Dancing On Ice has beaten BBC’s Strictly Come Dancing to introduce a same-sex couple in its show, in a landmark move for ITV.
The show’s same-sex pairing will be Steps’ Ian “H” Watkins and he will skate and dance with Matt Evers, who came out as gay in 2016.
A source told Digital Spy: “After conversations with the Dancing on Ice production team, H enquired as to the possibility of being paired with a male professional skater.
“Dancing on Icewere fully supportive of a same-sex partnership and as such this year H will be paired with Matt Evers.”
The organisation which runs a lobby, publisher, legal clinic and academy have used Twitter to “choose hate”.
The organisation which runs a book publisher, legal centre and lobby has used twitter to attack the LGBT+ community.
Christian Concern, the organisation which is currently supporting actor Seyi Omooba sue her former agency and a theatre after a backlash against a “homophobic” Facebook post she posted in 2014, took to their official Twitter to claim that “homosexuality is not right”.
On the 30th September 2019 Christian Concern took to Twitter to write,
Another user questioned, “Why do so-called “Christians” get so hung up about gay sex? Seems an odd thing to focus on when there’s so much more bad stuff going in in the world (like mindless shootings, racism, xenophobia and the like) where people are actually getting hurt. Maybe sort your priorities?”
Why do so called "Christians" get so hung up about gay sex? Seems an odd thing to focus on when there's so much more bad stuff going in in the world (like mindless shootings, racism, xenophobia and the like) where people are actually getting hurt. Maybe sort your priorities?
The organisation which is funded, in part, by the charity Faith, Truth and Hope often uses social media to comment on LGBT+ legal issues, as well as abortion and legal issues surrounding Christianity.
The actor who was dropped from a production of The Color Purple after the discovery of a Facebook post, in which she said she didn’t think homosexuality was correct, is suing the theatre company and her agency.
@Seyiomooba Do you still stand by this post? Or are you happy to remain a hypocrite? Seeing as you’ve now been announced to be playing an LGBTQ character, I think you owe your LGBTQ peers an explanation. Immediately. pic.twitter.com/GK2xbzZYgy
— Aaron Lee Lambert (he/him) 🍉 (@aleelambert) March 15, 2019
The Facebook post from 2014, went viral earlier this year when actor Aaron Lee shared a screenshot on Twitter saying Omooba owed an explanation to the gay community for her words.
She refused to appologise for the post, in which she wrote, that she does not believe people “can be born gay”.
She added, “I do not believe homosexuality is right, though the law
of this land has made it legal doesn’t mean its [sic] right.”
At the time, Curve and Birmingham Hippodrome released a statement saying that Omooba “will no longer be involved with the production” after admitting that the post had “caused significant and widely expressed concerns”.
The actor is now suing the Curve Theatre in Leicester and her agency Global Artists saying that her career is in ruins after the backlash against her.
Christian Concern released a video saying that Seyi had in a “cruel turn of events… found herself in uncharted waters”
The famous high-street department store is selling these Aubergine bauble tree decorations and we’re dying.
The cheeky hanging (we’re not sure if it’s to the left or to right) decorations are currently being listed on the John Lewis website and are retailing at £8.
The aubergine has long been associated with a certain part of the male anatomy and has become a staple part of sexting on social media and hook up apps like Grindr.
However, it appears that the designers of the hanging decoration have either ignored this connection, completely ignorant of its day-to-day use – or are very very savvy people.
Apparently, it’s all part of John Lewis’s “Garden Retreat” decoration pack, which the website suggests “surrounding yourself in nature can ease the mind”.
Well quite.
Alongside your Aubergine, you could hang their Corn, Asparagus or Avocado bauble…
Police in London are looking to speak to five suspects after four victims were sprayed with a corrosive substance in an alleged homophobic assault outside a KFC in Brixton.
The attack happened back in January 2019, but following a Crimewatch appeal, Police have released footage of the men they are looking to speak to in connection with the incident.
