Check out these photos from our photographer, Monty McKinnen
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In 2015 we interviewed the director of a documentary film about Tab’s life as a Hollywood star, we were fortunate enough to speak to the man himself who gave the following piece of coming out advice.
“For young people coming to terms with their sexuality today, all I can say is, be true to yourself. Geraldine Page once told me, (The press loved her. They hated my guts.) ‘If people don’t like you, that’s their bad taste.’ I needed to hear that, and I’d like to pass that on to all of you. Just remember… If people don’t like you, that’s their bad taste.”
Tab Hunter didn’t come out as gay until later in his life. He came out in 2005 when he released his autobiography Tab Hunter Confidential: The Making of a Movie Star (2005)
Tab died from complications of a blood clot in his leg that caused cardiac arrest. According to his partner Glaser, whom he had been with since 1983, Hunter’s death was “sudden and unexpected”.
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A man is planning to sue the gay dating app, Grindr, for racial discrimination and is looking for co-plaintiffs across the US’s fifty states so that he can bring a class action.
In a statement released on social media, Sinakhone Keodara, the CEO and founder of the Asian Entertainment Television company says that Grindr allows “white gay men to write in their profiles ‘no Asians’, ‘not interested in Asians’: or ‘I don’t find Asians attractive’,” which he says, leads to people feeling “offended, humiliated, degraded and dehumanised” by the app.
Keodara says that anyone who is considering joining him must be a paying customer.
In 2018, Grindr became fully owned by the Chinese gaming firm, Kunlun Tech Co.
The dating app OKCupid recently analysed sexual racism among 1m of its male site users. The company found that compared to black, Asian or minority ethnic users, white users got more messages. White users were also found to be less likely to reply or match with users of a different race to themselves, and more likely to question interracial marriage.
Recent research from Australia also found that 15% of gay men on the dating app Grindr included sexual racism on their profiles. This was more likely to be the case if the profile user was white, and if the user held broader racist views.
A man was left with a fractured skull after an assault at the Eagle bar in Vauxhall. The alleged attack happened in the early hours of 2nd July 2018, when two men and a woman were asked to leave the premises.
After the small group was ejected they became violent, according to the Met police. Two males, 42 and 30 and a female, 20-year-old, were taken into custody. They were released under investigation.
According to a police statement, “It would appear that two men and a woman took umbrage to being asked to move from the smoking area, and were then subsequently ejected from the premises after making homophobic comments to staff at the venue”.
Investigating officer, Detective Constable Phill Govett, from Lambeth, said, “This was a particularly vicious attack which stemmed from a minor incident and involved the use of homophobic language. Hate crime in any form will not be tolerated by police and we will take all possible action to bring perpetrators of these offences to justice.”
This weekend, the UK’s capital, plays host to one of the countries biggest pride events, Pride In London. The Met have made policing the event a “priority”.
Chief Superintendent Helen Millichap, Met spokesperson for the event, said, “As with any large event the Met’s priority is public safety and we are working closely with the organisers in the lead up to Pride to develop our policing plan. We want Pride to be a friendly, safe event for everyone to enjoy and to help us we need the public to take the usual precautions by remaining vigilant and reporting anything of concern to police officers or stewards at the event.”
It’s an Artifical Intelligence, interactive art piece. The installation’s interactive letters, spelling F-O-C-U-S, use artificial intelligence to interact with visitors and passers-by to discover and highlight their interests or passions.
Once determined, these passions are displayed across 540 LED video tiles embedded in the six meters high, 30m long structure, alongside a video edit of the experience uploaded to Facebook to share.
It took approximately 200 hours to train the AI programme to ‘understand’ and respond to users, and it is able to converse in four languages, with London the second stop on a five-leg European City tour. Standing at six-metres high, the 20-tonne structure took over 6,000 hours to fabricate.
“The Ford Focus has an extensive fan base, coming from nearly two million customers over 20 years,” said Andy Barratt, Ford of Britain chairman and managing director. “Those in London over one of its busiest weekends can celebrate the arrival of the 2018 Ford Focus by sharing their passions via our giant F-O-C-U-S letters.”
