THEGAYUK

Author: News Desk

  • LGBT tourism to reach $200 BILLION in 2014

    Tourism is on the rebound according to experts, who expect the LGBT spend on travel and tourism to rebound to a staggering $200 BILLION in 2014.

    BIG SPENDERS

    The outlook is good especially for those who are gearing their marketing and products towards the LGBT community, as the collective spend is believed to be in excess of $200 billion (£120 billion).

    The latest findings from the Out Now market research group suggest that the top markets for tourism were: Europe (USD$66.1 billion) USA (USD$56.5 billion) and Brazil (USD$25.3 billion).

    In terms of most sort after destinations France led the way by more than 6%, the LGBT2020 Research found.

    ALL SIGNS POINT TO FRANCE

    Founder of the The Villages Group Rainbow in France, Danny Silver said:

    “France is the ultimate destination for the LGBT community. Having lived here for many yearsnow I have seen the progress which has been made in transforming the nation into a LGBT-friendly destination; the legalization of gay marriage last year was a significant step in the right direction and with Paris hosting the Gay Games in 2018, I can only see LGBT tourism to France going one way – up!

    “Indeed for older members of the LGBT community, often more concerned with cultural and safety issues in other destinations, France offers a truly welcoming atmosphere with numerous gay-friendly restaurants, bars, beaches and accommodation choices such as our project, The Villages Group Rainbow located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of SW France.’

    France was highly rated in last year’s ILGA Rainbow Map, which measures how LGBT friendly each country is in Europe. It was given a rating of 65%, which is shared with Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.

  • There have been a large number of arrests made since the start of Sochi Olympics

    The winter Olympics have kicked off in Sochi and so has the heavy weight of the anti-gay propaganda laws with over 60 arrests having been made since the opening of the games.

    With the world watching it seems the perfect time for human rights activists to stand up and say ‘enough is enough Russia, we won’t be silent any longer.’ However, this is coming at a great price according to The New York Times who reports that 61 people since Friday have been arrested for doing just this.

    It’s not just new Russian laws protesters are angry at but also the Olympics Committee themselves for allowing the Olympics to go ahead in a country with outrageous human rights violations and homophobia. Many protesters have taken to using the Principle 6 slogan which comes from the Olympic Charter which states: Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

  • Google adopts gay rainbow doodle in response to Olympics

    Google have joined the growing number of corporations that are speaking out against the anti-gay situation in Russia on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

    Famous for its Google Doodles, the web giant has created a rainbow flag out of its logo. The rainbow flag is most famous for its use within the LGBT community.
    Below the logo, the company has added part of the Olympic charter that reads:”The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

    When users click on the google doodle, users are taken to a search that includes the Olympic charter.

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has come under strong criticism since awarding Russia, with its terrible gay rights abuses, the Winter Olympics, in Sochi, which are due to begin today.

    Yesterday Channel 4 in the UK launched a video which supports gay rights within the Olympics. Whilst earlier in the week telecoms giant AT&T became the first major Olympic team sponsor to publicly condemn Russia’s anti-gay laws.

    TheGayUK released its findings this week that shows the potential true cost to companies that have commercially supported the Olympics.

  • A Topless Gary Lucy Looks Hot As Ever

    A Topless Gary Lucy Looks Hot As Ever

    So at the beginning of the year / end of 2013 we saw Danny and Johnny (Sam Strike) have a quick kiss, now Shelley is on the war path – but Gary Lucy still looks amazing!

    (more…)

  • Irish Eurovision singer comes out as gay

    Irish hunk and Ireland’s representative in the 2013 Eurovision, Ryan Dolan has come out

    During an interview on Irish radio, the Eurovision hunk and “Only Love Survives” singer Ryan Dolan came out. You can hear the interview here

    Here’s what he said:

    COMING OUT
    It was only when I was 21, really that my whole family found about it. The first person I ever told was my older sister, and that was when I was 14. And then I just gradually told other people in my family afterwards. My father was the last person I told because I was afraid about what he would think – but he actually took it better than anyone I told. It was actually my mother that told him, because I was so afraid, on my 21st birthday. He just texted me and told me that it didn’t make one difference to him.

    My father was the I last person to find out because I was afraid of what he would think. I think he actually took it the better than anyone I told. I couldn’t ask for better parents, they’ve been great to me my whole life.

    DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE
    Thinking back now I wish I would have came out about it a long time ago. I think my youth was wasted worrying all the time about it. If I had been more open back then I would have been happier.

    I really did struggle growing up with that in my head and wondering how people would take it. I really got depressed about it for years. I did contemplate suicide. I never attempted suicide, but it was always a thought in my mind. I know depression can be hereditary, and I know it’s in my family. Over the last five years I’ve lost two uncles and an auntie to suicide – all on the one side of my family – my mum’s side.

