THEGAYUK

Category: News

  • LBC Radio Presenter Iain Dale Slams Ivan Massow Mayoral Campaign Video

    Long-time LBC presenter Iain Dale has slammed Ivan Massow’s latest mayoral campaign video as “buttock-clenchingly awful”.

    The out LBC presenter Iain Dale tweeted his disapproval of Ivan Massow‘s latest mayoral campaign video calling it “possibly the worst campaign video” he had ever seen.

     

    Comments for the video have been disabled on YouTube but that didn’t stop Iain Dale having at pop at Massow, calling the campaign “buttock-clenchingly awful”.

    In an interview with THEGAYUK Ivan Massow told us: Having spent the last year “visiting various London institutions… hospices, meals on wheels, homeless shelters, tube digs…And every Housing Association in London…developers, [and] planning departments” and he is now keen to take this a step further, over the course of a month, he wants to spend each night staying with a different London-based family, to find out what bugs London about London.

    In direct response to Dale, Massow tweeted: “the idea is to hear from Londoners directly about their own area.”

     

     

  • When Companies Get It Wrong On Gay Matters

    A number of businesses have found themselves at the end of a boycott, or a viral campaign by the gay community and its allies after denying service or discriminating against LGBT customers. Here is just ten of the most high profile that have happened in the last two years.

    Asher’s Bakery – Historic ruling on gay cake equality.

    The owners of Asher’s Bakery in Northern Ireland, were found to have acted unlawfully in a historic legal case after refusing to make a cake that bore the wording: “Support Gay Marriage.” Gareth Lee, a gay rights activist, took the civil case to court with the support of the Equality Commission. The case became so high profile that Prime Minister David Cameron waded in to comment on his commitment to equality.

    Dolce And Gabbana – Don’t talk about gay parents or IVF.

    The fashion duo found themselves on the end of a long Twitter storm that did untold damage to their luxury brand.

    Speaking to the Italian magazine Panorama, alongside his business partner, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce said children should be born to a mother and a father, “The only family is a traditional one. I’m not convinced by those I call the chemical children, synthetic babies…They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue … psychiatrists are not ready to confront the effects of this experimentation.”

    Stefano Gabbana added: “The family is not a fad.”

    The designing duo did backtrack on what they had said, but the damage had been done by that point.

     

    Sweet Cakes – No cakes for gays.

    Sweet Cakes is a US bakery that was fined $135000 for discriminating against a gay couple. The owners refused to make a wedding cake. The owners went to GoFundMe crowdfunding site to look for donations to pay their fines. After GoFundMe pulled the campaign they started another on ContinueToGive, which saw them raise 3 times the amount they had originally asked for.

     

    Memories Pizza – No pizza for gay weddings.

    The owners of Memories Pizza didn’t actually discriminate but said that they would. The comments went viral and before long the owners said that they had been driven underground. A crowdfunder campaign was started for them, which went on to raise over $800,000 in donations.

     

    Subway – A promo for all couples… Except for gay couples.

    A Subway restaurateur from Angers in France displayed a promotion in his window that excluded gay couples  because the marriage bill for marriage equality hadn’t officially passed. A spokesperson from Subway said, “The SUBWAY® brand is committed to maintaining a diverse and inclusive environment around the world and does not condone discrimination of any kind. We apologize to anyone who was offended by this individual store’s Valentine’s Day promotion in Angers, France. All SUBWAY stores are independently owned and operated. We are working with the owner to reinforce our corporate values and policies.

     

    Armani – Don’t Dress Like A Homosexual.

    Giorgio Armani rattled some feathers when in an interview with The Sunday Times Magazine he said, “A homosexual man is a man 100 per cent. He does not need to dress homosexual.

    “When homosexuality is exhibited to the extreme – to say: ‘Ah, you know I’m homosexual,’ – that has nothing to do with me. A man has to be a man.”

     

    Coca Cola – All about the gay marriage, unless it’s not legal…

    Coco-Cola the world’s biggest drinks manufacturer was slammed for removing a gay couple segment from the Irish version of the advert. The advert was apparently tweaked to fit where the advert is shown – with the gay couple being shown everywhere in Europe where gay marriage and civil partnerships are currently legal. A spokesperson for the drinks company said:

    “The wedding images used in the ad for the UK and in other parts of Europe show two men getting married.

    “The reason this was changed for Ireland is while civil partnership for gay people is legal, gay marriage currently is not. We wanted each ad to be relevant and valid for its own market.”

    Since the adverts creation Ireland went on to legalise same-sex marriage.

     

    Barilla Pasta – Let them eat another brand

    The company which was founded in 1827 and reportedly made €3.9b in revenues in 2010 has came under fire after its chairman Guido Barilla, gave an interview to La Zanzara Radio24, in which he offended many LGBT customers.

    He was answering a question regarding the lack of gay families in the company’s advertising. He suggested that gay couples would never be used saying,

    ‘”Our family is a traditional family,’ he added that he,

    “wouldn’t do an ad with a homosexual family not because I disrespect gays – they have their right to do whatever they want without disturbing others – but because I don’t think like them and I think that the family we try to address is anyway a classic family.”

