THEGAYUK

Category: News

  • Johnny Depp’s Daughter Comes Out

    Johnny Depp’s daughter, Lily Rose Depp as opened up about her sexuality and that she’s not 100% straight.

    Lily Rose’s has taken part in a new campaign that promotes inclusiveness and equality called Self Evident.

    The campaign aims to photograph “10,000 people in the USA that identify as ANYTHING OTHER than 100% straight.”

    The photographer behind the campaign, iO Tillett Wright, posted a photo of the 16-year-old model on social media saying,

    “I’m so proud of my baby girl @lilyrose_depp,

    “She decided she wanted to be in @selfevidentproject because she falls somewhere on the vast spectrum, and I couldn’t be happier to welcome her to the family.

    “She’s a tiny gem of a good human. #prouduncle #weareyou.”

  • Anti-Gay Leaflets Distributed To Households In Margate Before Kent Pride

    Leaflets which urge householders not to support gay pride in Margate have been distributed through the letterboxes of Kent homes just days before the annual pride.

    The homophobic leaflet, which was delivered through the letterboxes of hundreds of homes in Margate urges residents to stay away from the pride parade and that Margate will never be MarGAYte.

    Margate’s pride parade returns this year on the 29th August. The parade will start at 11am from the Lido car park.

    The leaflet also seemingly links homosexuality with paedophilia as it calls for residents to “save yourself and your children”

     

    The highly offensive note has been derided by the local community with volunteer pride co-ordinator Tony Butcher telling the KentOnline.co.uk,

    “This is a horrendous act and these people are inciting a riot.

    “The comments are absurd, we are people who like other people of the same sex and to suggest we are paedophiles is absolutely ridiculous.”

     

    This is not the first time a pride event has been targeted by a malicious maildrop in 2014 households in Brighton received an anti-gay flyer and in November 2014 residents in Ely, Cambridgeshire also received a homophobic note through the door.

     

     

  • US Defies Anti-Gay Laws With Screening Of Gay Film

    The US Embassy looks like it will defy anti-gay laws in Russia by adding a screening of I AM MICHAEL to a film festival it is sponsoring in September.

    Amfest, which will run from the 16-27th September in Moscow and St. Petersburg announced that it added Justin Kelly’s directorial debut, I Am Michael, starring James Franco and Zachary Quinto to its line up of films.

    I AM MICHAEL documents the true story of a gay activist who turns straight and becomes a Christian pastor. The film has won a number of awards including FilmOut International Film Festival – Best Film, Best Director, Best Screenplay, Best Actor, Best Supporting Actress, Best Supporting Actor

    Although the anti-gay Russian legislation, which was introduced in 2013, doesn’t ban films about homosexuality it does become illegal if someone under the age of 18 should watch the presentation.

  • Man Jailed For Life After Brutal Attack On Young Gay Man

    A Leeds man has been sentenced to life imprisonment for the brutal murder of a young gay student who was dumped under railway arches.

    Richard Dennis Langdon Danter, a 31-year-old Leeds man, savagely beat and stamped on the former student, Billy Makelow, 20, until he was unconscious, before dumping his half naked body on the 25th April (2015).

    The pair had met in the gay bar Viaduct Show Bar near Leeds train station and were seen leaving the venue together at 2.44am.

    The student, who had been studying social sciences, was then subjected to an attack which the surgeons who worked to save the young man, said they never seen so much trauma, which was completely focused on the head and facial area.

    The Recorder of Leeds Peter Collier QC said,

    “Such was the savageness and brutality of your focused attack on his head, I am driven to conclude that at that moment your intention was to kill him.”

     

    After the first attack Danter, who described himself in court as bisexual, returned to the nightclub for another drink, where he told people he had just killed someone. Later he returned to the scene and moved a brutalised Mr. Mankelow to a more secluded area.

     

    Mr Collier continued,

    “You left him where you had assaulted him, helpless and dying, and went back to the nightclub. Later you went back and moved his body further into the arches, no doubt intending to make it more unlikely that he would be discovered.

    “You also removed and disposed of his mobile phone, whether or not he would have been capable of calling for help himself I can never know.”

    Two men who had taken a wrong turning found Mr. Mankelow. They saw a man dragging what they suspected was a body into one of the arches. They discovered Mr. Mankelow, who was unconscious and notified the emergency services and taken to Leeds General Infirmary where he was placed on life support in intensive care.

    Mr. Mankelow’s life support was turned off on the 26th April, with his family present.

    According to an official statement by the British Transport Police,

    “Officers attended the Viaduct bar and spoke to staff and viewed CCTV which led them to Danter. He was arrested at 1pm on Sunday, 26 April close to his home address in Queens Road, Leeds.

    “Follow up enquiries also revealed that directly after the incident, Danter returned to the Viaduct bar and spoke to a number of members of staff stating he had just killed someone, a confession he also relayed to a friend a short while later.”

