Author: News Desk
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Louis Walsh Axed From X FACTOR?
Has the Irish judge Louis Walsh has been given the shove as Simon Cowell’s desperate revamp to keep viewers tuning in to X FACTOR continues?
Louis has been a fixture on the X FACTOR for eleven years, now in an attempt to shake up the format, Simon Cowell has seemingly axed him according to the Sun On Sunday.
First it was Dermot now Louis. But is Simon Cowell really dumping the right people? Last year we revealed that the majority of viewers thought that Cheryl should be the one to be dropped from the show which has been suffering a decline in audience since its hey day in 2010. Nearly 60% of Heat magazine readers thought that the Geordie pop singer should be let go from the show.
Louis is quoted as saying that he now wants to concentrate on being a music manager again, saying:
“I want to go back to being a manager – that’s my day job and I’ve neglected it for a long time because I’m away so much.
“At the moment, I’m working with Shane Filan – he’s got a new record coming out, and I’m also working with Hometown.
“I’d like to get back to where I started off… I never even wanted to be on TV, it just happened.”
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Record Number Of Gay, Lesbian and Bisexual MPs Voted In
More than 25 openly LGB politicians have gained seats in this parliament. However no trans candidates have been elected.
A record number of openly gay, lesbian and bisexual candidates have been successful in turning their campaigns into seats for parliament. There are over 25 out MPs in the UK now. However no trans candidates managed to win a majority in their constituencies.
Ruth Hunt, Chief Executive, Stonewall:
“We’re encouraged that people took to the polls and voted. More than 25 openly lesbian, gay or bisexual MPs have been elected, making this the largest group of openly LGB MPs elected to date. Our Parliament is richer and stronger for the diversity of voices and experiences within it, however, it is certainly disappointing not to see any openly trans people represented amongst our MPs.
Looking ahead, our MPs cannot forget the manifesto commitments they made to the LGBT community. We must see those words translated into tangible actions. The Conservatives, alongside the Liberal Democrats, have had an impressive track record at Westminster over the last five years, and we look forward to working closely with the new government towards achieving equality for lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people, here and abroad.”
Emily Brothers, Labour’s first out trans candidate lost out in Sutton and Cheam.
Three openly HIV-positive candidates failed to win any seats. Two Lib Dem and one Green candidates who revealed their HIV status in the run up the election lost out in yesterday’s election.
Religious parties who would have looked to undo the rights of gay people in England, Wales and Scotland failed to achieve 7000 votes.
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Luxembourg: Only Gay Prime Minister In The World To Marry?
Luxembourg Prime Minister Xavier Bettel is to wed his partner Gauthier Destenay next week, according to Yahoo News, just a few months after the tiny duchy legalised same-sex marriage.
Bettel, who became prime minister in 2013 at the age of just 40, has said little about his plans in a bid to minimise press coverage in the tiny, conservative and mostly Roman Catholic duchy.
“He does not want to put his private life in the public spotlight and he has turned down requests from the celebrity magazines to cover the event,” one of the sources said.
In August, Bettel said he would marry Destenay, an architect, with whom he has been in a civil union since 2010.
“He asked me and I said ‘yes,’” he told the Los Angeles Times.
Mr Bettel is currently the only out gay Prime Minister in the world, although previously there were Belgium’s Elio Di Rupo and Iceland’s Jóhanna Sigurðardóttir .
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Chris Hemsworth: Massive Penis Is Basically Everything
Thor actor Chris Hemsworth has shown off his rather impressive body and what appears to be an incredibly long schlong in the new trailer for Vacation.
The 31-year-old actor who is currently starring in The Vacation, voted as People Magazine‘s Sexiest Man Alive, is showing off an impressive body and equally impressive member, through his rather thin boxer shorts.
The film is due to be released in the US in July. Warner Bros have yet to announce a date for the UK release.
No word has been released yet on whether the shockingly big outline is actually the actors.
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Religious Political Parties Against Gay Rights Fail To Achieve 7000 Votes
Two political parties that would have would have looked to undo equality for LGBT people in the UK have faired terribly in the UK general elections as fewer than 7,000 people voted in favour of religious based politics.
The Christian People’s Alliance which was staunchly against the redefinition of marriage to include same-sex couples and would have looked to repeal women’s right to choose, by abolishing the 1967 Abortion Act has at time of publish just 3260 votes failing to declare any seats in Parliament.
The Christian Party faired no better with just 3205 votes.
According to the The Christian Party’s website it believes that there is a “homosexual agenda” and a “militant homosexual lobby” and they are alone in “opposing the redefinition of marriage to include civil partnerships”.
The CP would have wanted civil partnerships to be redefined to a civil contract.
On their official website the Christian Party suggest that the “homosexual agenda” is a moving one, which began with the campaign to decriminalise what two people do in the privacy of their own homes, toleration, equality and fairness, coming out and now it believes“, and it is now in the coersion phase; it plans to move on to the paedophilia phase soon”.
Neither party managed to gain any seats in any of the constituencies they were standing for.
Currently, the Conservatives have 325 seats with over 11 million votes, Labour has 228 seats with 9.2 million votes, and Liberal Democrats has 8 seats with 2.3 million seats.
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Gay comedy Vicious coming back to our screens
Ian McKellen, Derek Jacobi and Frances de la Tour return to ITV in the second series of hit comedy Vicious.
The new 6 part series returns viewers back into the boisterous world of Freddie Thornhill (played by Ian McKellen) and Stuart Bixby (played by Derek Jacobi) as we follow more of their adventures and mishaps.
The loving (and bickering) couple of over 50 years soon discover it’s all change amongst their close circle of friends as we catch up with Violet (Frances de la Tour), Ash (Iwan Rheon), Penelope (Marcia Warren) and Mason (Philip Voss).
