THEGAYUK

Category: Comment

  • My day as an EXTRA on Corrie

    When I was asked ”Do you fancy a day in The Rover’s Return this Christmas?”, it took a fraction of a millisecond to say yes. If nowt else I was open to the possibility of uncovering some juicy backstage dirt. Purely in the name of investigative reporting of course.

    The politically correct term for them these days is ”background artistes”. Everyone still calls them ”extras” though to be honest. They are the people you see in movies and TV shows, fleshing out the screen and adding depth and presence; whether the thousands of mourners in the funeral scene in Gandhi or a handful of punters in the pub on Coronation Street.

    I must say I am not the most regular of viewers these days but Corrie will always have a special place in my heart. Still going strong after over 50 years of existence, it’s influence and importance can not be overstated. On a personal note, I remember how it was the only telly show my dear old mum considered unmissable. I’m also old enough to get a touch misty-eyed at the slightest mention of Elsie Tanner (aka The Greatest TV Character Ever).

    Production of the show has moved out of Manchester in recent years to a purpose built studio complex at Media City, Salford. The studio is just yards away from BBC North and the legendary cobbles and familiar terraced houses are a stone’s throw from the sleek glass and metal, Blader Runner-esque buildings of Salford Quays.

    On arrival at reception, extras are ushered into a nearby area called The Hub, a holding area where we await further instruction. With its white and bright orange walls, it is not dissimilar to the breakfast room of a budget hotel. Trays of ITV branded mugs sit in a small kitchen area, next to a fridge crammed with milk and loaves of bread. After making coffee and toast, it was time to sit and wait to be told the plan for the day.

    Young assistants, or runners, rush in and out in their unofficial uniform of hoodies, battered jeans and Converse. They clutch clipboards loaded with lists and wear headsets constantly connecting them to the show’s Mission Control, as vital as life support to the smooth running of a logistical juggernaut like The Street. The runners are friendly enough but have the brisk, no-nonsense manner of people well drilled in getting disparate tribes of people from A to B with minimum fuss on a daily basis.

    I asked our runner, Paul, if the novelty of working on Corrie ever wore off.

    ”It does become just a job, yeah. But when you tell someone where you work and see the reaction, you remember it is a cool place to be working.”

    Paul took us across into the studio, a vast low ceiling hangar-like space. Off the main walkway are the individual sets; rows of plywood boxes with words like ”The Kabin” and ”Bookies Flat” written on the back of them. Moving through the studio, I caught brief glimpses of familiar rooms through gaps in the flimsy walls.

    After a brief delay, we were taken onto our set; The Rover’s Return. An obvious statement but the first impression was that it looks just like it does on the telly but smaller and darker.

    The scenes we were filming were short and light in tone. They were for the Christmas episodes, so the pub was festively decorated including a string of silver tinsel around the picture of the much missed Betty Turpin on the wall. That made the inner long term viewer inside me go “Aw”.

    Us extras were briefed on what we were doing and when and where to move and work on the scenes commenced very shortly after. Film and TV making can be notoriously slow moving and exacting, but turning out over two hours of television a week Coronation Street is factory like in approach. Flubbed lines or technical hitches cause only the briefest of breaks in the production line and it resumes at a relentless pace.

    From my privileged position as ”Man At Bar Reading Wetherfield Gazette” I eavesdropped as the regular cast on set gossiped, joked and chatted between takes. Listening to it all seemed to me so, for want of a better word, normal. As they discussed weekend plans and showed each other YouTube clips on their phones, it felt exactly like the light, time killing banter that takes place in a million other workplaces day in and day out. Although not many workplaces have a cabinet packed full of BAFTAs and Royal Television Society Awards in the foyer admittedly. The cast shared private jokes, talked about family and gently teased each other; the universal language of professional colleagues who get on well together.

