THEGAYUK

Category: News

  • Trump-Bannon Timeline: How Their Relationship Unravelled

    Excerpts from journalist Michael Wolff’s soon-to-publish tell-all book Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House emerged on Wednesday with quotes from Steve Bannon calling some of Donald Trump Jr … (more…)

  • Guards Ignored Threats Against Gay Inmate Who Was Beaten, Raped, Lawsuit Says

    An gay inmate in Colorado has filed a lawsuit against the Federal Bureau of Prisons, alleging that he was beaten and repeatedly raped by another inmate who had openly threatened him. The lawsuit claims that prison guards at a federal facility in Florence, Colorado, knowingly put him in a position of danger. (more…)

  • TV star and Ice Skater Matt Evers comes out as gay

    “I live my life by example”


    Professional Ice Skater Matt Evers comes out as gay in an interview with Attitude magazine. The 41-year-old star who is set to take part in the ITV show, Dancing On Ice, reveals that he was brought up in a very strict religious household, but decided to come out after being inspired by his uncle, who died of an AIDS-related illness over twenty years ago.

    Speaking to the magazine, Matt said,

    “He was part of the original San Francisco and New York Fire Island crowd back in the 70s and 80s. I didn’t know I was gay at the time, but when he was dying it hit me really hard that he didn’t know the love of his mum, my grandmother,”

    “They were strict Catholics at the tip of the Bible belt. I wasn’t aware of why his passing and the thought of him never being accepted by his own family hurt me so much until I realised I was gay. It’s scary, the difference between generations.”

    Evers reveals that before his uncle’s death, he was “banished” from the family, due to the family’s strict religious views.

    Talking about his decision to come out before the show’s launch, Evers said,

    “I live my life by example, and I want to show young people that what you feel or how you were born isn’t something bad.”

  • Is India Willoughby Holly Willoughby’s sister?

    India Willoughby is one of the stars of Channel 5’s Celebrity Big Brother, but is she Holly Willoughby’s sister?

    India Willoughby is probably most famous for being the UK’s first transgender newsreader for both BBC and Channel 5 but she’s also stepped into the Celebrity Big Brother house for the latest series, which is celebrating all things women.

    India was also famous for presenting on an all-female talk show, on Radio 4, but people really want to know whether she’s actually Holly Willoughby’s sister.

    India joined the Celebrity Big Brother house and is the second ever transgender housemate, after Kelly Malone joined the house in 2014.

    India is not Holly’s sister. Holly has one sister who also works in television but her name is Kelly. It’s not known if India has any siblings.

    Talking briefly about how her family accepted her transition, India said that it was like a bereavement for her mother, adding that her mother felt like her son was dying. India had gender reassignment surgery in 2015.

    India is not the first transgender celebrity to enter the Big Brother house, in 2014 Kellie Maloney entered the house after she announced that she was transitioning. In series 12, Lauren Harries entered the house and Alex Reid, who said he might consider himself transgender or a cross-gender dresser won series seven.

     

     

  • LGBT icons who died in 2017

    Here are just some of the LGBT+ icons that we lost in 2017.

    Lil Peep, Hip-Hop artist and rapper

    In November, Lil Peep, real name, Gustav Åhr, a well-known Youtuber, Hip-Hop and rapper who had accumulated millions of plays died while on tour. His death was confirmed on social media by his manager Chase Oretega, who said, “I’ve been expecting this call for a year. Mother f***” His death was later confirmed to be a drug overdose.

    Henry Badenhorst Gaydar Founder

    The founder of one of the world’s biggest gay chat sites, Gaydar, died at the age of 51 in November. Local media in Johannesburg reported that a 51-year-old man was seen falling from the 23rd floor of Michaelangelo Towers. Gaydar was founded by Badenhorst along with his partner Gary Frisch in 1999 after a mutual friend of theirs spoke about how he was too busy to find a boyfriend. The pair created the website shortly after. Badenhorst and Frisch’s personal relationship ended in 2006, but they remained business partners until Frisch’s death.

    Edith Windsor – gay marriage activist

    Edith Windsor, who helped end the ban on same-sex marriage in the US died at the age of 88 in September. Ms Windsor’s lawyer, Roberta Kaplan, announced that the same-sex marriage activist had died in New York, US. The cause of her death was not given, but Ms Windsor had been struggling with a heart condition for years.