In total, four people were assaulted with what is thought to be a corrosive substance spray. Detectives are treating the incidents as linked.
The footage, taken from a KFC on Brixton Road, SW9, shows five males police would like to speak to in connection with both incidents.
According to police reports, the attacks happened on Saturday, 19 January, with the first taking place at around 04:00hrs inside a KFC where a corrosive spray was used on two male victims.
The second attack happened just 20 minutes later at a bus stop close to the KFC where the CCTV footage was taken.
The two 22-year-old victims told police at the scene that they had been sprayed by an unknown noxious substance, thought to be a type of pepper spray, in what appears to be a hate crime attack.
Detectives from the South Area Command Unit are continuing to appeal for both victims of the first incident to make themselves known to police to give their account of the assault, and assist with enquiries.
Suspect [1] is described as a black male, wearing a black beanie, grey tracksuit, with dark elbow patches and a gilet-type jacket.
The second suspect [2] is described as a light-skinned black male with a ‘chin strap’ beard and of a tall muscular build.
The third male [3] is a black male who had his hood up, the top had white scribbles on it.
Another suspect [4] was seen wearing a dark navy tracksuit with multiple white stripes on the legs.
The final suspect [5] was a black male and of a larger build than the other men, with curly, short hair, green tracksuit trousers and a black puffa-style jacket.
Detective Constable Amy Cross, of Lambeth CID, the lead investigator on this case, said, “This was a completely unprovoked and targeted attack on at least two members of the public, with a further two victims not yet in contact with police.
“Both the attack and the homophobic motivation of this assault are abhorrent, and I appeal to anyone with any information that could assist the investigation to come forward.”
Anyone with information is asked to conduct Lambeth CID by dialling 101 and quoting reference CAD 1206/19JAN19.
A Twitter user, who describes herself as Jesus loving and a having a BA in English and Bible decided to show her enormous bigotry and lack of understanding by posting a tweet in which she said gay sex caused “significant bodily pain and torture”.
In the tweet, which has been commented on over 600 times, Lisa Bedrick wrote,
“Homosexuality is not loving, it’s one person causing another person significant bodily pain and torture.
“A male penis was Never meant to be inserted into the anus, and it leads to tons of health issues if or when it is.
Well it took no time for Twitter react and it had one basic message for Lisa.
“You’re doing it wrong”
At time of publishing the tweet has been commented on over 650 times and retweeted just 20, meaning that Lisa has been severleyratio’d on the platform.
Many of those who responded to Ms Bedrick told her that she had “no idea” what she was on about, while others criticised her for her homophobic tweet.
One user told her, “The opening line of your bio tell me that ever word that tumbles out of your deluded mouth, powered by a closed and indoctrinated mind needs to be treated with the contempt it deserves.”
The opening line of your bio tell me that ever word that tumbles out of your deluded mouth, powered by a closed and indoctrinated mind needs to be treated with the contempt it deserves.
Data has revealed that Whitney, ABBA and The Weather Girls top the list of the 10 top songs played at gay weddings.
This data comes from events company Eventopedia, who analysed thousands of songs from Spotify data across all playlists including the terms “gay wedding 2019” and “LGBT wedding” in order to find the most frequently featured and therefore most popular songs for gay weddings in 2019.
The number one spot went to “I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)” by Whitney Houston, which appeared most often across 2019 Spotify gay wedding playlists and has over 371 million streams on Spotify itself.
The full results are below:
Rank
Song
Artist
Released
Spotify streams
1
I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me)
Whitney Houston
1987
371M
2
Dancing Queen
ABBA
1976
300M
3
It’s Raining Men
The Weather Girls
1983
108M
4
Uptown Funk
Bruno Mars & Mark Ronson
2014
1.0B
5
Dreams
Fleetwood Mac
1977
298M
6
September
Earth, Wind & Fire
1978
526M
7
Best of My Love
The Emotions
1977
62M
8
Born This Way
Lady Gaga
2011
178M
9
I’m Coming Out
Diana Ross
1980
87M
10
Man! I Feel Like A Woman!