    It stands to reason actually. With their grinding schedules and constant demands, Coronation Street and the other long running soaps are the actor’s equivalent of a 9 to 5 office job. And just like in any other place of work, there is even a spot of office politics as I overheard a couple of long standing stars having a grumble about management. Discretion, of course, prevents me from naming names. That and I would quite like to be invited back one day.

    So I can’t say I was privy to any major revelations or noteworthy nuggets of gossip during my visit to The Rovers. However next time I read one of the show’s stars tell an interviewer how the cast are One Big Happy Family, I’m now slightly less likely to write it off as PR bull and roll my eyes in cynicism.

    This Christmas On Coronation Street:

    Will Gary Ruin Christmas? Does Kylie stand to lose everything? Find out in the Christmas Day Episode on ITV1 at 8pm.

  • Can You Spend Christmas Homo Alone?

    I blame all those bloody Christmas songs. Think of all the ones written about being on your own for the festive season. Okay, now try thinking of one that is not a mournful wrist slasher.

    As I thought.

    Right now I have no plans for Christmas and highly likely to be home alone on the 25th. Frankly it’s not keeping me awake at night and if anything Plan B, taking advantage of one day I don’t have to be somewhere else and attempting to claw back a tiny part of this year’s sleep debt, has a lot of appeal.

    However, tell some people you’re planning a lone Yuletide and watch their eyes widen in horror;

    ”YOU CAN’T DO THAT!!!”

    The following mix of horror and faux sympathy is akin to having admitted to contracting a rare, nasty tropical skin condition. Or even worse, being a UKIP supporter.

    The assumption is that despite your protests that it’s all fine and that a solo Christmas is no big deal, you must be putting a brave face on it. Or a confirmed Christmas hater. Not true. At worse it’s an inconvenience; a day off work for sure, but the gym is shut and there is no popping out for a medium Americano and a biscotti at the local generic coffee chain branch should the urge arise.

    And this year I really must remember to buy two days worths of fags on the 24th as trying to find a petrol station that’s open for emergency supplies after running is quite annoying.

    Christmas can be a challenge for the single gay. For myself, the circumstances are my parents are long gone, closest friends are many miles away and other acquaintances are with their own flesh and blood. Or spending it with their current life partners. The very thought of gatecrashing a couple-y Christmas Day makes me queasy. Nobody wants to play gooseberry next to the cranberry jelly.

    I really don’t feel like I’m missing out though. It’s cool to post on Facebook about just how much you despise Christmas (these posts start to appear around late August, judging from my newsfeed) or to witter on about how magical it is. But no one often talks about being ambivalent about it. There are bits I quite like but let’s face facts here, folks; it’s hard work and stressful. We spend much of lives from mid November onwards standing in queues and I can’t say I’m gripped with a burning desire to sweat over vegetable versus turkey timings or feeling duty bound to wear a novelty jumper while silently praying that the inevitable whacky photo can remain my dirty little secret to the grave.

    Occasionally though I do catch myself seeing an ad on telly of a lifestyle porn, picture perfect Christmas and giving pause. Whilst staying at home is my choice, it just might be nice to go somewhere after all. There are the inevitable downsides to a lone 25th at home. For a start, no one to shower you with a mountain of beautifully wrapped gifts. Hey, I’m a homosexual; flashes of shallowness are in my genetic code.

    But then us Home Aloners get wistful comments from pals; ”Oh I wish I was spending Christmas alone; you’re lucky…”. This is the special family time when we remember just why we try to limit contact with the passive aggressive sister in law and the uncle that still smells of dry rot to just once a year. The virtual house arrest of the holidays can be a pretty brutal microscope for personal relationships.

    Many people have said they would like to swap festive seasons with me and would quite happily ditch the relatives and spend it on their lonesome. Really? Because when the day comes and you go for a walk in the afternoon, glimpsing others tucking into lunch or Dads in Santa hats laughing with their kids… That can be the part that stings if you haven’t fully thought the choice through and decided that you can deal with the day alone. Because for all it’s flaws, Christmas can be okay.