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Call For New Psychology Standards For LGBT Community
Collaborating counselling psychologists at Regent’s University London, Dr Markus Bidell and Professor Martin Milton, are calling for the development of international lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) psychology and psychotherapy standards.
Both academics say that LGBT people encounter serious mental health disparities that can be critically worsened by discriminatory and prejudicial LGBT policies and human rights violations.
In an international symposium at the British Psychology Society’s (BPS) annual conference in Liverpool over 5-7 May, Dr Bidell and Professor Milton will highlight the psychosocial problems negatively impacting many LGBT individuals, along with the historic and current role of psychologists in addressing LGBT civil rights in the UK and US.
Most significantly, they add, prejudice and discriminatory policies in many countries are directly connected to mental health problems and civil rights violations experienced by many LGBT people.
Dr Bidell explains:
“UK and US psychological organisations have played a defining role in furthering LGBT human rights by supporting professional policies, clinical treatment, research, and training which reject biased perspectives that LGBT people were mentally disordered, immoral, or social deviants.
“Current psychological standards in the US and UK affirm LGBT people have a sexual orientation and gender identity that is normal, healthy, and legitimate.
“These shifts amongst US and UK psychologists have had tremendously positive social, policy, and legal implications for LGBT civil rights, such as same-sex marriage, discrediting conversion therapy, employment protection and transgender equality.
“However, we’ve been shocked by the number of international psychologists who’s thinking is not just outdated in this area, but extremely damaging to LGBT people. By creating an international set of LGBT psychological standards we hope to strengthen and advance equality, public policy, and human rights for LGBT across nations.”
Professor Milton adds:
“The psychology standards we are proposing mirror the very best research, treatment and training available. Our goal is to create an established code of LGBT affirmative psychology, which will strengthen LGBT equality in our countries and advance similar types of LGBT civil rights and public policy advancements in countries that still criminalise and pathologise LGBT people.”
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NYC Hotelier: “Gays Are Cheap”, “Gays Are Entitled”
A gay hotelier who was slammed last week after hosting an anti-gay Republican Senator has hit out at the gay community, calling them “entitled” and cheap, complaining that his venture the Out NYC hasn’t yet shown a profit.
Speaking to New York Magazine, Ian Reisner, was talking about how hard he has found it making profit from the gay community. Last Monday a rally was organised outside his New York hotel The Out, after he controversially hosted a reception for Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who has opposed marriage equality, protecting LGBTs from discrimination and banning conversion therapy.
Reisner said that he wanted to invite everyone at the boycott in for an open dialogue, however the police and security suggested that he didn’t.
Speaking about hosting Mr Cruz, Reisner took to Facebook to say:
“…I made a terrible mistake.
“I was ignorant, naive and much too quick in accepting a request to co-host a dinner with Cruz at my home without taking the time to completely understand all of his positions on gay rights.
“I will try my best to make up for my poor judgement. Again, I am deeply sorry.”
However in his latest interview with New York Magazine speaking about the incident out side his Hotel he said,
“You know, it’s so ironic — I wanted to build kind of a community center in the gateway to Hell’s Kitchen, which in 2008–2009 was already a gay place and now it’s even gayer.
“Very close to Broadway. We decided there’d be so many different ways to give back to the community. We show gay artists there.
“For gay performers, we have let this cabaret club go on for three and a half years. And you don’t make money when you let drag queens in on Tuesday night and 30 people drink at $10 a drink and you have to pay five people to watch over the place.
“You don’t make money … My only point is, this has not been a profitable venture. Gays are cheap. They’re frugal; gays are frugal. Let me retract that … gays are entitled …
“Do you know how challenging it is to make a penny off a gay person? ‘I’m gay, I don’t pay cover. I’m gay, where’s my comp drink?’ [Everyone laughs.]
No, I’m being serious! The Out NYC has not shown a profit yet …
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UK YouTube Sensation Georgie Comes Out As Gay
UK based Vlogger Georgie, 16, has officially come out on YouTube on his one year anniversary of Vlogging in a video called simply, Coming Out.
During his 12-minute video, Georgie talks about his experience of coming out at school and the bullying he was subjected to. His torments were so bad after the news spread around his school, he said he had to get changed for PE/gym class, at a separate time from the rest of his male classmates and had to be escorted to the changing rooms by a teacher.
He posted the video along with this message:
“This video is in honor(sic) of my Channelversary, some of you may’ve known and some not. This was a very hard video for me to post, I’m not sad in this because I can now say that i’m happy and confident with who I am, I hope this helps some of you who are going through the same thing or something similar, just remember that you’re never alone. I hope you still support me, love you always x”
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ISIS Execute “Gay” Man By Stoning As He Lays Defenceless On Ground
Islamic State fighters have reportedly thrown another man, accused of being gay, off a building and stoned him to death after he survived the fall.
The campaigning group Raqqa is Being Slaughtered Silently, a Syrian-based campaign against ISIS and the Assad regime, have reported that a man accused of being gay was thrown from a building in Iraq and stoned on the ground after surviving the fall.
A crowd on the ground watched as a number of masked men, some of whom were pointing assault rifles at the victim, threw the man from a two storey building, a fall that would not have resulted in his death, but one that would have resulted in painful injuries.
One of the photos published shows the man mid-fall from the building, as up to eleven men are seen on top of the building. One of the men is flying a flag apparently bearing the symbol of ISIS. Meanwhile, a photo shows a large crowd of spectators, including children, watching the entire execution.
Homosexuality is forbidden under Islamic State. Men who are accused of homosexuality are often thrown from building tops, before being stoned to death as they lay defenceless on the ground from injuries sustained by the fall.
The pictures surfaced less than a month after two men were hugged by ISIS fighters before being put to death in Homs, in Syria.