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  • Anti-gay equality MP, who voted 28 times against LGBT+ laws, Knighted

    An MP who has voted against LGBT+ rights a staggering 28 times gets a Knighthood.

    (C) Parliament.UK

    A Conservative MP who has stood in Parliament twice and voted against laws which equalised the rights of gay people in the UK has been Knighted by the Queen in the New Year’s honours.

    Sir Christopher Chope, the MP for Christchurch in Dorset first entered parliament in 1983. He was then defeated in the 1992 General Election but won his seat back in 1997. He has voted against equal gay rights since 1999, and in 2004 he voted against Civil Partnerships and again in 2014 he voted against same-sex marriage.

    He has also voted against and was absent for all laws which promote equality and human rights.

    He served in both Margaret Thatcher’s and John Major’s governments.

    Chope was honoured for his political and public services.

    He was made an OBE in 1982.

     

  • Egypt to free on bail two held for raising rainbow flag


    An Egyptian court has ruled to release on bail two people arrested over the raising of an LGBT rainbow flag at a Cairo concert, their lawyer said Tuesday. The appearance of the symbolic banner of the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community among the crowd at a gig by Lebanese band Mashrou’ Leila in September sparked a broad crackdown by the authorities.

  • Katie Hopkins: Trans women are “Castrated Men”

    “don’t ask me to call a castrated man a woman”

     

    Katie Hopkins is under fire after saying that trans women are nothing more than castrated men. The controversial former columnist, former radio presenter, former TV talk show host and former Apprentice candidate was tweeting during launch show of this year’s Celebrity Big Brother.

    On Twitter using the Celebrity Big Brother hashtag, she insisted that she wasn’t transphobic by writing, “I am not transphobic. Live your life how you damn well please. Just don’t ask me to call a castrated man a woman”.

    Target of Katie Hopkins? India entered the Celebrity Big Brother house during the all-female launch of CBB 2018

    During the launch show, one of the new housemates was revealed to be the trans journalist, India Willoughby.

    Hopkins went on to Tweet that removing a person’s penis does not make them a woman “A man who castrates his penis is not a women. Just as a cat with no legs is not a slug”

    The outburst from Hopkins who was branded “awful” by some on social media, was liked 5,400 times and retweeted nearly 1,500 times within a few hours.

    One user responded that Hopkins’ Tweet was the “definition of transphobia.”

    Another warned that refusing to use the pronouns of a person was transphobic,

    Year of the woman

    India talking to Emma Willis before she entered the Celebrity Big Brother house.

    This series of Celebrity Big Brother is focusing on women, with the launch show featuring a solely female audience and an all-female line up of celebrities entering the house to celebrate that women have had the right to vote for 100 years.

    The lineup included former Conservative politician Ann Widdecombe, American TV personality Malika Haqq, writer Rachel Johnson, “Social influencer” Ashley James, Channel 5 newsreader India Willoughby, Whistle-blower Maggie Oliver, Glamour model Jess Impiazzi and Corrie Legend Amanda Barrie.

     

  • Trump Fires HIV/AIDS Council In Its Entirety

    Due to licensing this article must be read on our website

    President Donald Trump fired the remaining members of the Presidential Advisory Council on HIV/AIDS (PACHA) Wednesday, reportedly informing them without explanation with a letter delivered by FedEx … (more…)

  • 13 stars who should have checked their social accounts for homophobia and slurs in 2017

    The stars were out in force with the blatant, everyday and casual homophobia this year…

    It’s amazing how much homophobia there is on Twitter. Even some of the UK’s most loved celebs have been found to have messages that we’re sure they’d wished they checked for or never sent in the first place. Here are 13 celebs, who made the news this year, caught with having slurs against the LGBT+ community on the social timelines.

     

     

    Zoella

    One of Britain’s most popular YouTubers, Zoella, was caught with homophobic comments on her Twitter timeline. The 27-year-old who has over 12 million subscribers on the Google-owned platform, tweeted, “I find it funny when gay men spit… it’s like they’re trying to be a bit macho but never works”. The tweet dated back to 2010, before Zoella became the household name.