    The grass isn’t always (Christmas tree) greener on the other side.

  • COMMENT | Why Is Finding A HIV Cure So Difficult?

    Doctor Clovis Palmer discusses why finding a cure for HIV is so difficult.

    HIV hijacks the immune system
    HIV hijacks the immune system’s white blood cells and forces them to make new copies of the virus. Treatment with antiretroviral drugs is remarkably effective at suppressing the virus, and most people who take HIV antiretroviral treatment are able to reduce the amount of HIV circulating in their bloodstream to undetectable levels. However, this treatment is unable to eliminate a tiny but tenacious type of infected white blood cells that contain a copy of the virus’s genetic material. These cells can remain in the body for a very long period, and they allow the virus to re-emerge and cause new rounds of infection if antiretroviral therapy (or ART) is ever interrupted. This is why daily, life-long HIV treatment is essential.

    Functional versus sterilising cure
    Given the challenges of delivering complex, expensive and potentially toxic HIV antiretroviral treatments on a global scale, there is intense interest in developing short-term, well-tolerated treatments that allow individuals to interrupt therapy indefinitely without the virus re-appearing in their blood. This so-called “functional cure” or “remission” will most likely be due to incomplete eradication of all the ‘sleeping HIV’, otherwise known as the HIV reservoir in the body. A sterilising cure on the other hand, which means complete eradication of HIV, will be a more challenging task, particularly if we rely solely on prolonged antiretroviral treatment to eliminate the reservoir. Recent interventions such as stem cell transplant, and very early initiation of antiretroviral therapy, suggest that considerable reductions in the reservoir size are possible but will not be sufficient for a complete cure.

    Major setback for an HIV cure as ‘cured’ infants relapse
    Any hopes that early HIV treatment initiation would be of any long-term benefit, at least in regards to treatment interruption, were given a major setback when reports earlier this year revealed HIV has returned in an infant previously pronounced ‘cured’. The infant was born with HIV infection in December 2009, and was given antiretroviral therapy (ART) within 12 hours of birth. Using the most sensitive laboratory test, HIV was undetectable in the child 3 years later.

    In view of this result, and in agreement with the child’s mother, the doctors stopped antiretroviral therapy. Encouragingly, a week later, HIV was undetectable, but remarkably, the virus reappeared a week later. This news followed an earlier report where HIV returned in yet another infant; the so-called Mississippi child who was born with HIV infection, and was believed to be cured after treatment administration soon after birth. These results dampen any hopes for an HIV cure that envisages exploiting early treatment and ART intensification as a cure strategy – at least using the current treatment modalities.

    “Shock” but no “Kill”
    More recently, another HIV cure approach delivered more disappointing results when a study using the so-called “shock and kill” approach failed to reduce the size of the HIV reservoir in patients. This approach depended on the ability of the virus itself or the patient’s immune system to kill infected cells when the ‘resting HIV’ is awakened. In this study, scientists used a drug called panobinostat, which has been shown to wake up HIV in the test tube. It was expected that this drug, when given in combination with standard antiretroviral treatment, would purge the reservoir. However, analysis of blood cells from patients revealed that this approach was ineffective. The drugs ‘woke up’ the virus but disappointingly; at the end of the study the size of the HIV reservoir remained unchanged.

    These HIV cases raise several important and puzzling questions. The disappointing study results may desensitise the public’s perception of an HIV cure. Are the media and researchers culpable for drumming up the hype that surrounds previous ‘HIV cure’ announcements? Scientists are aware of the limitations to reasonably access HIV in every cell in the body; unless we can analyse every HIV reservoir it will be difficult to convincingly declare someone as ‘cured’. Organs such as the brain, skin, gut, liver, spleen and testes are considered HIV sanctuaries. Given ethical and technical considerations, it will be virtually impossible to conduct appropriate HIV tests in every potential sanctuary. Even if more sensitive tests are developed, one major limitation will still remain: we cannot access where we truly need to measure the virus. So, should researchers be more cautious and perhaps describe these cases in the future as ‘temporary HIV remission’?