Ford will be supporting Pride Festival during the switch-on moment and throughout the weekend, displaying the Pride flag across the installation, as well as unfurling the St George’s flag on Saturday ahead of England’s quarterfinal World Cup fixture.
Edmund Rogers from Ford’s GLOBE group, an employee resource group for sexual orientation and gender identity commented, “Ford has a strong history of supporting LGBT rights, and Pride, so we’re very proud to be flying the flag in support of Pride 2018.”
The installation is open to the public until 8th July, supported by a range of new Focus vehicles, allowing people to explore the technology on offer in the new Ford Focus.
WikiImages / PixabayJess McNicholas, Managing Director, Head of Global Inclusion Diversity and Corporate Citizenship, EMEA at State Street comments on the new Government action plan to improve the lives of LGBT people,
“As we celebrate Pride Month in the UK, it is hard to believe in 2018 that 40% of LGBTQ + people who participated in the recent UK government survey still face abuse and discrimination because of their sexual orientation. The government’s plan, announced today, is a clear statement of its commitment to tackle the inequalities faced by members of the LGBTQ+ community. No one should ever have to hide who they are in their community, school or workplace.”
“We all have a responsibility to create an inclusive culture, which allows LGBTQ+ people to feel respected at every level of society and to reach their full potential without the fear of abuse or discrimination. As the slogan for this year’s Pride campaign aptly says “we have come a long but there is a way still to go”. Today’s statement is big step forward on that journey and State Street are proud to celebrate all our LGBTQ+ staff and ensure that our inclusive culture is one where all are treated equally and with respect.”
Minister for Women and Equality, Penny Mordaunt has launched the Government’s LGBT Action Plan, after carrying out one of the most extensive surveys of LGBT people in history. The survey asked questions about people’s experiences of living in the UK and in accessing public services. LGBT people were asked questions about education, healthcare, personal safety and employment.
Over 108,000 people answered the survey, which was launched last summer and some of the results are shocking.
One statistic alone speaks volumes. Two-thirds of respondents said they had avoided holding their same-sex partner’s hand in public for fear of a negative reaction. Holding hands with someone you love should be one of the simplest things in the world; not a source of fear or hesitation. There were difficult findings in other areas, such as safety, health, education and employment.
Speaking about the plans, Ms Mordaunt said,
“We have more work to do.
“I am pleased that one of my first acts as the new Minister for Women and Equalities is to publish this comprehensive LGBT Action Plan. With over 75 commitments, the cross-Government plan sets out how we will improve the lives of LGBT people over the course of this Parliament. Some of the key actions include:
You can read what the plans are for each of the areas defined by the LGBT action plan. We have seperated the plan into the six key areas.
Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety
In order to pay for the LGBT action plan, the Government have made £4.5m available to deliever on its commitments. It has created an ‘LGBT Implementation Fund’.
The funding will initially run until March 2020. Some of this funding will be used to deliver projects within the government. The remainder will be made available to public, private and voluntary sector organisations to deliver projects to support LGBT people. The Government Equalities Office will manage the funding, and decide how money is allocated to projects.
However, some critics have called the plan flawed, Peter Tatchell, the UK’s most prominent LGBT+ rights advocate said,
In response to the plan, Co-Chairs of Pride in London, Alison Camps and Michael Salter-Church said,
“What is missing from the report is an acknowledgement that we do not have equality across the whole of the UK. The Prime Minister and the Minister both mention the UK’s global leadership on LGBT+ rights. The truth of the matter is that other countries have overtaken us and there has been a failure to address fundamental issues in our country; the lack of equal marriage in Northern Ireland and cohesive relationship, gender and sex education being the most obvious. We call on the government to specifically address these points.
“Above all, what we see is that Pride matters as much as it ever has. This Saturday, the UK’s biggest Pride parade will take to the streets 46 years after it started. We will be there not just to celebrate how far we’ve come, but to march and protest for how much further we need to go in London and beyond”.
You can read the full release here.