    Barilla then went on to suggest that if gay people didn’t like the company’s values, they could ‘eat another brand’.

    Since the fallout, Barillo committed to creating an advisory board on diversity and said that advertising campaign would be more inclusive.

     

    Chick-Fil-A Palin in a bun

    Chick-Fil-A president Dan Cathy doesn’t like same-sex marriage and was basically jumped by Sarah Palin in her approval of his message. Cathy tweeted that the Supreme Court’s decision to strike down a key part of the Defence of Marriage Act is a “sad day for our nation,”then promptly deleted it. In 2012 Sarah Palin went on Twitter to support the chain that many from the LGBT community have boycotted.

     

    Thistles No Double Beds for Gays

    In Feb 2013 a gay couple claimed that a receptionist at Thistles hotel in Barbican denied them a pre-booked double room. The reception is alleged to repeatedly ask whether the couple wanted single beds. Nick Hurley and his partner tweeted their disgust saying that the receptionist was homophobic.

    Thistle Hotels quickly responded by apologising and stating that they had a zero tolerance policy on discrimination, but not before Nick Hurley’s tweet was retweeted 2642 times

  • Evander Holyfield On The Wrong Side Of LGBTs Again

    Former Heavy Weight champion Evander Holyfield has once again caused controversy within the LGBT community after saying that Caitlyn Jenner is still Bruce.

    Evander Holyfield has been slammed after referring to Caitlyn Jenner as Bruce, despite the former Olympian turned TV star announcing her name is now Caitlyn.

    However Holyfield who has a history of bigoted views against gay people said after an impassioned acceptance speech by Jenner at the ESPYS awards, “I just know that’s Bruce Jenner and I’ll leave it at that”, according to BBC Newsbeat.

    The boxer who once said that being gay wasn’t “normal” has been criticised by trans activists who maintain that it is inappropriate to use someone’s old name, when it’s been made clear that the person wants people to use a new name and pronouns to describe them.

  • The Man Who Wants Everyone To Know That Harry Styles Has A Foreskin

    Penis activist wants young American fans of Harry Styles to know that he has a foreskin.

    Glen Callender is a foreskin crusader and he’s on a mission to ensure that our foreskins stay intact. Speaking about his mission and specifically about One Directions’ Harry Styles he said to Noisey Canada

    “I think it’s important from a cultural point of view that we make it known and educate that Styles has an uncircumcised penis,”

    “We have a lot of North American girls who are being conditioned from their respective cultures to say that foreskin is yucky and they don’t even understand that they young beautiful men they idolize have their penises intact.”

    Callender sees it his mission to stop the forced circumcision the world over.

    Callender who created the Canadian Foreskin Awareness Project also has a Pride, called, Foreskin Pride.

     

    ”The foreskin is a pleasure organ, it makes people happy, and that’s what the world should be like.” Callender told Noisey Canada.

  • Tim Farron Asked Three Times If Gay Sex Is A Sin

    The newly elected leader of the Liberal Democrats has failed to quash fears about his moral views on homosexuality after failing to answer whether he thought gay sex was a sin or not.

    During an interview on Channel 4 news earlier this week, Cathy Newman asked the new leader “Personally, do you think as a Christian, that homosexual sex is a sin?”

    Christians “do not go around forcing their views on other people” he answered and failed to answer the question. Cathy Newman then quoted a Leviticus quote, to which he responded: “My faith is based upon my belief that Jesus Christ is who he said he is”

    So evasive was he over the question she asked three times.
    The Brian Paddick backed Tim Farron was elected the new leader of the Liberal Democrats after former Deputy Prime Minister and Lib Dem leader Nick Clegg stood down.

    Tim Farron has come under pressure after abstaining on the gay marriage vote.

    Stewart McDonald MP for Glasgow South Tweeted,

    “Sorry Tim, but it’ll take a lot more than sound bites to convince anyone that you’re serious about LGBT equality.”

     

    Guardian columnist Giles Fraser suggested that if Tim Farron thought that gay sex was sinful that the future of the party was in trouble and that he was “utterly lost as a LibDem leader”.

     

    In 2007 Tim Farron voted against the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations in 2007, a law which protects against discrimination based on sexual orientation in the provision of goods and services. The law was used to bring Asher’s Bakery in Northern Ireland to account for refusing to make a cake with a pro-gay marriage slogan on it.

  • Gawker Editors Condemn Removal Of “Gay Shaming” Outing Of Exec

    The editorial team at Gawker.com have condemned of the removal of an article which many readers have derided as “gay shaming” of a Conde Nast exec.

    The removal of an article which outs the married father of three and Chief Financial Officer of Condé Nast, David Geithener, who allegedly tried to pay for 2 to 3 hours with a gay porn star, has been criticised by the site’s editorial team who say that the take down was an “unprecedented breach of the firewall.”

    They are up in arms that ‘business executives deleted an editorial post over the objections of the entire executive editorial staff”.