Shania Twain
1997
161M
What makes the ideal song for LGBT weddings in 2019?
In contrast, the average perfect first dance song 2019 was released around 2003, far later than the 80s theme of the gay wedding songs. The average song tempo at 112 was also less than gay wedding playlists, as was the length sitting at 3:42 – a whole 24 seconds less.
If we look at average stats of the top 10 gay wedding songs for this year, we can see the average release date is 1988, the average length is 4:06 and the tempo is 120.
The top 10 first dance songs 2019 are listed below:
Rank
Song
Artist
Released
Spotify streams
1
All Of Me
John Legend
2013
997M
2
Can’t Help Falling in Love
Elvis
1969
229M
3
Die A Happy Man
Thomas Rhett
2015
276M
4
Let’s Stay Together
Al Green
1972
190M
5
Say You Won’t Let Go
James Arthur
2016
1.2B
6
A Thousand Years
Christina Perri
2011
554M
7
Make You Feel My Love
Adele
2008
426M
8
Better Together
Jack Johnson
2005
304M
9
Just the Way You Are
Bruno Mars
2010
618M
10
Latch (acoustic)
Sam Smith
2013
38M
What makes the ideal song for LGBT weddings in 2019?
If we look at average stats of the top 10 gay wedding songs for this year, we can see the average release date is 1988, the average length is 4:06 and the tempo is 120.
The research also looked at the top first dance songs used at weddings across the board for 2019 by looking through all playlists on Spotify which included the terms “first dance 2019” to find the most frequently featured songs.
Toby Heelis, Founder of Eventopedia said, “Weddings are often the most significant event of people’s lives, and having the right music to accompany it is just as important. The first dance is a defining moment so making sure we choose the perfect soundtrack is paramount, as is ensuring the balance between being emotional and not being overly cringey.”
Cosmopolitan magazine has been heavily criticised after publishing an article entitled “What you need to know about TERFs”
Leading lifestyle magazine, Cosmopolitan has been blasted by hundreds of social media users after it published an article called, “TERFs and what everyone needs to know about ‘trans-exclusionary radical feminists”, with the subheading, “Let’s call them what they actually are: anti-trans activists”.
Terf, which is an initialism of “Trans Exclusionary Radical Feminists” is seen by some as a slur, with many in the community preferring the term, gender critical feminists. One user reminded Cosmopolitan, “It’s a slur against women. That’s what YOU need to know, cosmo. Outrageous.”
After the magazine tweeted about their article, which was authored by Grace Walsh, over 300 people commented, a vast increase in the usual engagement it receives on its twitter profile.
Many of the commentators said they had reported the magazine to Twitter for hate speech.
One user commented, “Bloody hell, what a nasty offensive term to use about women who have an opinion”, while another added, “cosmo, you’re embarrassing yourselves”. Others commented that they wondering how the article was approved for publication.
The article describes TERFs as a “minority group, that normally stick to online forums” and “known as someone who supposedly stands for women’s rights, while only considering people who were assigned female at birth to be women”.
AfterEllen.com co-owner, Gaye Chapman, hit out against the magazine saying, “Terf is a slur: it’s a weapon against gender critical – not anti-trans – people. Trans people should have the same rights as anyone else. They should not be accorded sex-based rights because of their Gender Identity. That will negatively impact females. You can’t change your sex”.
Terf is a slur: it's a weapon against gender critical – not anti-trans – people. Trans people should have the same rights as anyone else. They should not be accorded sex based rights because of their Gender Identity. That will negatively impact females. You can't change your sex.
YouTube has upset many in the YouTube community after it sent an email explaining it was going to unverify thousands of creators.
Many in the LGBT+ YouTube creators’ community feel angry and disproportionally affected after the platform said it would unverify already approved accounts during October. This comes on top on many complaining about having their content, particularly more adult in nature, being demonetised.