     

    TRAGIC WASTE OF YOUNG LIFE

    Detective Chief Inspector David Shipperlee of British Transport Police’s major investigation team said:

    “Billy, an innocent, caring and popular young man, died as a result of serious head injuries received during a sustained and what we believe to be, totally unprovoked attack. He received more than 20 blows to his head, the majority of which were as a result of being kicked and stamped on.

    “After he assaulted him, Danter dragged Billy into an alcove in the railway arch, presumably to conceal his body, and left him for dead.

    “His death is such a tragic waste of a young life, a life taken by a violent, evil and dangerous man, who has a history of previous convictions for violence and sexual offences, who is now where he belongs, behind bars.”

    SENSELESS AND UNNECESSARY

    A statement from Billy’s family read,

    “Billy loved life and had lots of friends. He was independent and motivated and went to study at Leeds University in 2013. Billy loved Leeds, a place where he made a life for himself and had lots of friends.

    “Billy would always make time to come back to Kent in the holidays to spend time with his family.

    “At the time of his death Billy had been working for Capita and had passed his training course and was due to start his new role only two days after his death.

    “Billy’s family and friends are all distraught at the way Billy died; which was so senseless and unnecessary. Billy was simply out with friends having a good time with his life ahead of him.

    “We as a family will never get over the way he died, we have lost a person of exceptional kindness and good nature.

    “Billy’s tragic loss will be felt by everyone who knew him for a long time.”

     

  • Retailer Apparently Plans To Sell Caitlyn Jenner Halloween Costume

    Possibly the worst taste idea for a Halloween costume has emerged from the states, as a retailer apparently plans to sell a Caitlyn Jenner costume.

    Plans are apparently afoot to stock and sell a Halloween costume based on one of Caitlyn Jenner’s iconic looks.

    A firm called Spirit Halloween has revealed to Confidenti@l that it plans to sell the insensitive costume. Speaking to MyDailingNews the retailer’s spokeswoman, Trisha Lombardo said,

    “Of course!, Caitlyn Jenner has proven to be the most important real-life superhero of the year, and Spirit Halloween is proud to carry the costume that celebrates her.”

     

  • Was The Relentlessly Gay Garden Just A Hoax To Raise Money?

    The woman who alleged that a note saying her garden was ‘relentlessly’ gay is to return money to the donor after hoax suspicions were raised.

    Julie Baker from Baltimore has said that she is to return the $43,000 she raised through a crowd funder site. She has been accused of hoaxing the letter.

    In June Ms Baker received wide media attention when a note reportedly told her to tone down her relentless gay garden. The artist created a gofundme page in order to make her garden even more colourful. Within days the fundraiser had smashed the $5,000 target.

    On her funding page Baker wrote,

    “I opened my door, and found a note from my neighbor. Regarding a set of rainbow jar solar lights hanging in my yard that spell out “Love” and “Ohana”. They informed me that the neighborhood is “christian” and has “children” and asked me to stop being “relentlessly gay”….

    Within days of opening the account, Baker had raised over $43,000. She initially asked for $5,000 to make her garden even more colourful.

    Snopes, the website that uncovers hoaxes and myths investigated the claims of Ms Baker and the authenticity of the note. They contacted the police who told them that Ms Baker had been either unwilling or unable to produce the alleged note and had told them that it was no longer in her possession.

    Despite the incredible amount of money raised, Baker’s garden has reportedly remained unchanged and no more decorations had been bought.

    On the 18th August, a message posted on theRelentlessly Gay crowd funder page appeared which suggested that she would be returning all the donations she received.

    She cited that “taxes and an overabundance of resources it is with a saddened heart that all donations will be returned. If a time machine were available, it would have all ended at the original requested amount.”

  • Where Is Glasgow Pride Setting Off From?

    This year’s Pride in Glasgow will be set over two days with the main Pride parade taking place on Saturday the 22nd August.

    The main parade will take place on the 22nd August 2015 and will commence from 12:15.

    Meeting Point:

    The meeting point for the Pride Parade will be Glasgow Green from 12:15. The parade will set off at 1 PM and return back to Glasgow Green at 2 PM.

    The parade will take the following route:

    Greendyke St, Saltmarket, Trongate, Albion St, Ingram St, South Frederick St, George Sq South Aspect, St Vincent Pl, St Vincent St, Renfield St, Union St, Jamaica St, Clyde St, Bridgegate, Steel St, Turnbull St, Greendyke St, Glasgow Green.

    You can buy tickets for the event here.

  • Artist Turns Caitlyn Trans Hate Into Work Of Art

    The artist who turned homophobic hate for Tom Daley into an incredible portrait, has worked his magic again by turning 100 messages of hate and death threats against Caitlyn Jenner into a work of art.

     

    CREDIT: Conor Collins

     

     

    In 2014, Conor Collins took hundreds of homophobic messages about diver Tom Daley from Twitter and created a stunning work of art out of him.

    Now he’s turned his attention to Caitlyn Jenner, taking transphobic hate messages that he found online and recreating the now famous Vanity Fair cover of Ms. Jenner.