    The way forward
    In the December issue of The Lancet HIV, Professor Suzanne Crowe AM, from the Burnet Institute, and I recently highlighted several key issues that should be considered in the future for a more effective “shock and kill” approach. One of these issues is a greater understanding of how the drugs used in this cure strategy affect the immune cells. We know that they can ‘wake up’ the virus, but our understanding of the impact these drugs have on the immune cells where the virus hides is still limited. Scientists have now proposed a new way by which HIV remains indefinitely in the body. Rather than the virus replicating and re-infecting other immune cells, it is the cells that contain the sleeping virus that replicate, consistently re-fuelling the HIV reservoir. We proposed that starving these replicating cells of glucose, a major nutrient required by immune cells, is a potential strategy to decay the virus.

    by Doctor Clovis Palmer

    About the author
    Dr Clovis Palmer has authored several high impact scientific articles and reviews in HIV and obesity-related research, including The Lancet HIV, AIDS, Hepatology, and Gut. He is a reviewer for several international journals including Hepatology, AIDS, Journal of the International AIDS Society, Journal of Leucocyte Biology and Antioxidants and Redox Signalling. He is the chief section editor for HIV at Natural Immunity-Health, Australia (www.naturalimmunity.com.au).

     

    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.

  • This Not A Lecture About Safe Sex

    It would be easy to preach.

    At the time of writing this (late November 2014), I’m a man in my early 40’s and as of my last test roughly 3 months ago, I’m HIV negative. So well done me. Do please bear with while I heartily congratulate myself and launch into an impassioned yet slightly smug sermon about the benefits of practicing protected sex.

    Except doing that would make me a hypocrite.

    Because can I say in total honesty that every single time I’ve had penetrative sex in my life it’s always been safe? Nope, I can’t. And this includes one incident that was relatively recent. I like to think I’m well informed, God knows I know the risks and still it happened. Of course ask right now and I will say that it would be a deal breaker for me. I’ve had enough conversations insisting on condoms with potential partners in the past. Plus I seem to recall writing ”safe only” often enough on various hook up site profiles. Which is as close as one can get to going on the record.

    Hell, I even once promoted a men only club night in a straight venue and insisted on safer sex packs because I felt strongly that we should be seen to be being responsible when taking guys 5 quid entry fee on the door. One million social conscious brownie points for me right there.

    So taking that all into account, how come it still happened? Placing the blame on too much alcohol is lazy and frankly not even half the story. So why? Truth be told, we were naked and saying “Stop” to have the condom conversation felt like it would kill the moment dead. And that voice in the back of my head said that it would be okay. Just this once…

    Like I say, it would be easy to lecture. But I would be awfully naive to believe that anyone is going to go away and rethink their sexual behaviour based on anything I write here in a relatively short opinion piece. I’m no saint and certainly no expert on public health. So I am going to speak solely for myself.

    This is what I think now; I hated the fact I put myself in that position. I hated the ”Oh Sh**” feeling the next day and that heightened sense of uncertainty waiting at the drop-in clinic. Most of all I hated the fact I betrayed the memories of the friends I’ve lost, the friends we’ve all lost, through being too drunk and too needy one night. Like I’d learnt nothing.

    To repeat, I speak for no one but myself. We all have our own reasons for marking World Aids Day. For some it is a moment to mourn absent friends and lovers taken too soon. For others it is anger and activism that drives them. We have all read plenty this past year of how there remain far too many parts of the world where the basic human rights of the LGBT community are being eroded to a point of non existence. In the case of our brothers and sisters who are HIV positive, the situation is even more desperate.

    Hell, you can even make a case that a few show up at the vigils to check out cute boys looking sad.