The move according to YouTube will make the platform “more consistent” for users and creators.
YouTube laid out its criteria for verification saying that verified users must
have a large audience and community on YouTube
Be widely recognised outside of YouTube and have a strong online presence
Have a channel that could be confused with another channel on YouTube.
Many who have taken to Twitter to complain that they had received an email from YouTube have millions of subscribers and feel that they are well-known outside the YouTube community.
“Feels like undervaluing hardworking individuals”
User, Amp Somers who is a sex educator and co-host of the YouTube channel @watts the safe word which has over 198,000 subscribers explained why the changes were bad news for creators, writing,
“We worked hard to get to where our channel is, and I know other creators who work even harder getting this same treatment. This feels like undervaluing hardworking individuals and making sure celebrities and large corporations get preference on the platform. And that bothers me.
“Let’s be clear, verification doesn’t really mean much on YouTube functionally, but it’s a huge slap in the face to creators who’ve spent years trying to be validated by a platform. It’s just poor taste and disrespectful to the community”.
We're no longer verified on YouTube so joining the bandwagon. I get we aren't the biggest channel, but what even is this update for @TeamYouTube?
Creators have to have people impersonating them or make waves in the news (which is usually just drama) in order to get verified? pic.twitter.com/jM9MtRoKEl
Creator Matthew Lush, who runs the GayGod channel, informed his fans on Twitter that he had recieved an email from YouTube, saying, “Holy shit I got the email from YouTube saying I’m no longer going to be verified. Well there goes 13yrs down the drain…”https://twitter.com/MatthewLush/status/1174767392167088128
THEGAYUK.com reached out to YouTube for comment on whether the LGBT+ creator’s community was being disproportionally affected, which they did not answer, instead pointing us towards a generic blog post.
A Warwickshire politician has been called out over a Facebook post in which he refers to queer people as those “who chose fish in unnatural waters”
The Chair of Claverdon Parish Council, in Warwickshire Cllr has been called out by Warwickshire Pride after an alleged Facebook post in which he said that queer is a word for people “who fish in unnatural waters”.
The comment was made after Lawton asked the question, “On the LGBT thing, there is a Q on the end now. What does it stand for?”
In a reply, the elected official wrote, “I am losing the plot here. I thought queer was an offensive term for those who chose to fish in unnatural waters”.
Warwickshire Pride released a statement condemning the councillor saying,
“Cllr Lawton’s comments are very disappointing, particularly as he is a public figure and an elected representative of the community. Homophobic comments such as his are incredibly damaging and show how far there is to go until all LGBT+ people can live openly and freely as who they are, without having to put up with hate speech and discrimination.
“We work year-round with LGBT+ people, supporting and empowering them to be who they are. We also deliver LGBT+ awareness training to organisations and people who are not LGBT+ because anti-LGBT+ views and behaviours are still prevalent. As Cllr Lawton’s comment shows, there are still people who think that being LGBT+ is unnatural.
“We would welcome an opportunity to engage with Cllr Lawton to explain in person why his comments are deeply offensive and hopefully enlighten him. In the meantime, Cllr Lawton should be utterly ashamed of the language he has used. It is not becoming of someone in his position. We hope to see a meaningful apology from him and a commitment to becoming more LGBT+ aware.
“We will be raising a complaint with Claverdon Parish Council and also reporting his comment to Warwickshire’s Hate Crime Partnership as a hate incident.
“Hate is never acceptable and in this case, we hope to engage and educate.”
The post was published on Lawton’s personal Facebook page and not in an official capacity – which was spotted by a local resident, Jon Abbott according to The Leamington Spa Courier.
“I now completely understand how my comment has quite rightly been met with such disgust and anger”
The councillor did issue a full apology to Mr Abbott saying, “An apology. I am of course deeply sorry that you, our mutual friends and acquaintances and others have, quite rightly, been so offended by my crass and completely thoughtless comment on my facebook page last Sunday evening.