    COULDN’T BE HAPPIER
    Now I’m completely happy, the last few years have been the happiest of my life since every one in my family knew. My life changed and the weight of all that stress lifted off my shoulders. Having dealt with it for all those years, it went away.

    YOUNG GAY PEOPLE TODAY
    It’s not a big deal anymore. Things have changed compared to even when I was in school. Young people are coming out now at 15 or 16 which would never have happened when I was at school.

    There’s parents who might have an inkling there’s something different about their son or daughter. Maybe just ask them, and they don’t have to go through the pressure of coming out and saying the words.

    NEW MUSIC
    I wanted to write a song about myself growing up, which is how [Start Again] came about. The idea of the video is basically about two young boys in school, who know they’re gay. Everyone needs to love their life being who they are, who they really are and not to hide their feelings and things like that. I think it’s got a great message

  • GMFA calls for HPV jab for 357000 secondary school boys

    Sexual Health Charity GMFA have called on the UK Government to provide a HPV Vaccination to 367,000 12-year-old boys in the hope of protecting them against HPV-Related Cancers

    · HPV infection in men is associated with up to 90% of anal cancers, 60% of penile cancers, and 75% of tonsillar and base-of-tongue cancers.
    · A massive 64% of parents surveyed in a YouGov poll agreed that boys should be offered the HPV vaccine.

    GMFA, one of the biggest sexual health charities in the UK and HPV Action has called upon the government to offer boys HPV Jabs – which will protect them against HPV-Related cancers – such as anal cancer.

    Girls in the UK are already vaccinated.

    GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT FAST
    HPV Action, a coalition of 25 patient and professional organisations, says, “The Government should act immediately to end the serious future health risks facing boys from some of the UK’s fastest growing cancers.” HPV is commonly known to be the primary cause of cervical cancer in women, but it is also a real and rapidly growing health threat to UK men and especially to gay men.

    VACCINE MOST EFFECTIVE
    Matthew Hodson, Chief Executive of GMFA, adds: “GMFA supports HPV Action’s call for HPV vaccination to be universal. The vaccine is most effective when it is given to pre-adolescents, before the age when most young gay men feel able to be open about their sexuality, even if they have accepted it. The current policy of providing the vaccination to young girls but not to young boys may help prevent heterosexual men from getting HPV sexually but provides no protection for gay men and only limited protection for bisexual men. Gay men are more likely to acquire sexually transmitted infections, including HPV, and so the current policy amplifies existing health inequalities and contributes to the high prevalence of cancers within the gay population.”

    CANCER
    In 2012 HPV accounted for 40,392 new cases – a 15% increase since 2003 of genital warts. In men HPV is associated with up to 90% of anal cancer, 60% of penile cancers and 75% of tonsillar and base-of-tongue cancers.
    Tristan Almada, who co-founded The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation after losing his mother to HPV-related anal cancer in 2010, said: “I want to prevent the horror my family went through from ever happening to anyone else again. We have that opportunity today via universal HPV vaccination. The UK should be a leader, not a laggard, to the rest of the world.”

  • Gay rights protest targets Sochi Winter Olympics worldwide

    Gay rights activists will be holding a demonstration today in cities all over the world, against the homophobia faced by LGBTs in Russia.

    • Protest will take place outside Downing Street in Central London
    • Protestors asked to wear red to symbolise Love
    • Channel 4 to air Gay Hunted Programme about Homophobia In Russia Tonight.
    • Tube Strike threatens numbers of protestors.

    With just a day away from the Sochi Winter Olympics opening, gay rights protesters will be taking to the streets of cities around the world to protest the treatment of LGBT people in Russia.

    A mounting disquiet has been bubbling away as the world’s spotlight is now cast upon Russia‘s dreadful treatment of LGBT people, as an event that threatens to permanently damage the Olympics’ brand starts tomorrow.

    Last year Russia’s president Vladimir Putin signed into a law which made the ‘promotion of non-traditional relationships’ illegal to anyone under the age of 18. A 100 year ban was also placed on holding any pride events in Moscow.

    In London protesters are expected to gather near downing street from 6:00PM. the events have been created by mass petitioning site AllOut.org. Organisers are asking attendees to wear red.

    Tonight Channel 4 will be broadcasting a Dispatches which shows the true horror gay people face in Russia, in a programme called: Hunted .

    Our correspondent Greg Mitchell said of the film:

    ‘This deeply disturbing programme, directed by Ben Steele and reported by Liz MacKean, shows us a bleak picture of a Russia, where gay people are literally hunted down like animals, subjected to humiliating and painful abuse.’

    London is in the midst of a 48 hour strike – so to find out how to get to Downing Street click here.

    TheGayUK will be Live Blogging the events from here

  • TV’s Paul O’Grady to lead Russia protest in London

    TV star Paul O’Grady is to lead Russia Protest In London tonight.

