In 2016 Grindr’s founder Joel Simkhai announced that he had sold 60 percent of the dating app to the Chinese gaming firm Kunlun Tech Co. The remaining 40 percent has now been snapped up by the same firm in a deal thought to be worth $152 million.
The initial purchase of just over 60 percent was thought to be worth $93 million.
The app has over 3 million daily users.
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”,
“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.
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.
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.
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
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 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
#ManchesterBombing could well have been deliberate#homophobic 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.
#OpenBorders have consequences!
“Why would a porn actor and an escort shoot his career in the face?” is what Kayden Gray said in an 11 minute YouTube video. A video which fans have hailed as brave, amazing and helping to shed light on HIV stigma.
The actor, who has performed for studios such as Naked Sword said that he had been keeping his status “secret for years” after contracting HIV when he was just 9 months into his porn career. He says he’s now been living with HIV for 3 and a half years.
He revealed that after he learnt of his status that he took three months off sex – because he felt “disgusting” and “unlovable”. He told fans that he thought his life was going to end.
Soon after he was diagnosed he told viewers that he found out about anti-viral treatment, which helped lower his viral load, which was around 2 million to just a few 1000, then a few hundred HIV virus particles in per millilitre of blood. He now has an undetectable viral load.
Fans were quick to send their love and best wishes to the actor.
Listen to Kayden’s story below.
Martyn Hett has been confirmed, by his brother as being one of the victims of the Manchester bombing, which left 22 dead and 59 injured at the end of an Ariana Grande concert. Family and friends were desperately seeking for more information about Martyn’s whereabouts after he failed to check in with them after the concert.
His brother, Dan Hett, left a simple message on Twitter saying, “they found my brother last night. we are heartbroken”.
https://twitter.com/danhett/status/867312853098909696
Martyn was due to embark on the holiday of a lifetime, having booked a two-month trip to USA. He was due to leave this week.
Martyn had also starred in an episode of Tatoo Fixers – and was well-known for having an incredibly realistic tattoo of Deirdre Barlow on his calf.
The last tweet sent from his Twitter came from within the Manchester Arena.
A Taiwan court has issued a landmark ruling that gay marriage will become available to gay couples, making the island the first Asian place to allow same-sex marriages.
The court ruled that the country’s civil code “violated” the Taiwanese constitution which guarantees freedom of marriage and equality.
The notion of legalising same-sex marriage in Taiwan was first proposed in 2003, however, the bill received mass opposition and was not voted on.
This is a breaking story – please refresh to read more as the story develops.