As you might know, today is the Trans Day of Visibility and Ash P, from Warwickshire, has created this touching video entitled Invisible Boy as a personal story video.
Enjoy.
To celebrate its 25th birthday, GMFA has launched a fundraising appeal to raise £25,000 to invest in its future.
The charity was started 25 years ago, in 1992, by a group of gay men who saw that there was a lack of resources specifically for people like themselves. Since its inception, it has tirelessly worked to bring awareness about the sexual health issues facing gay and bisexual men in the UK.
It even produced one of the sauciest magazines available in the UK, FS magazine, which was distributed amongst London’s gay bars.
Ian Howley, Chief executive of GMFA says,
“Over the last 25 years, GMFA has been at the forefront of innovated measures of HIV prevention. Since 1992, GMFA has provided frank and honest information about HIV, STI and safer sex. We’ve also supported gay men living with HIV and led with powerful HIV stigma campaigns. We reach over 1.5 million people through our website alone. Our campaigns have a social reach of over 4 million. And our FS magazine is leading the way by highlighting issues that gay men face on a daily basis.”
Despite the important role that GMFA plays in the sexual health arena, it receives no statutory funding.
Ian continues,
“The future of GMFA is uncertain, but we believe that we are the best in this sector to help gay men take control of their own lives. And we do this as five men sitting in an office with the help and support of our volunteers and donors”.
In 2013 the charity had its funding cut from the Pan-London HIV Prevention Programme, which was funded by the NHS. The cuts came at a time when new HIV infections amongst gay men were at an all time high. Higher than the levels recorded in the 1980s.
Donate to the GMFA25 appeal: https://www.gmfa.org.uk/appeal/gmfa25-appeal
Donate by text: GMFA25 £10 to 70070
TV star Daniel Newman has uploaded a video to YouTube coming out as gay to his fans. The Walking Dead actor said that he now realised that it was important to be “visible” in this day and age.
The video has been watched by over 23,000 in just one day.
The powerful video features a “rainbow” of LGBT+ faces and TV stars, Tituss Burgess, Laverne Cox and Candis Cayne.
Gorgeous, just gorgeous.
You can download the single here
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/x5gtl41
Get ready for the most epic battle this summer.
In War for the Planet of the Apes, the third chapter of the critically acclaimed blockbuster franchise, Caesar and his apes are forced into a deadly conflict with an army of humans led by a ruthless Colonel. After the apes suffer unimaginable losses, Caesar wrestles with his darker instincts and begins his own mythic quest to avenge his kind. As the journey finally brings them face to face, Caesar and the Colonel are pitted against each other in an epic battle that will determine the fate of both their species and the future of the planet.
Matt Reeves is once again in the director’s chair and the film is set to be released in the US and UK on 14 July.
Discuss this movie and more in our movie club.
The US’s 2020 Census will not include a question which allows people to identify their sexuality or gender identity. This means that no or very little LGBT data will be collected about the community, effectively erasing them from the history books.
It could also have an impact on how the US government writes its laws and appropriately funds programmes which affect the LGBT community. The National LGBTQ Task Force has said, “We’ve Been Erased from the US Census and American Community Survey” and called it “another attack on LGBTQ people’s freedom, justice, and equity”.
Meghan Maury, Criminal and Economic Justice Project Director, National LGBTQ Task Force said,
“Today, the Trump Administration has taken yet another step to deny LGBTQ people freedom, justice, and equity, by choosing to exclude us from the 2020 Census and American Community Survey. LGBTQ people are not counted on the Census—no data is collected on sexual orientation or gender identity. Information from these surveys helps the government to enforce federal laws like the Violence Against Women Act and the Fair Housing Act and to determine how to allocate resources like housing supports and food stamps. If the government doesn’t know how many LGBTQ people live in a community, how can it do its job to ensure we’re getting fair and adequate access to the rights, protections and services we need?”
The National LGBTQ Task Force have started a petition demanding for the LGBT+ community to be counted and support the collection of sexual orientation and gender identity information in the Census, in the American Community Survey, in the National Survey of Older Americans Act Participants, and the Centers for Independent Living’s Annual Program Performance Report.
The move comes on the back of the White House’s official sites removing all traces of LGBT policy.
From Friday 31st, trans customers of HSBC will be able to choose from 10 gender titles including, Mx, Ind, M, Mre, Msr, Myr, Pr, Sai, Ser and Misc instead of the binary Mr or Ms. The bank has also pledged to train all its branch and contact centre staff to be more trans-inclusive and aware.
The decision to offer customers a wider range of options coincides with International Transgender Day of Visibility.
HSBC UK has also introduced a process which makes it simpler for customers who are transitioning to change their gender on their bank account. Customers simply need to bring a passport, driving licence or birth certificate that supports the change of gender to update their details in a branch. This has been supported by training for all branch and contact centre staff that aims at helping HSBC UK employees understand the issues experienced by transgender customers.
This has been supported by training for all branch and contact centre staff that aims at helping HSBC UK employees understand the issues experienced by transgender customers.
The changes were developed in tandem with HSBC Pride, the bank’s LGBT+ employee network, which played a key advisory role in ensuring the new services reflect the financial needs of the trans community.