“This Government is committed to making the UK a country that works for everyone. We want to strip away the barriers that hold people back so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and talent can take them”.
Big words, so what exactly are they promising?
Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equality has outlined 75 points she wants her office to push in order to achieve better rights, equality, safety and visibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people of the UK.
The LGBT action plan offered the following for LGBT+ people internationally and in the commonwealth.
We will support countries that want help to repeal laws discriminating against LGBT people. The Prime Minister has offered support to Commonwealth countries wishing to reform discriminatory legislation. A £5.6 million programme delivered through civil society organisations will advance the legal equality and rights of all Commonwealth citizens, regardless of gender, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity.
We will deliver an international conference focusing on the issues LGBT people face around the world. The conference will highlight a range of issues with governments, civil society and other key stakeholders on how best to progress LGBT equality.
We will provide better travel advice for LGBT people. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to update and regularly review our travel advice for LGBT people. In particular, we will work with partners to ensure that our advice to trans travellers going abroad for medical treatment is as informative and up-to-date as possible. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will ensure that issues specific to LGBT travellers are addressed in travel advice communications.
We will promote LGBT rights through multilateral organisations, the private sector and international civil society organisations. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office will continue to work through UK embassies, high commissions and through international organisations, including the United Nations, European institution and the Commonwealth, to protect and promote LGBT rights and to address laws discriminating against LGBT people. The UK will consider putting in a bid to co-chair the Equal Rights Coalition in 2019.
We will provide funding to promote LGBT equality worldwide. The Foreign and Commonwealth Office Magna Carta Fund for Human Rights and Democracy has committed £1.1 million to support LGBT rights projects worldwide in 2018 and 2019. The Government Equalities Office will provide match funding to the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development work on reviewing LGBT inclusiveness. As part of the Department for International Development’s new funding mechanism – UK Aid Connect – and in recognition of the importance of global LGBT inclusion, the Department for International Development will provide up to £12 million over 4 years, from 2018 to 2022, for a consortium of organisations to work together to promote LGBT inclusion.
Here’s what the government plans are in other key areas:
Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety
“This Government is committed to making the UK a country that works for everyone. We want to strip away the barriers that hold people back so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and talent can take them”.
Big words, so what exactly are they promising?
Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equality has outlined 75 points she wants her office to push in order to achieve better rights, equality, safety and visibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people of the UK.
The LGBT action plan offered the following for LGBT+ representation.
We will trial innovative ways of tackling deep-seated prejudices in our communities. The Government Equalities Office will work across the public, private and voluntary sectors to improve the representation of LGBT people in public life, championing role models and giving people the confidence to be themselves in public. The Government Equalities Office will also look at how behavioural insights can be used to help improve people’s attitudes toward LGBT people more quickly.
We will support the important role of local pride events across the UK. The Government Equalities Office will continue to have a presence at Pride events across the country, allowing us to hear directly from LGBT people. The Civil Service will demonstrate its own commitment to becoming the UK’s most inclusive employer by having a presence at Pride events each year and by supporting departmental staff networks and all staff across gender, ethnicity, faith and belief, age and disability to engage with these events.
We will work to address harmful gender stereotypes and gender norms. The Government Equalities Office will work with the media and with schools to challenge gender stereotypes, and will also develop the evidence on the cause and impact of gender norms.
We will continue our work to increase LGBT inclusion in sport and physical activity. Following the publication of the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport’s ‘Sporting Future’ strategy for sport and physical activity, Sport England are providing expert help to sporting organisations to increase the participation of LGBT people in sport and physical activity. Sport England are also working to improve LGBT access to sport and physical activity as spectators, as volunteers and in the workforce. It is working alongside National Governing Bodies of sport and LGBT-focused sports organisations on a number of equality initiatives aimed at LGBT inclusion, and it is also working with a number of partners across the leisure industry, including the Chartered Institute for the Management of Sport and Physical Activity, to develop guidance on trans inclusion for frontline leisure industry staff. Sport England will also monitor the representation of LGBT people in senior leadership alongside other elements of diversity, following the launch of the Code for Sport Governance in October 2016. Following Sport England’s investment in a study by Pride Sports to identify how to better support LGBT inclusion in sport, Sport England will consider the recommendations of the research.
