THEGAYUK

Category: News

  • Alan Rickman Dies, 69

    One of Britain’s favourite actors Alan Rickman has died at the age of 69.

    According to the Guardian, the veteran actor died on Thursday after a battle with cancer at the age of 69.

    He recently won a fresh legion of fans as the rather camp Professor Snape in the Harry Potter franchise of films and as the equally camp Hans Gruber in Die Hard With A Vengence in 1995.

    In 1998 Rickham played a gay part in Dark Harbor.

    He met his wife Rima Horton, an economics lecturer in 1965 and married in 2012.
    Alan Rickman’s agent confirmed his death today, and that he was surrounded by friends and family.

  • MP David Mundell Comes Out As Gay

    Britain is celebrating its first openly gay cabinet minister David Mundell who came out as gay yesterday. (more…)

  • MP Mike Freer Shares Information That Poppers Are Not Harmful To Society

    MP Mike Freer has called for the “pause” on banning poppers in the Government’s forthcoming Psychoactive Substances Bill.

    The bill which will outlaw all legal highs, will see the selling of poppers formally known as alkyl nitrate, become a criminal offense.

    Conservative MP for Finchley & Golders Green Mike Freer has said that the Government needs to reconsider the bill and “pause the banning of poppers”, which is due to be debated on Wednesday 20th January.

    Earlier today the MP tweeted a letter from the Advisory Committee of the Misuse of Drugs where they said that poppers were “not seen to be capable of having harmful effects sufficient to constitute a societal problem.”

    Poppers are largely used by the gay community to aid in anal sex due to its relaxation effects, which can make penetration for the receptive partner easier.

  • Has The Scottish Parliament Failed LGBT Children?

    In a decision branded “shocking”, the Scottish Parliament has rejected a call to include LGBTI+ education in Scottish schools.

    Yesterday morning, Tuesday 12th Jan, a petition put forward asking the “Scottish government to make the teaching of LGBTI+ issues and topics statutory” was unanimously rejected by representatives of Scotland’s three majority parties according to Buzzfeed.

    The group of MSPs said it was unable to ask the Scottish government to force through LGBTI inclusion in its schools.

    The co-founder of the TIE campaign, Jordan Daly, said:

     

    “Absolutely the wrong decision has been made here. How many more chil

  • Is Grindr Gay Anymore? Grindr sells Majority Stake To Chinese Tech Firm

    Is Grindr Gay Anymore? Grindr sells Majority Stake To Chinese Tech Firm

    Grindr has announced that it has sold a 60 per cent stake in its business to a Chinese gaming firm.

    The self-funded growth of Grindr has come to an end. The world’s most famous gay dating app has sold a majority stake, reportedly worth $93m (£64m), of its business to tech firm Kunlun Tech Co, in China, a country which one can argue has a questionable gay rights history.

    Taking to Grindr’s blog founder and CEO Joel Simkhai said,

    “For nearly seven years, Grindr has self-funded its growth,

    “We have taken this investment in our company to accelerate our growth, to allow us to expand our services for you, and to continue to ensure that we make Grindr the number one app and brand for our millions of users.”

    Sixty per cent of the company has been sold to Kunlun Tech Co, a gaming company, whose chairman Zhou Yahui, 38, became a billionaire last year after his company was listed on the Shenzhen Stock Exchange in January.

    The remainder of the company belongs to Simkhai and Grindr’s employees.

    Grindr’s revenue was reported to be around $32 million in 2014, just a fraction of what Yahui has paid for the gay dating app.

    The company is valued at around $150 million. Not bad for a startup which was created by Mr. Simkhai in 2009 with a couple of thousand dollars of investment. Its agreement with it’s new owner means that Grindr’s founders will continue to operate as is and it will, for now, retain the current team.

    Speaking with THEGAYUK in 2012, Simkhai said that the thought of selling grindr made him “anxious” when he gave it too much thought. He said,

    “(The) notion that ‘Joel, ‘X days from now or X months from now that Grindr will not be part of your life but just be a part of my resume or a part of my history’ makes me very anxious, makes me very uncomfortable.”

    So now the new majority owner is a self identified straight man, what will become of the world’s most famous gay app?

  • Actor Charlie Carver Has Come Out As Gay

    Former Desperate Housewives’ star Charlie Carver has come out as gay.

    You may well know Charlie as one of the naughty Scarvo twins on the (much missed) ABC hit Desperate Housewives, well now he’s come out as gay in a series of Instagram posts.

    After Desperate Housewives Charlie went on to star in Teen Wolf as Ethan, a gay character who made headlines when MTV aired the first gay kiss, between his character and Danny played by Keahu Kahuanui.