    But whatever the reason, we are there every 1st December in our thousands. And I know why I’m there. It’s a show of love, grief and respect for those that walked before me and fell along the way. And for those who still live every day with the shadow of HIV hovering just in sight.

    And after a couple of moments of stupidity, relief. Pure, simple, selfish, relief.

    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.

  • You Were Known To Us: Transgender Day Of Remembrance

    ”Tiffany. 18 years old. Cause of death – dismemberment”

    ”Camille Verona. 24 years old. Cause of death – suffocation”

    ”Luna. 27 years old. Cause of death – gunshot to the chest”

    And that is just to pick a few examples at random.

    In the past year, there have been 268 reported murders of trans women and trans men around the world. And that is just the number we know about. The true figure is undoubtedly far higher. While the statistic in itself is depressing, it’s the individual stories of violence and brutality that lie behind it that is truly shocking.

    Since 1999, 20th November has been the annual date for Transgender Day of Remembrance. Its purpose is simple; to remember the members of the transgender community that have been victims, but also to acknowledge those who have committed suicide, as statistically the trans community are the social group most likely to be driven to take their own lives.

    In the UK, the largest commemorative event for TDoR is held in Manchester, also the site of the world’s first permanent trans memorial, a 12 foot tall wooden tree sculpture in Sackville Gardens, the green space in the heart of the city’s famous Canal Street area.

    From small beginnings, Transgender Day of Remembrance has steadily increased in profile and media coverage. Tony Cooper, organiser of the Manchester event and a trustee of trans charity Sparkle told me. ‘This is our eighth year in the park and it’s grown hugely every single year’.

    This year over 200 people crammed into a marquee in Sackville Gardens to hear the names of those who have died as a result of violence in the past year read out, listen to a rousing performance from the Manchester LGB Chorus and then at the end of the evening to light candles and assemble at the memorial. Some had also brought flowers and handwritten cards to leave in memory. From the trees close to the memorial hung photographs of some of those we had gathered to remembered; their faces watching us, a moving reminder of the unnecessary waste of human life and why so many felt compelled to gather in the park on a chilly Sunday evening in late November.

    The assembled crowd was truly diverse in terms of age and background and many had traveled long distances to be there and pay their respects. Many also had there own stories to tell of personal experiences of hate crime.

    As we set our candles in the sand boxes at the foot of the huge wooden sculpture, I chatted to a lady called Carol who had travelled overnight from near Bristol to be in Manchester.

    ‘I had trouble myself. I was in hospital earlier this year. It all got too much for me. I had this friend and she got killed. They smashed her face up. I saw her in the hospital. They made her look so horrible. I still see her all the time looking like that but it’s better now I’ve had help’.

    The overwhelming message of TDoR is a simple but powerful one ”You Were Known To Us”. Each speaker reinforced this. This does not just apply solely to victims of hate crimes on other continents however. A few speakers also noted that there were many instances of trans men & women who had died of natural causes but whose families had opted to bury them as their birth gender, denying them their identity. As one lady who had recently lost a close friend who was then buried as a man by her family told me, ‘I want to lay flowers on the grave of the woman I knew, not a man called David who was a stranger to me.’

    It was a theme that Tony Cooper focused on in his speech too, along with the importance of community and reaching out to others, both half a world away and far closer to home, ‘Do we need a day to remember? No, we don’t need a day… But a day to say you were us. Because you are us.’

    The Sparkle weekend, a celebration of the transgender community held in Manchester each July, has grown to a point where, after Pride, it is the Gay Village’s second biggest weekend of the year in terms of visitor numbers and revenue. In purely commercial terms, this year’s event generated a not inconsiderable sum of £2.8 million for the local economy. It is indicative of the growing visibility of the community in the UK.

    The remit that the trustees of Sparkle have set themselves is of ”education, action and accessibility”.