Stuart Barette, Senior Project Manager and Trans Lead of HSBC UK Pride Network said,
“On the day that I went into the branch to change my name and my gender I was terrified, to be honest. Coming out to anyone is difficult, as you don’t know people are going to react. That’s why the changes we’ve been making are so important so that our trans customers can feel confident that they’re going to have a good experience and be speaking with someone who has been trained to better understand them.”
Stuart Haire, HSBC’s Head of Retail, UK commented,
“The changes announced today are part of a broader priority for us to ensure our products and services are relevant for the unique financial needs of all of our customers. We want everyone to be able to access simple and smart banking solutions that work for them, and we will continue working with our LGBT+ colleagues and customers to ensure we’re getting it right.”
Molly Moggs has become the latest LGBT venue to close its doors. It’s not known why the bar has closed, according to sources even staff members are shocked at the sudden closure of the ever popular bar.
A note on its Facebook page told fans,
“Unfortunately today we say goodbye to the Molly Moggs that we’ve all loved for many years.
“We can’t thank our loyal customers and our new customers enough for sticking with us through the thick and thin and making it such a valuable part of Soho.
“Who knows what the future holds for good old Molly’s but for now ‘there will be no singing drag queens at Molly Moggs.
“Once again, thank you from all of us. The queens, the management, the staff and the owners.”
In 2015 the pub’s lease went up for sale for £275,000, with only 20 years left on its lease. Molly Moggs is set in a listed building so only the leasehold is available to purchase and it is likely to remain a pub because of the licensing conditions, this is not a guarantee that it will remain a gay venue once new owners are found.
web img
Now, people, you can plant a tree for every internet search that you do… That Tom Daley bulge search you just did could have planted a brand spanking new tree. Yep. Feel good about yourself before the self-loathing from that search kicks in.
So far, here in the editorial department, we’ve planted 108 trees. Not bad going, considering we’ve not left our desks for 14 days.
Search company behind the tree planting, Escosia, are vowing to plant a tree for every search that you do with their company. According to their stats, Ecosia funds the planting of a new tree roughly every 11 to 16 seconds. They funded the planting of over seven million trees already.
You even get a little counter at the top of your browser showing how many trees you’ve helped to plant.
So why are they doing this? Well, they have this to say about trees:
“In short: Trees are the superheroes of the planet. The positive effects they can have on their environment and the people living in it are as versatile as the different shapes they come in.
“Of course planting trees is excellent for the environment. After all, trees are the most efficient CO2 absorbers on the planet. Trees help mitigate climate change, restart water cycles, keep deserts from spreading and turn barren grounds back into fertile woods and farmland.
“So by planting a tree, you can fight climate change, restore landscapes, protect wildlife, provide nutrition, employment, education, medical assistance and political as well as economic stability. Mind-boggling, isn’t it?”
Fair enough.
NKDTraining, the UK’s first all-male naked workout has a new group session booked, for the 2nd of April at The Gym Clinic in Chiswick, west London. Speaking about the group, Paul, who founded the class, writes,
“This is a group training session for men in West London. We usually get between 10 and 20 guys for our group sessions. You’ll get a structured fitness class designed to give you a fun but challenging workout. Sunday afternoons at 4pm.”
So what is naked training like? Well, according to the website it’s all about being “free from the restrictions of clothes” and to be more “in tune” with our bodies.
Speaking to THEGAYUK.com Paul spoke about the benefits of naked training from a personal trainer’s perspective,
“As a trainer, there are a lot of benefits. I can see more of the muscles that are working and I can see if there’s an imbalance, say when they’re doing a chest press. You don’t just see the bar moving, you see the muscles that are working, the ones that aren’t and the ones that should be. And it builds a bond, being naked. I don’t know how to explain it.”
We were so curious, we sent our very own Nick Baker to a class to try it out. What did he think?
“It was definitely a unique experience for me, but one that I really wanted try. Not so much to see hot naked guys (again, yes there are plenty of them there) but to come more to terms with my own nakedness. Gay men are often plagued with insecurities about our bodies and the act of stripping off completely in a bold attempt to better yourself takes balls and not just the ones on display.”
So what are the class requirements? Well, every participant needs a towel and for health and safety footwear must be worn. You’ll also need to fill out a Physical Activity Readiness Questionnaire before the class.
Find out more about the class here.
Gage Vye-Parminter, 18, of Breydon Walk, and Matthew Howes, 19, of Weald Drive, were both originally jailed for five years in a young offender institution for the homophobic attack on two men in Brighton last year. They admitted GHB and assault on two men in the city’s centre. They were ordered to pay a £170 victim surcharge.
The youngest of the two victims suffered fractured eye sockets, nose and cheekbones. Pictures of the victims shocked the community last year after news of the attack made its way onto social media.
However, their sentences have been increased to seven years after the Government’s Solicitor General Robert Buckland challenged the “unduly lenient” sentence. The court agreed to extend the time to reflect that it was a hate crime.
Speaking after the hearing, Mr Buckland QC said,
“This vicious attack was totally unprovoked and has left the victims with long-term emotional and physical scars. It will take the victims a considerable amount of time to recover from this.
“I thought the sentence was unduly lenient as it failed to adequately take into account that this attack was motivated by hate.
“I hope the court’s decision to impose a longer prison sentence, to include the sentence uplift, sends a clear message to society that such offences will not be tolerated.”