    Tonight’s protest will be at Downing Street from 6PM

    Travel Stikes Threatens Success Of Protest

    Keep up-to-date with TheGayUK

    The protest has been organised by the international LGBT pressure group, All Out, and the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

    In London protesters are expected to gather near downing street from 6:00PM. the events have been created by mass petitioning site AllOut.org. Organisers are asking attendees to wear red.

    ‘Our protest is urging the British and Russian governments, and the International Olympic Committee, to uphold Principle 6 of the Olympic Charter, which prohibits discrimination. We are also calling on Olympic corporate sponsors – such as Coca Cola, McDonalds and Visa – to speak out against Russia’s anti-gay law and homophobic violence. So far, they have failed to do so,’
    noted protest co-organiser and speaker, Peter Tatchell, Director of the human rights organisation, the Peter Tatchell Foundation.

    For travel updates go to our Gay Protest Travel Update page

    TheGayUK will be Live Blogging from 6:00PM tonight

  • The real cost of sponsoring the Sochi Winter Olympics

    THEGAYUK asked readers about their thoughts on Olympic Corporate Sponsors – the results quite damaging for any brands who don’t speak out.

    With one of biggest mass organised world-wide protests being organised for today (5th Feb 2014) THEGAYUK unveils it’s readers’ survey about what gay people think about the brands that are sponsoring the Winter Olympics in Sochi.

    We asked a representative sample (162) of THEGAYUK readers their thoughts on the commercial supporters of this year’s Winter Olympics.

    A whopping 76% of the people who were questioned knew at least one of the Olympic Sponsors.

    When asked whether they’d boycott the brands involved 60% said that they would consider banning a brand from their house.

    Nearly half of those questioned had already boycotted a brand with a Russian connection (44%)

    75% agreed that sponsorship of the Sochi Winter Olympic games damaged a company’s LGBT friendly credentials.

    AT&T were the first brand that actively condemn the current situation that LGBT people face in Russia – and although it’s not an official overall Olympics’ sponsor, it does sponsor the US Olympic team.

  • Channel 4 Dispatches To Air ‘Gay Hunt’ Documentary Tonight

    Channel 4 Dispatches To Air ‘Gay Hunt’ Documentary Tonight

    Channel 4 will broadcast a special Dispatches programme tonight about the abuse gay people suffer in Russia.

    CREDIT: Channel 4
    CREDIT: Channel 4
    A shocking documentary by the Dispatches team will be aired tonight by Channel 4 called ‘Hunted’ the documentary draws focus to the cruelty that many LGBT Russians face in their day-to-day life.

    In Russia it is claimed that only 1% of gay people dare to live openly because of the homophobic attacks on the gay community.

    Last year there are a number of attacks and even murders attributed to homophobia suffered by gay people.

    The show is on at 10PM on Channel 4.

  • The world’s first protest beer against anti-gay Russia

    In a rather cool move BrewDog have unveiled the world’s first protest beer, by satirising Russia’s Anti-Gay Law.

    * Beer carries a picture of the Russian premier
    * 50% of the profits will be donated directly to charities that represent the opressed around the world.
    * BrewDog has sent the president a case of the limited edition beer

    The Scottish Craft Brewery, BrewDog has launched their new beer Hello My Name Is Vladimir – designed as a beer ‘not for gays’ which carries a picture of the Russian president on the front.

    The beer is the world’s first ‘protest beer’ – which aims to support the LGBT community by ‘undermining the potential of the Winter Olympics to deflect attention from Russia’s recent law banning ‘homosexual propaganda’.’

    James Watt, BrewDog co-founder commented:

    “We sincerely hope that when Vladimir Putin is tired from a busy day riding horses with his top off, grappling with burly men on the Judo mat or fishing in his Speedos, he reclines on a velvet chaise longue and has one of his handsome helpers wet his whistle with a glass of Hello My Name is Vladimir.”

    “As Hello My Name is Vladimir is clearly marked ‘not for gays’ we should bypass the legislation introduced by Putin outlawing supposed ‘homosexual propaganda’, so Vlad shouldn’t have an issue with it. He might even invite us to ride bareback with him in the Siberian mountains.”

    “It’s been our mission at BrewDog to upend the status quo in whatever form it occurs. Whether it’s the stranglehold the mega brewers have had on beer production in Europe over the last 50 years, or in the case of Russia, the sick legislation that discriminates against millions of its citizens. Our core beliefs of freedom, integrity and passion drive all our actions. Since we started in 2007, we’ve always striven to strike fear at the heart of the gatekeepers and establishment, the launch of Hello My Name is Vladimir is simply a continuation of that tradition.”

    BrewDog is trying to mount a global social media pressure on Putin whilst the Sochi Winter Olympics are on, using the hastag #NotForGays

    The beer will be available for £2.89 a bottle in all BrewDog bars and brewdog.com from 9:30AM today.