THEGAYUK

Category: News

  • Soho Bombing Victims’ Plaque Missing

    The original Soho Bomb memorial plaque has gone missing according to Mark Healey, the founder of the anti-hate campaign 17-24-30.org, from its position in St. Anne’s Gardens in Soho, London.

    Soho Nail Bombing Victim Plague

    The memorial remembers the three victims who lost their lives in the blast which ripped through the popular Soho pub, the Admiral Duncan in April 1999, killing Andrea Dykes, John Light and Nick Moore.

    The Soho nail bomb was the 3rd of three attacks planned and orchestrated by David Copeland. He planted the other two bombs in Brixton (17th April 1999) and Brick Lane (24th April 1999).

    He is currently serving six concurrent life sentences and in 2007 the High Court ruled that he must serve 50 years.

    In a statement from 17-24-30 the organisers of the Act Of Remembrance which is to take place on the 30th April have said that, ’17-24-30 have agreed to help cover the costs so that it can be ordered straight away and hopefully in place ready for the service on Tuesday 30th April – marking the 14th anniversary of the attacks.’

    The new plaque will cost £260 and it is hoped that it will be delivered and installed before Tuesday’s service.

  • Reports Of Homophobic Crime Drop In London from 2012 to 2013

    Figures released by the Metropolitan Police Service (MPS), the UK’s biggest police force, show that reports of crimes that are perceived as homophobic, either ‘by the victim or any other person’ are down 12.7% in the last 12 months.

    In total 1,103 homophobic crimes were reported to the MPS in the 12 months up to March 2013, whilst the year before 1,264 crimes were reported.

    Of the 32 boroughs policed by the MPS, 12 reported an increase in reported homophobic crimes, with Enfield observing the biggest increase in reports. Nineteen boroughs had lower reportages and Ealing had exactly the same number of reports as the previous year.

    An Enfield Council Spokesperson said:

    “Enfield Council works closely with the police and the local community to deal with hate crime against the LGBT community and works tirelessly to create an environment where people affected by homophobic hate crime feel confident enough to report what has happened to them in a supportive environment.

    “While the number of homophobic crimes reported in Enfield this year remains extremely low, thanks to our extensive work with the police in this area, we have seen a significant increase in confidence amongst the LGBT community and consequently the number of reports of homophobic hate crime have increased.

    “Enfield Safer and Stronger Communities Board have a number of initiatives in place to engage with and support the LGBT community including our hate crime strategy, Enfield Council also funds the LGBT Network to help provide support for the community work it does and we have run a number of successful initiatives to improve tolerance and community cohesion amongst all our communities.”

    Overall crime is down in London by 6% and the MPS Commissioner Sir Bernard Hogan-Howe said: “Crime is down by 6%. This includes some excellent performance across London, with serious youth violence down by 28%, gun crime down 20%. Robberies are down by over 10% and 1000 gang members are in prison or under judicial restriction.

    “These are very significant numbers that have been achieved against a backdrop of substantial operational challenges to the Metropolitan Police such as the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee celebrations, the London Olympics and Paralympic Games. All of this has been done whilst also saving money.

    “I hope the people of London will be proud of the Met’s achievements.”

    You can take a look at your borough’s crime rates at:http://www.met.police.uk/crimefigures

  • France Becomes 14th Nation To Legalise Gay Marriage

    France’s Government passes same-sex marriage in final vote in Parliament.

    France is ready to become the 14th nation on earth to legalise same-sex marriage after the National Assembly passed the bill in a vote.

    331 voted in favour, while 225 voted against – giving same-sex couples the legal right to marry.

    Pinknews are reporting that the final step in making marriage equality law in France is for the president, Francois Hollande to sign the bill.

    President Hollande as already given his formal approval.

    The revelation follows the news that New Zealand voted in favour of marriage equality last week.

    However there has been much tension in France surrounding the issue of gay marriage with one major organisation, La Manif Pour Tous (Demo For All), coordinating mass rallies in the French capital, Paris.

    Indeed, tensions where so high during voting that “legions” of police were assembled outside the National Assembly with water cannons.

    In January over 340,000 people took to the streets of Paris to demonstrate against the bill.

    A less successful attempt was orchestrated by La Manif Pour Tous in London in Trafalgar Square last month.

    A number of high profile homophobic attacks have also been reported in the last few weeks. On April 6th a gay couple were beaten in Paris and last weekend a young gay dancer, Raphaël Leclerc was beaten in Nice.