Here’s what the government plans are in other key areas:
Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety
“This Government is committed to making the UK a country that works for everyone. We want to strip away the barriers that hold people back so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and talent can take them”.
Big words, so what exactly are they promising?
Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equality has outlined 75 points she wants her office to push in order to achieve better rights, equality, safety and visibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people of the UK.
The LGBT action plan offered the following for LGBT+ data protection and collection.
We will enable government services to appropriately monitor sexual orientation and gender identity. The Government Equalities Office, the Office for National Statistics and the Government Statistical Service will work together on a cross-government project to develop monitoring standards for sexual orientation and gender identity across central government. These standards will be freely available to the wider public and private sectors. The Government Equalities Office and Office for National Statistics will provide guidance and support to departments looking to implement monitoring in their services to ensure that it is consistent, proportionate and safe.
We will ensure the Civil Service is an exemplary employer for collecting data on sexual orientation and gender identity in a sensitive, respectful and proportionate way. Civil Service HR, the Office for National Statistics and the Government Equalities Office will work to develop standardised questions for inclusion in internal departmental systems such as human resources systems for government employees. Civil Service HR will continue to include questions on sexual orientation and gender identity in the annual Civil Service People Survey so that the diverse workplace experiences of civil servants can be better understood.
We will provide guidance on protecting private data concerning the characteristics and history of transgender people. The Government Equalities Office will work with the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport and other agencies to agree guidance for public and private sector organisations explaining how they can protect these data and ensure the privacy of trans people. The guidance will help organisations to comply with relevant legislation such as the General Data Protection Regulation and the Gender Recognition Act 2004.
In line with the Government’s approach to open data8, we will explore how best to make as much of the national LGBT survey data available as possible. We realise that the data we have collected is rich and comprehensive. We will not share or publish any data from which individuals can be identified, but the Government Equalities Office will look to publish more aggregate-level, anonymous data which will be of use to researchers, academics, stakeholders, the media, policymakers and the public at large.
We will undertake further work to improve our understanding of the needs of specific groups within the LGBT population. The Government Equalities Office will look to improve the evidence base relating to the experiences of groups including older people, people in care, people with disabilities and long-term conditions, and black and minority ethnic people.
Here’s what the government plans are in other key areas:
Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety
“This Government is committed to making the UK a country that works for everyone. We want to strip away the barriers that hold people back so that everyone can go as far as their hard work and talent can take them”.
Big words, so what exactly are they promising?
Penny Mordaunt, the Minister for Women and Equality has outlined 75 points she wants her office to push in order to achieve better rights, equality, safety and visibility for gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender and intersex people of the UK.
The LGBT action plan offered the following for LGBT+ policing and safety.
We will consult on how best to reform the gender recognition process. Last year, the Government Equalities Office announced the intention to consult on the Gender Recognition Act 2004 to see how the legal gender recognition process can be made less bureaucratic and intrusive. The consultation will be published alongside this action plan, and we will use the results of the national LGBT survey and the consultation to bring forward proposals for reforming this public service.
We will consider ways to make it easier to tell the government if you have changed your gender. The Government Equalities Office will investigate whether the ‘Tell Us Once’ service – which is currently used to notify government departments of bereavements – can be learned from so that transgender people who are transitioning and want to update their name and gender across multiple departments only have to do so once.
We will improve our understanding of issues facing non-binary people. The Government Equalities Office will launch a Call for Evidence on the issues faced by non-binary people, building on the findings from the national LGBT survey.
We will also improve our understanding of the issues facing people who are intersex. The Government Equalities Office will launch a separate Call for Evidence to improve the evidence relating to intersex people’s experiences.
We will ensure that LGBT people can easily access information they need about their rights. The Government Digital Service will review the existing content on GOV.UK aimed at LGBT people, and improve the content to ensure that it fully meets their needs.
Here’s what the government plans are in other key areas:
Education | Healthcare | Representation | Workplace | International | Safety