Following in the footsteps of some of the UK’s largest news outlets THEGAYUK has followed “best practice” by moving its entire site from an HTTP to an HTTPS connection. This means that content served on THEGAYUK.com is now encrypted, by default.

    The move is just one of a series of improvements made to THEGAYUK.com since it’s inception in 2012. The process of moving from its original site started in February 2016 and has taken over a year of hard work to complete.

    THEGAYUK’s editor in chief, Jake Hook said,

    “It is really important for us that users of our services including the shop, chat services and our news site feel safe whilst using it. We’ve still got more improvement to announce, but I’m pleased that we’re the UK’s first LGBT outlet to secure our connection, ensuring our users’ experience of the site is encrypted and their privacy protected

    We’re very proud to bring our users and readers and safer browsing experience”.

    You can tell which sites use SSL technology when you visit them by looking at the URL bar. It should show the URL as a https:// and if you’re using a Chrome browser the word “secure” will appear.

     

     

     

     

  • How gay friendly is Paul Nuttall’s UKIP manifesto?

    UKIP has just released its GE2017 manifesto, so we’re delved into the paperwork to find out what UKIP have promised and pledged to the LGBT+ community of the United Kingdom.

    how gay friendly is UKIP

    In the manifesto, the term LGBT was mentioned once, in which Flo Lewis, the party’s LGBT chair, said,

    “Those of us who identify as lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender may have first hand experience of how misogynistic and homophobic attitudes are tolerated in the name of ‘respecting cultural differences.’ It is important to stand up for true equality in the face of those who would dismiss it.”

    So down to specifics:

    On education: UKIP will end sex education in primary schools. Will look into whether further legislation is required to tackle cyber bullying.

    On health: Nothing specific to LGBT+ community, but promised to increase funding for mental health. Will also hold a review into editorial codes of the media, to promote “healthy body images”.

    On politics: UKIP pledge to test the social attitudes of those who are seeking to immigrate to the UK. They wrote,

    “…we do not believe in treating women or gay people as second-class citizens, and we hold to a fundamental belief in democracy and free speech. UKIP’s points-based immigration system will therefore include one further major principle: we will test the social attitudes of migration applicants to foster community cohesion and protect core British values”.

    UKIP also will repeal Labour’s Human Rights legislation and remove the UK from the jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights”. They will replace with a new UK Bill of rights.

    On crime: Nothing specific to LGBT+ community.

    On the world stage: Nothing specific to the LGBT+ community

     

  • Our travel editor unveils epic unpacking hack

    So our Travel Ed, Nick Baker, just knocked it out of the park with his unpacking GAME.

    We hate packing, but we also hate unpacking too. In one way it’s nice to fill a new wardrobe with your bits and pieces – so you can see them clearly, but it’s the repacking malarky that really is bothersome.

    Our travel Editor, Nick, just gave us packing goals…

    Watch and learn… you know you want one…

     

     

  • Mariah Carey just did the most amazing thing for Martyn Hett

    Mariah Carey has done something truly incredible for Martyn.

    © s_bukley Depositphotos

    It’s fair to say that Martyn was a huge Mariah Carey fan, even on his profile he wrote that his “life peaked” when he met Mariah Carey. Well, the songstress has paid tribute to him in a loving Instagram post.

    The “Hero” singer said that she was “devastated” to hear that Martyn had passed away. She said that his memory would be “cherished forever”.

    Taking to social media, Martyn’s brother joked, “I was a little dubious about Martyn’s recent bold social media move, but it worked”.

    https://twitter.com/danhett/status/867635741123379200

     

    RIP Martyn.

  • Martyn Hett lights up the internet after friends and family pay tribute

    Martyn Hett “would be f**king loving this”.

    https://twitter.com/danhett/status/867348945185460225

    This is the simple emotional Tweet sent by Martyn’s brother, Dan Hett and it says it all.

    All day Martyn Hett’s name trended on Twitter after it was revealed that he was one of the 22 fatalities of the Manchester bombing on Monday night.

    Martyn didn’t just trend in the UK, but worldwide his name sat above that of Pope Francis. Martyn was a well-loved figure from Manchester’s LGBT community and yesterday many people took to social media to express their sadness, memories and loss.

    Here’s just a little of the love that was shown for Martyn as the devastating loss was announced on social media.

    https://twitter.com/HadleyFreeman/status/867368997188235264

     

     

    https://twitter.com/MrShaneReaction/status/867352563095621632

    https://twitter.com/BListAtCapital/status/867338970904047616

    https://twitter.com/thatssolagun/status/867670247985360897

     

  • Nick Griffin has a theory about why the Manchester suicide bomber did what he did

    A deliberate homophobic attack? Asks the former leader of the British National Party.

    Embed from Getty Images

    Nick Griffin has questioned why no has pointed out that Monday night’s attack on an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester could have been a homophobically motivated attack and suggested that Ms Grande’s gig was a “fag hag” gig.

    He correctly asserted that Ariana Grande is an LGBT+ rights advocate but seemingly turned the conservation to immigration, when he said that “open borders have consequences”, despite Monday night’s attacker being born and raised in Manchester, UK.

    He also asserted that “many Muslims” would see the gig as a “fag hag” gig and blowing it up would be akin to throwing gay men off buildings.

    In two tweets, Mr Griffin, who now describes himself as the Vice President of the Alliance for Peace & Freedom. National revolutionary strategist (and white rights figher) said,

    “Why has no one pointed out that could well have been deliberate attack? AG is renowned gay rights advocate

    “Blowing up what many Muslims would see as a ‘faghag’ gig is in same line as throwing gays off buildings. have consequences!