  • Touching Tribute From A 7-Year Old Pupil Of Trans Teacher Lucy Meadows

    Nearly 100 Teachers, union members and students joined forces on Saturday to march in memory of Lucy Meadows, a trans teacher from Accrington in the United Kingdom, who was found dead in her home in March.

    Miss Meadows was thrust into the media spotlight after a letter to parents from the head teacher of St. Mary Magdalene’s Primary School, where she was working, regarding her transition was sent to the press in December.

    A day later the Daily Mail published a column by Richard Littlejohn that was headlined:

    “He’s not only in the wrong body… he’s in the wrong job”

    A petition, which called for the resignation of Richard Littlejohn because of the article, garnered over 200,000 signatures in less than a week and a vigil held outside theDaily Mail offices in London in memory of Miss. Meadows attracted over two hundred people.

    Daisy Moreton, a 7-year-old student at St. Mary Magdalene’s attended the event on Saturday and according to the Manchester Evening News carried a handwritten poem that she had composed for her late teacher.

    The poem read: “Makes you happy/ in high spirits/ smiles/ said kind things./ Made us feel good/ ever helpful/ always nice/ delightful/ one of a kind/ wonderful teacher/ scientist.”

    Speaking to the Manchester Evening News, organiser Debs Gwynn, the North West National Union of Teachers Lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender representative, said:

    “This rally was called for two reasons – to allow the local community to show support and solidarity for what happened and to raise the issue of transphobia more widely.

    “I have been talking to parents and pupils today and the kids were supportive of Lucy. And they are devastated that their teacher is now dead.”

    She added:

    “It was a great success, lots of people spoke at the end and they were keen to stress that they were there to support Lucy, her family and her colleagues.

    An inquest into Miss. Meadows death has been opened and adjourned.

  • New Zealand MP Gives Powerful Speech On Gay Marriage

    New Zealand MP Maurice Williamson has delivered a powerful speech following the legalisation of gay marriage in the country.

    Watch the video here of MP Williamson attacking any far fetched ideas that gay marriage would doom New Zealand in an amusing yet powerful speech.

    ‘We are not declaring nuclear war on a foreign state, we are not bringing a virus in that could wipe out our agriculture sector forever, we are allowing two people who love each other to have that recognised and I can’t see what’s wrong with that.’

    ‘I also sir had a Catholic priest tell me that I was supporting an unnatural act. I found that quite interesting coming from someone who’s taken an oath of celibacy for his entire life.’

    Watch The Full Speech Here: Gay Marriage Speech By NZ MP

  • Gay Marriage Now Legal In New Zealand

    Early reports are coming through that Gay Marriage is now legal in New Zealand.

    Reports coming through from Twitter reveal that politicians voted 77 for marriage equality and 44 against.

    According to @MarriageEquality on Twitter, New Zealand is the 13th country in the world to legalise gay marriage.

    Gay marriage is legal the following countries: Argentina, Belgium, Canada, Denmark, Iceland, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Uruguay

    The bill introduces marriage equality for all regardless of sex, gender identity and sexual orientation.

    Meanwhile the hash tag #MarriageEquality overshadowed Margaret Thatcher’s hash tag #thatcherfuneral on Twitter. The former prime minister of the United Kingdom has her funeral today in London after dying a week ago from a stoke.

    Margaret Thatcher was known for her divisive leadership and in terms of gay rights was the country’s premier, when the first anti-gay law in 100 years was enacted in the form of Section 28, which forbade the ‘promotion’ of homosexuality in schools in the UK.

  • Eurovision Unveils Butterfly Logo

    We’re gearing up here at TGUK HQ for Eurovision 2013. With Bonnie burning up in the wings we’re sure this year’s contest will be fair, fun and fabulously Swedish.

    Eurovision 2013

    Ok sarcasm aside about the fair bit, we’re quite taken with this year’s logo, which takes the shape of a rather beautiful butterfly.

    So where’s the idea from? Well the lovely peeps at Eurovision.TV have said:

    ‘Eurovision Song Contest is a shared project. It unites millions of people. In the east, west, north and south. Beyond all the glitter, there is a thought. A big idea that is 100% relevant for Public Service. It’s about togetherness, diversity and happiness. Eurovision Song Contest might appear as a trivial matter. But a trivial matter that engages over one hundred million people of all ages in more than 40 countries all over the world. And today science knows that sometimes small matters can start powerful and big movements. This phenomenon is called ”The Butterfly Effect”. A flap from one butterfly can – at least in theory – start a hurricane. Butterflies have one common name, but exist in thousands of different shapes and colours. Just like the Eurovision Song Contest, one strong identity with a rich national diversitiesy [sic]. Working together, we can achieve anything – We are one.