    Manchester is a city often celebrated for its tolerance and diversity and this year’s Transgender Day of Remembrance saw a large number of attendees from across the wider spectrum of the LGBT community. It’s certainly a start. But when in 2014, there remains 21 European countries where by law trans women and men must be compulsorily sterilised prior to gender reassignment surgery, there remains much to be done.

    And to quote one of the speakers from the marquee ”268 people were murdered in the last year. Just for being themselves”

    https://www.facebook.com/pages/Transgender-Remembrance-Memorial-Project-Manchester/127795353947830?fref=ts

  • COMMENT | Are We Born Gay Or Is it A Choice?

    Are We Born Gay Or Is It A Choice? If It Is A Choice, Isn’t That Ok?

    It’s an age-old question that has been asked time and time again; is being gay a case of nature of nurture? Are we really born this way or do we choose to be gay? My personal belief is that we were born this way, baby, but I’ll accept people’s right to hold a different view.

    Drawing on my own personal experience, I knew from around five years old that I was different to other boys. I didn’t know what gay was at that age, but I did know that I wanted to marry a man when I grew up.

    On that basis, I would say that for me it has definitely been a case of nature rather than nurture. I didn’t choose to be gay; it has always felt like a natural part of who I am. Anyway, if I had a choice about my sexuality I probably would have chosen to be heterosexual as life would have been a lot easier!

    Something I’ve always found fascinating is when someone asks me when I became gay as if I simply woke up one day and thought ‘yeah I feel a bit poofy today so I’m going to be gay’. Perhaps they really mean to ask about when I came out rather than when I became gay, or maybe the question should be about when I realised I am gay, but I tend to answer by asking them when they became straight.

    In the past I have met men who say they are straight but choose to have sex with men. On one particular occasion, I had a sexual encounter with one such man, who I didn’t know was married. As he was getting ready to leave he took his wedding ring out of his pocket, put it on his finger and bluntly told me that he “wasn’t like” me. It was around that time I started to think more about the question of whether sexuality is a choice.

    I don’t think we choose our sexuality. It’s a part of who we are as human beings. Some people are gay, some are straight, and some are bi. I also believe sexuality can be a spectrum rather than people fitting into set boxes, but I don’t believe sexuality to be a choice. I do however believe that we can choose whether to embrace our sexuality or not, and whether to live the lifestyle. For example, the married man I once had an encounter with was probably gay or bisexual but was choosing to live a closeted life and have sexual encounters with men on the side.

    I am gay but the only choice I have made regarding my sexuality is to embrace it and allow myself to be who I am. I know it’s not easy for everyone to do that and I’m all too aware of how difficult and confusing it can be when realising you are gay and deciding whether to tell people. I will also accept people’s right to believe that their sexuality is a choice. Just because I hold the view that I do, it doesn’t mean that I am right. Whatever your view is, the most important thing is that you feel able to embrace who you are and live happily as a gay person. That’s a choice we can all make.

     

    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.

  • When Being Is Just Not Enough, I Mean What Is A Sapiosexual?

    Once upon a time, in the not too distant past, there wasn’t even an option for being gay on dating websites used mainly by straight people, but now OKCupid has begun offering select users twelve options to describe their sexual orientation.

    What’s even more generous of them is that you don’t have to stick with just one, as they allow you to select “up to five” of those twelve to describe themselves. Some bright spark has worked out that’s a possible 1,585 different combinations.

    Here are the twelve choices:

    1. Demisexual: no sexual attraction toward any person unless they become deeply emotionally or romantically connected to someone
    2. Asexual: does not experience sexual attraction
    3. Straight: attracted to opposite sex
    4. Gay: male attracted to other males
    5. Bisexual: attracted to both sexes
    6. Lesbian: female attracted to other females
    7. Questioning: not sure of sexual orientation
    8. Heteroflexible: mostly heterosexual, with minimal homosexual activity
    9. Homoflexible: mostly homosexual, with minimal heterosexual activity
    10. Queer: someone who does not conform to traditional sex or gender norms
    11. Pansexual: sexual or emotional attraction, desire, or romantic love toward people of any sex or gender identity
    12. Sapiosexual: sexual attraction based primarily on intelligence

    When you have finally decided who you are, then you can pick a gender identity that best describes you too.