    Huffington Post’s national editor, Katie Nelson took a swing at Gawker, stating that what they had published was “gay shaming” and not journalism.

    The owner of Gawker, Nick Denton, who is openly gay, took down the post yesterday after revealing that publishing it was decision he regretted. The removal of the story is the first time that the gossip and news site has formally taken down a story, despite Denton acknowledging that the article was “true and well reported.”

    Gawker Media, which is incorporated in the Cayman Islands owns Gawker.com. Deadspin and Jezebel.

    David Geithener denies knowing the gay porn star.

  • Gawker Is Slammed For Gay Shaming After Outing Condé Nast Exec

    Gawker Is Slammed For Gay Shaming After Outing Condé Nast Exec

    Gawker, one of the Internet’s leading news sites is facing harsh criticism after revealing that a Condé Nast exec allegedly tried to pay for a night with a gay porn star.

    (more…)

  • IVAN MASSOW: Video Hits 500K Views

    London Mayor hopeful, Ivan Massow, has amassed nearly 500,000 views on his viral video.

    Streaking ahead as a firm favourite for Londoners, the openly gay, self-made millionaire, has seen the video created for his campaign to make Londoners aware of Massow, uploaded a month ago, has reached nearly half a million hits on Facebook and 40,000 on YouTube.

     

    Meet Ivan Massow. He wants to be the next Mayor of London, and here's why. Posted by Ivan Massow on Monday, 18 May 2015
      The video has attracted over 2500 likes and 548 shares. In the video, Ivan tells the audience that he is gay, that he’s an activist, an ex-alcohol and that he has dyslexia. He mentions that he is adopted and that he is a disruptor. Along with Brighton born Ivan, 47, Andrew Boff, Sol Campbell, Simon Fawthrop, Zac Goldsmith and Stephen Greenhalgh are the Conservative candidates that have declared.

  • Tim Farron Wins Liberal Democrat Leadership Race

    A new leader has been announced for the Lib Dems.

    The Brian Paddick backed candidate, Tim Farron has won the leadership battle to front the Liberal Democrats. Tim Farron is the party’s former president.

    Speaking about Farron’s record on equality issues Paddick remarked,

    “Tim Farron has come under a lot of criticism from people who either deliberately or simply misread Tim’s position when it came to votes in the House of Commons on equal marriage,

    “He did ask for a change in the timetable to allow more discussion over complex issues around people who have honestly held beliefs who are currently employed as registrars, for example, who would feel very uncomfortable because it conflicts with their faith to conduct an equal marriage ceremony. He felt not enough time had been allowed in the parliamentary time belt to discuss those issues.”

     

    Tim Farrow had been up against Norman Lamb who said,

    “This leadership election has energised and united our party. Tim Farron will be a passionate leader of our party, championing social justice and leading from the front in our campaign to rebuild the liberal voice in our country. I will give him my full backing.”

     

    A statement released by the Lib Dems said:

    “We are delighted to announce that Tim Farron has been elected as Leader of the Liberal Democrats.

    “In an all-member ballot for the leadership, 56% of members voted with the result revealed this afternoon.

    “Tim Farron received 56.5% of the votes and in second place Norman Lamb received the backing of 43.5%.”

  • What Happens When Two Men Try To Hold Hands In Russia

    ChebuRussia TV of YouTube decided to try a social experiment on the streets of Moscow to see what would happen when two men held hands in public.

    Using a hidden camera in a back pack to capture the response from the general public, two men from ChebuRussia held hands in the Russian capital city of Moscow. The couple endured abusive outbursts from various people around the city, with some pointing fingers and shouting abuse at the couple, with one man yelling “Leave Russia”.

     

    Most of the outbursts towards the couple were from men.

    Two passersby physically assaulted them by walking directly into their path on two separate occasions.

    One member of ChebuRussia said, “I’m a bit frightened by his reaction, he hit hard”, after the assault.

     

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    A photo posted by ChebuRussian TV (@cheburussiantv) on

    The three-minute thirty video shows how tough it is to be openly gay in Moscow. The video has had over 3 million views in just one day.

    In 2013 President Putin passed a law which outlawed the promotion of homosexuality to anyone under the age of 18.

  • Designer Who Put Men In Skirts On Runways Designs Diet Coke Bottles

    Jonathan Anderson has been tapped to design Diet Coke’s bottle.

     

     

    The openly gay British designer Jonathan Anderson, who owns fashion label J.W.Anderson, has been snapped up to be part of Diet Coke’s Regret Nothing Campaign, which encourages fans to “embrace their impulsive side.”

    Jonathan Anderson, 30, is famed for putting men into skirts and patent red shoes for his London Collections in January last year. In an interview with The Independentearlier this year, he said of his vision,

     

    “You need to make sure that at least 35 per cent of it is something that you’re not comfortable with,

    “Because if you get too comfortable you know that it’s stale.”

     

    His appointment to the $11 billion per year soft drink giant, Diet Coke, sees him following in the footsteps of Karl Lagerfeld and Jean Paul Gaultier.