    Ah, isn’t it beautiful!!

    So Eurovision is just over a month away, what will you be doing for it?

  • GMFA Faces Uncertain Future After Funding Cuts

    GMFA Faces Uncertain Future After Funding Cuts

    As Sexual Health becomes the focus of a new programme on Channel 4 tonight, one of UK’s leading gay health charities, GMFA looks set to be losing its funding, leaving it with an uncertain future.

    Pinknews is reporting that GMFA, which was founded in 1992, will no longer receive funding for its London HIV Information Services after being notified that funding had been cut from the Pan-London HIV Prevention Programme, which is funded by the NHS.

    Services affected will be GMFA’s websites and the sex and health magazine, FS – as well as Terrence Higgins Trust press advertising campaigns.

    GMFA’s Head of Programmes, Matthew Hodson, said:

    “I am genuinely shocked and appalled by these decisions. I fail to understand the thinking behind it. There are more gay men living with HIV in London than anywhere else in the UK, and the numbers continue to rise.

    “Considering the size of London’s gay population, there is an urgent need for broad based campaigns and information resources, which are able to reach 1,000s of men. All of the work that is continuing to be funded can at best only reach a fraction of London’s gay population, and these cuts comes at a time when the need to raise awareness is higher than ever.”

    Cary James, Head of Health Improvement Programmes at Terrence Higgins Trust, said:

    “This kind of large-scale cut to HIV prevention is always risky, but in areas of high prevalence it is positively short-sighted. The capital has by far the highest level of HIV in the UK. Cutting prevention services here will lead to an increase in new infections, each of which incurs a lifetime treatment cost to the NHS of anywhere up to £350,000. We are doing everything we can to fill the gaps, but without sustained investment in city-wide prevention work we and our partner organisations will be fighting with one arm tied behind our back.”

    The cuts come at a time where new HIV infections amongst gay men are at an all time high. Higher than the levels recorded in the 1980s.

    56 Dean Street, The Gay UK’s official sexual health partners are the focus of a brand new programme tonight on Channel 4. The documentary follows the team at London’s busiest sexual health clinic.

  • The Shocking Face Of Homophobia In France

    A gay couple in France were beaten unconscious in Paris on Saturday night in a shocking homophobic bashing.

    Posting this gruesome picture on Facebook, Wilfred de Brujin said on Facebook that he and his boyfriend Olivier were beaten so badly he lost a tooth, suffered broken bones and two black eyes. He was targeted on Saturday night because they were walking arm in arm.

    The picture was posted on Mr. De Brujin’s Facebook.

    He said: ‘Sorry to show you this,

    ‘It’s the face of homophobia. Last night 19th arrondissement, Paris, Olivier and I were badly beaten just for walking arm in arm.

    ‘I woke up in an ambulance covered in blood, missing tooth and broken bones around the eye.

    I’m home now. Very sad.’

    The President of gay rights group SOS Homophobie, Elizabeth Ronzier, told The Local:

    ‘This was a shocking and incredibly violent incident. We have seen a 30% rise in the number of homophobic incidents since October.

    ‘This is a result of the opposition towards the gay marriage bill,’ she added. ‘These people say they are not homophobic but they are. Homophobia has become trivialized [sic], which is proved by the number of verbal assaults on gay people, which often to lead to physical assaults.’

    Representatives from La Manif Pour Tous condemned the attack and groups like SOS Homophobie saying:

    ‘Groups like SOS Homophobia should be ashamed for trying to blame us for these acts,”

    Xavier Bongibault, one of the movement’s leaders told The Local on Monday.

    ‘We strongly condemn this act of violence but there is no link whatsoever to the Manif pour Tous. We have said since the beginning that we are not against homosexuals, we are simply against the government’s legislation.’said Bongibault, who himself is gay.

    The savage beaten comes just over fortnight after the anti-gay marriage campaigning group, La Manif Pour Tous held a demonstration in France’s capital city protesting the rights of gay people to marry.

    The Local states that gay-rights groups are set to hold a protest on 10th April 2013 in response to the attack against Mr De Brujin

  • Human Rights Campaign Explains SCOTUS

    We’ve all been hearing about about ‘Scotus’ (Supreme Court Of the United States) recently and for those living outside the United States, it could be quite confusing.

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  • Peter Tatchells Calls Baroness Thatcher “Extraordinary” For All The “Wrong Reasons”

    Peter Tatchell Tweets His Condolences For ‘Extraordinary’ Thatcher.

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