    It’s great that such organisations and corporations are now starting to recognise that we are all different.

    We have just one tiny reservation, and that is now incorporating them all as part of the LGBTQI community may make our collective title one very big mouthful.

     

    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 | Gemma Collins Vs. Katie Hopkins

    Leading celebrity lifestyle and wellbeing expert weighs in on Katie Hopkins’ comments about I’m A Celeb’s Gemma Collins.

    In terms of public perception, it may appear Gemma Collins has not done herself any favours with such a swift departure from the jungle, but as a therapist, I cannot say I am surprised as there are obviously deep-seated reasons behind her behaviour which I think warrant compassion rather than judgement. An educated commentary on her with relevance to why she left, her naivety or any other general form of discussion and constructive advice on how to overcome her issues that goes with the very nature of being in the public eye is acceptable, but these constant attacks on Gemma’s weight are no doubt having a further damaging effect on her and teenagers everywhere and exacerbating a generation that is already obsessed with weight and body image. I would have liked to have seen Katie Hopkins to draw on the fact she is a mother and not open the floodgates to more media attention on weight issues and focus on the heart of the matter which is that Gemma let her fears get the better of her. Gemma had a moment of weakness, she wanted comfort over proving herself to be the next Bear Grylls. That’s all.

    Gemma could actually do a lot of positive with that message showing people that sometimes you need help to get over fears such as a clinical hypnotherapist, life coach or CBT counsellor and that perhaps with hindsight she might have chosen this route. This could be a great message to lots of people who look up to Gemma out there. Perhaps she could even attempt to go in next year and show her fan base that you can conquer your fears and that in the face of what seems impossible there is always room for inspiration. Katie Hopkins is well known for her blunt opinions and perhaps that is what is now expected of her, but as a Therapist I would question why she takes it to such a base level of personal attacks, after all, we are all human, and fallible, and nobody is perfect.

    For Katie to have the ambition to be a gay icon, she should first know what that means. I have heard many definitions including such an icon to be well-versed in the arts of glamour and others suggesting they are inspirational role models but the one definition that stands out the most to me is that a gay icon should have, encourage and help achieve strength through adversity.

    Katie Hopkins has chosen put herself in the limelight and present herself as someone who preys on those with obvious faults in order to make a name for herself and that she has successfully done, but the people she chooses to talk about are human, and have feelings. I do not believe body shaming, attacks that are tantamount to bullying or twitter jibes can be seen as anything but an unpleasant form of entertainment to some and to others a lack of empathy to those who have issues – but iconic – not at all. It is a primal instinct to attack those you perceive weaker that yourself, and we have seen such throughout history.

    For Katie to have ambitions to be a gay icon i would recommend that she need a rethink of her belief system of what is an acceptable form of treating other human beings. I think Lincoln said it best when he said “I would rather be a little nobody, than to be an evil somebody” Not to say Katie is evil but her behaviour is lacking in social grace and understanding of the human condition and in my opinion not in alignment to the strong anti bullying stance of my friends, colleagues and clients who exist both in and out of the Gay community.

     

    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.

  • OPINION | Why Kim Kardashian Matters

    There is no escape from Kim Kardashian’s arse. It’s gone beyond global. Unless you’ve been under a rock, you will be aware of her shoot for Paper Magazine. To call it a phenomenon is an understatement. Within seconds of release, that champagne glass balanced on backside shot had been dissected, spoofed and pilloried ad infinitum.