“I have taken some time to consider how best to apologise to you personally and more widely in open forum and have been fortunate to be offered advice from mutual friends in this respect. It was never my intention to cause offence but I now, completely and fully, understand how my comment has quite rightly been met with such disgust and anger.
“I will not in any way attempt to justify the wording used as I realise that there is no justification whatsoever for the comment made which has, quite naturally, caused you and many others to demonstrate considerable outrage. I have now realised and fully accept that what I thought was an innocuous quote, was the most stupid of actions. This cannot be undone and I will have to live with the shame of this lifelong slur of my having an association with a negative attitude to the LBGTQ community which will hurt as, in my heart, I hold no such feelings.
“I do not really know how much more I can do to atone for my deplorable and unthinking behaviour but hope that you and others that I have offended will accept this apology in the sincerity that it is given and rest assured that it is a personal lesson learnt in how I should conduct my behaviour going forward. Best regards. Simon D H Lawton”.
The number of court summons and charges for those arrested for hate crimes has plummeted, despite hate crime reports doubling over the last five years.
A Freedom of Information request by the BBC’s 5 Live has found that despite the rise in homophobic hate crime reports the number of people actually going to court to face justice has fallen by 10 per cent, meaning that fewer people are being prosecuted for homophobic hate crimes, despite police calling on victims to come forward and report incidents.
The report also found that the number of reports soared from 5800 in 2014/15 to over 13,000 reports in the last year.
But the number of cases that led to charges or court summons fell by 10% over the same time period.
A BBC Radio 5 Live Freedom of Information (FOI) request found that 13,530 people were recorded as the victims of homophobic hate crimes in the last financial year, compared to around 5800 in 2014/15.
Over the same period, the number of people actually being charged or issued with a court summons fell from 1157 (20% of complaints) to 1058 (just 8% of complaints), meaning just a small fraction of those arrested for a hate crime actually land up in court or being charged with the offense.
A hate crime is defined as “any criminal offence which is perceived, by the victim or any other person, to be motivated by a hostility or prejudice”.
5 Live Investigations sent a Freedom of Information request to 46 police forces across the UK and received full responses from 38.
Data from Police Scotland was only partial and not included in the analysis.
The National Police Chiefs’ Council said that many of these crimes involved no witnesses and a lack of evidence.
“Police will investigate crime reports and will pursue action against those responsible where there is evidence to do so”
A spokesman for the National Police Chiefs’ Council said: “Targeting someone because of their sexuality is completely unacceptable. It undermines our fundamental human right to feel safe and can have a devastating impact on victims and the wider community.
“Police will investigate crime reports and will pursue action against those responsible where there is evidence to do so. Unfortunately, with many cases, there are often no witnesses to these crimes and scarce evidence – this may lead to police being unable to identify a suspect,” he said.
Different parts of the country have seen more dramatic rises in reported crimes, according to the figures.
Both West Yorkshire and South Yorkshire Police have seen reports homophobic hate crimes increase five-fold
In West Yorkshire, there were 961 reports and in South Yorkshire, there were 375 reports over the past five years.
The proportion of crimes that resulted in a charge or summons, however, fell over the same time, from 19% to 4% in West Yorkshire and from 10% to 3% in South Yorkshire.
Two of Britain’s largest police forces, the Metropolitan Police and Greater Manchester Police, have also seen an increase in the number of reported crimes, while the number of cases that led to charges or summonsed fell by around a third, to 165 and 50 respectively, over the past five years.
A spokesman from the Metropolitan Police said, “We recognise that our sanction detection rates have fallen … as many of these non-violent offences present less evidential opportunities and victims often feel that there is a barrier between bringing the matter to court and prefer to make police aware of each offence.”
“We are committed to improving our total number of sanction detection rates and successful prosecutions and continue to remind communities to report hate crimes even if they do not want to go to court as it helps the police to provide a true picture of the abuse,” he added.
Listen to BBC Radio 5 Live on Wednesday 11 September from Breakfast at 6 am and all day for further details.