    The 27-year-old explained his worries about coming out in the entertainment industry a series of posts on Instagram.
    He said,

    “If I came out, I feared I would be limiting myself to a type, to a perception with limits that I was not professionally comfortable with.”

    “Things in this business have changed and will continue to.

    “I know that because of all of the brave men and women who’ve come out, self-identified, or couldn’t have possibly ever been ‘In’.

    “So to them, I am also forever grateful.”

     

    He took to Twitter to thank his fans for their support after he came out saying,

     

    “Blown away by the support and love! It was not a secret to many, but I felt it necessary to share (until coming out is a thing of the past)

    “Thank you for the kind words. I couldn’t do it without them. Much love xx”

  • David Bowie Dies At 69

    David Bowie, the legendary singer, has passed away at the age of 69, his son, Duncan Jones, has confirmed.

    After an 18 month battle with cancer, David Bowie has died at the age of 69. His son, Duncan Jones confirmed the news. A statement on the singer’s website stated that Bowie had died peacefully surrounded by family.

    Bowie became famous in 1969 when he released Space Oddity which became a top 5 hit in the UK. After that Bowie became the master of reinvention.  He released 111 singles over 26 studio albums, with no less than 21 top 10 hits in the UK.

    His popularity grew as his career progressed having a resurgence and garnering a whole new legion of fans when he starred in the 1986 film Labyrinth.

    Embed from Getty Images

    David Bowie’s sexuality was well documented and discussed. He came out as gay in 1972, two years into his marriage with Angie Bowie during an interview with Melody Maker.

    In 1976 he confirmed he was bisexual. Four year later in 1980 Angie Bowie and David divorced.

    By 1983 he declared that calling himself bisexual was the “biggest mistake” he had ever made and once again made the statement that he was a “closet homosexual”.

    Despite his claims of being gay or bisexual David Bowie married two women, Mary Angela Barnett (Angie Bowie) and super model Iman.

    Embed from Getty Images

     

    His death comes just days after he released his album Blackstar which has rocketed up the itunes chart.

     

  • Another Gay Porn Star, 21, Dies Unexpectedly

    A third young gay porn star has died in just over a month. Jasper Robinson has died at the age of 21.

    The porn industry is in shock as young gay porn star Jasper Robinson has died at the age of 21. He is the third porn star to have died with in a month, following the deaths of Zac Stevens and Dimitri Kane.

    His death, which was over a month ago has only just been made public. Robinson had modelled for Helix, Cockyboys, Nextdoor Studios and Boycrush.

    Although no cause of death has been released, the website Str8UpGayPorn (NSFW) discovered that Robinson had a heart condition which may have caused his death.

    Speaking about his best friend, Philip Ashton said on Twitter,

    “I lost my best friend Jasper Robinson. I’m still in shock and can’t believe he’s gone.

    “I love you Jasper and my(sic) you be at peace.”

     

  • Boy, Sets Himself On Fire Because Of Anti-Gay Bullying

    A 15-year-old student in India has set himself on fire because of anti-gay bullying after being caught being intimate with boyfriend.

    A student in Madia Katra, Agra, at the top of his class, set fire to himself after being caught by neighbours being intimate with a friend. He was relentlessly bullying and harassed the boy’s father has told the media in India.

    The unnamed boy dowsed himself in stolen diesel on Sunday and set fire to himself. Family and neighbours quickly put out the flames, but he sustained 40% burns to his chest and legs.

    Speaking to The Times Of India, the father said,

    “‘He is unable to speak properly. The doctors say he is out of danger but I will only believe it when my son will talk to me,”

    “The news spread and a some people started teasing and harassing him”.

     

    The father added,

    “Upset, he locked himself in the room for two days. He suddenly ran outside the house on Sunday afternoon and set himself afire by pouring diesel on himself.”

     

    Same-sex activity is currently illegal in India and holds a penalty of up to life imprisonment. In December 2015 Shashi Tharoor, a member of the Indian National Congress party, introduced a bill to decriminalise homosexuality. The house rejected the bill by a vote of 71-24. Tharoor is planning to reintroduce the bill.

  • 15-Year-Old Boy Executed For “Gay” Relationship With ISIS Officer

    ISIS has allegedly thrown a 15-year-old boy to his death after being accused of being in a relationship with an ISIS officer.

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  • The Great Christmas Comedown Today At 2.59PM

    Britain is bracing itself for the great Christmas Comedown – which is set to peak at 2.59pm this afternoon (Mon).

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