    Speaking to the HuffPo Collins said,

    “I admire what Caitlyn has done and how she has used her position and privilege to make a difference,

    “So, naturally like anyone curious, I went on her Twitter to see more and was horrified by some of the comments. When I saw these I wanted to show them because it is a reality of what trans people experience every day.”

    “Caitlyn is making a difference to the trans community however I didn’t want to hide the darkness and persecution [trans people] face in my art piece,”

    In 2014, articles from various news sources suggested that the Manchester based artist had sold the Tom Daley piece, but he rebuffed the suggestions saying,

    “Been told there are articles saying ive sold my Tom Daley piece! I’ve not!! It’s not my intention to make money from this piece!”

     

    Collins shared the portrait of Caitlyn Jenner on Twitter and it was retweeted 2,800 times and favourited 5,600 times.

  • Liam Payne “Not Homophobic” In Any “Shape or Form”

    Boy-bander Liam Payne has addressed concerns that he his homophobic after comments he made at a concert

    One Direction’s Liam Payne, has once again been forced to address concerns that he is homophobic. In a Twitter statement he said,

    “I am in no way shape or form homophobic that’s a ridicules (sic) thing to say and I’m not here to offend people so take it as you will,”

    The singer was making an introduction to the song Girl Almighty, which apparently appeared to be a little too heteronormative, seemingly suggesting that perhaps only gay men were in the audience, and sparked a fierce online debate on whether what he said was anti-gay.

    On stage he said,

    “This is my favourite song off the last album, and it is about trying to find that number one woman of your life, which none of you can relate to, ’cause most of you are girls. Except for the boys in here, you know what I’m talking about,”

    Clearly annoyed by the possibility of being called homophobic Payne went on to say in his Twitter post,

    “So annoying trying your hardest to make people happy in a show and you think about all the notes u tried to hit higher or a little sweeter

    “And all some people want to concentrate on was a throw away statement about a song that I love (sic)’

    Last year Payne was accused of homophobia after tweeting his support of the Duck Dynasty family and their “family values.”

    In September the One Director star strongly denied that a “weird” video showing two men having sex was not of him and another man.

    He said,

    ”I’m 100% not homophobic, but I’m also 100% not gay so when somebody says I am I’m gunna say I’m not which does not make me a homophobe.’

  • Dolce Apologises For Offensive IVF Remarks

    “I’ve realised my words were inappropriate, and I apologise,” Domenico Dolce finally apologises for the words that saw Dolce & Gabbana at the centre of a Twitter storm and boycott, led by Sir Elton John.

    Speaking in Vogue, Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana said sorry for a statement that saw thousands of people take to Twitter demanding an apology and threats of a boycott against the billionaire designers.

    Peter Tatchell led a boycott protest outside the London flagship store.

    In March, in an interview with Panaroma magazine Dolce said,

    “We oppose gay adoptions. I call children of chemistry synthetic children. The only family is the traditional one… No chemical offsprings and rented uterus; Life has a natural flow, there are things that should not be changed.”

    The comment resulted in Elton John leading a boycott against the fashion brand and a Twitter storm and trending topic that lasted days.

    In September’s issue of Vogue, Dolce had a U-turn saying,

    ‘I’ve done some soul-searching, I’ve talked to Stefano a lot about this. I’ve realised that my words were inappropriate, and I apologise.”

    Speaking specifically about IVF treatment he added,

    “I think everybody chooses for themselves. I don’t know everything about IVF, but I love it when people are happy. It’s like medicine. Science has been put on the table to help people.”

     

     

  • One Day, Two Sports Stars Come Out As Gay

    Today might go down in history as “gay sports day” as two sports stars came out as gay.

    In the UK, Rugby player, Keegan Hirst, 27, came out exclusively to the Sunday Mirror, whilst over the US baseball rookie David Denson, 20, came out. Both are the first in their respective sports to have come out as gay during their careers.

    Benson, who plays for the Helena Brewers revealed:

    “Talking with my teammates, they gave me the confidence I needed, coming out to them,” Denson told the newspaper. “They said, ‘You’re still our teammate. You’re still our brother. We kind of had an idea, but your sexuality has nothing to do with your ability. You’re still a ballplayer at the end of the day. We don’t treat you any different. We’ve got your back.’

     

    “That was a giant relief for me. I never wanted to feel like I was forcing it on them. It just happened. The outcome was amazing. It was nice to know my teammates see me for who I am, not my sexuality.”

     

    Hirst becomes the first British rugby player to come out as gay during his career. The 27-year-old, who told his wife just weeks ago he was gay, said,

    “At first I couldn’t even say ‘I’m gay’ in my head, let alone out loud.

    “Now I feel like I’m letting out a long breath that I’ve held in for a long time.”

     

    Remarking on Hirst’s decision to come out as gay LGBT advocacy charity, Stonewall said his words were “powerful” and that his words “will inspire many”.

     

    Former Rugby icon Gareth Thomas tweeted his support for Hirst saying,

     

    Taking to Twitter Hirst said he was “humbled” by the best wishes and he “appreciated” the outpouring of support shown by players and fans of the club.