    Of course, those of us old enough to have experienced a naked, pregnant Demi Moore on the front of Vanity Fair are getting cover controversy deja vu. But that’s a whole other story…

    The internet makes social commentators of us all and this is one of those splashy, eye popping social media moments ripe for sharing and evaluating. From the gazillions of posts and tweets about Kimmy’s shoot, the most common train of thought is as follows:

    A)Why is she famous?

    And

    B)Why is she famous?

    Scratch just beneath the surface though and something far more interesting emerges.

    In the past few days, I’ve read some genuinely excellent blog entries and articles on race, body politics and feminism all written in response to the Kardashian pictures. These are big, grown up themes not easy to express as pithy soundbites.

    Yes, it is a shame that we have to use a naked Kim as a hook to hang real issues on. But debate can only be healthy, no matter how unlikely the source it has stemmed from. Even our dear old battered and bruised tabloid press have weighed in with some strong opinion pieces on body image and the representation of women in mainstream media. That in itself is a small miracle.

    No one is arguing for a second that La Kardashian turned to her people and said, “I wanna be the springboard for some good, in depth critical writing. Get me a champagne glass and a bottle of baby oil. Stat.”

    However, there is a bittersweet irony that a woman often held up as the poster girl for the ongoing trivalisation of modern celebrity culture has accidentally sparked thought-provoking conversation. Kim Kardashian is not about to lead a revolution in sexual politics or change the way that women of colour are represented in magazines. But by default, the reaction and the weight of commentary that photo shoot has incited has made people think.

    And not just about the pros and cons of her bottom or why she’s famous.

     

    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.

  • THE MAN WHO WORE MAKEUP: Me, My Enemy And My Ally

    THE MAN WHO WORE MAKEUP: Me My Enemy My Ally

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  • COMMENT | Hitched On Apps, Harry Hitchens on gay dating apps

    Ex-Young Apprentice and photographer HARRY HITCHENS came out on YouTube, So what’s next? He went on Grindr, of course! Here’s what he found out.

    ‘Hey man what you doing?’ Is the question you’re going to have to answer more than any other. Coming up with a good, clever, witty answer to this question may well determine your whole experience of dating apps.

    Members only. My phone is alive with the sound of beeping and squawking as another picture arrives, is it of your face? Unlikely…Would I go on a date with someone who’s already shown me what they’ve got in their pants… also unlikely.

    Hey sexy. Compliments are great. You think I’m cute. Terrific. But if you tell me you’re round the corner and horny to boot, I’m not sure I believe all the other really nice things you’ve said to me.

    Sorting the men from the boys. This is really an important one. The apps have age restrictions, but I’m pretty sure that not everyone is playing by the rules? Are older guys using the apps to seek out younger guys? Are guys who are too young experimenting with apps? Are they being careful?

    Phone a friend. Everyone I met who had been on a hook-up said the same thing – they would recommend telling a friend where they were going and with whom. Even though it would be better to meet in a public place first, if not, have a backup plan and charge your phone.

    Instant Gratification. It is not – if you’re a bit fussy or particular – this is a lot of admin, my friends. Several apps on the phone, GiFi, scruff, jack’d, mensch’d trying to keep tabs on what you said to whom, rejecting some, keeping some interested enough… Hours go by

    Time to man up. You see someone. They look nice. The banter begins. It’s going well. Then. Nothing. Ouch…

    Casual sex. It’s catching with sex potentially available from your phone 24/7 people are taking more risks than ever before and rates of HIV and syphilis are on the up – dramatically. Wrap it up, boys.

    It’s addictive… Sorry were you saying something? Friends are ignored as you stare at your phone. Food goes cold on your plate as you dream up something witty to reply to a potential date. Real friends start to get ignored… like Facebook, twitter etc. The apps are compulsive – ping… ping… got to go!

    Real people. It’s easy to forget that behind the profile pics, the dirty texts and the flirty messages there are real people. The apps turn our love lives and desires into a game, which is fun, or into an online store where we can pick out something and have it delivered to our door quicker than amazon. But remember they’re actual people with real feelings too.

     

    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.