    In 2011 she allegedly wrote a tweet with an anti-trans slur saying,  “Are they honestly letting a tranny in a policeman hat speak to them like that? How odd! Haha x”.

    In her apology she wrote, “I’ve seen a few of my old tweets from 7/8 years ago floating around (which I have now deleted) using words like “chav” “skank” and other words I wouldn’t use now as part of my language and lot of them were taken out of context referring to TV shows but I would never say those things now and I’m sorry if I have offended anyone, that was not my intention.

    “Obviously that is not who I am today and I’d like to think I’m a little older and wiser! I’m not perfect and I’ve never claimed to be, I’m only human!”

    Jack Maynard

    Jack Maynard’s departure from I’m A Celebrity Get Me Out Of Here caused a huge media stir – with millions of viewers at home in the UK wondering what he had done so wrong to warrant leaving the jungle after just two days. Well, dozens of anti-gay tweets were discovered on his Twitter timeline dating back at least five years. Numerous racist slurs were also found on his timeline. The YouTuber left the jungle and it took him nearly three days to apologise for his error. It was an apology that didn’t go down particularly well – after he used a well-worn cliché “I’ve got lots of gay friends” during his interview with The Sun.

    Stormzy

    Nearly 20 homophobic tweets were found on the BBC’s ‘Artist of The Year’ – Stormzy’s twitter account. The tweets, some of which dated back to 2011 used homophobic slurs, like “no homo” and “faggot” to blast critics on his social media account.

    Stormzy was swift to issue an apology. In a statement, he wrote that the messages sent from his account were “unacceptable and disgusting”. He also said sorry and that he regretted sending the messages.

    Jared O’Mara

    An MP who sat on the Women’s and Equality Committee had past homophobic and sexist forum comments unearthed by the political website, Guido Fawkes. The MP, who unseated Nick Clegg in the last General Election, was said to have used numerous anti-gay slurs on the Morrissey Solo website forum and Drowned In Sound. Terms such as “fudge packers” and driving “up the marmite motorway” to describe gay people were used and a message was written that said gay people were “bitter and resentful about being homosexual”.

    The Labour party took action to suspend the newly elected MP for Sheffield Hallam. He also resigned from the Women’s and Equality committee.

     

    Katie Hopkins

    This year Katie had problems with Rainbow police cars, police marching in pride parades, non-binary people, transgender people, the LGBT+ community in general. To be honest, her twitter timeline is full of moans and angry tweets – but fear not, apparently she deletes her entire catalogue once a week, so the offensiveness doesn’t last long. Screengrabs, however, are forever.

     

    Piers Morgan

    Where to begin. Piers Morgan’s timeline has been filled with rage against people whose gender doesn’t conform to the binary of man and woman. Piers has fought with campaigners on his ITV show and on his own Twitter timeline and even written about it in his column with the MailOnline.

    Earlier in 2017, the presenter condemned LGBT charity Stonewall, calling them “Piers-phobic” after a spokesperson blasted him for “bullying” a couple who identified as non-binary on Good Morning Britain.

    Josh Rivers

    Josh Rivers, the new editor of Gay Times was suspended and then fired after just 20 days in the job, following the discovery by Buzzfeed, of antisemitic, lesbian hating, body shaming and anti-Asian tweets in his Twitter timeline. The majority of tweets were published between 2010 and 2015.

    Rivers was working on a mandate of promoting inclusivity and diversity at the magazine when a number of incendiary comments on his Twitter account between 2010 and 2015. Some of the tweets which have been deleted described Jews as “gross” and some directed hatred towards lesbians, overweight women and men, and Asian and Chinese people. Apologising for his tweets, Rivers wrote: “To every single person who is hurt, offended and disappointed: I’m sorry”.

    He has now deleted his profile.

    Twitter

    Twitter itself came under fire this year for bi-erasure and for suspending a number of popular gay/ LGBT+ websites. Twitter effectively deleted the #bisexual hashtag from showing photos, videos and news items which used that tag. When users tried to use that hashtag in the search bar, they were met with a “no results” page. It took the platform several days to fix the issue.

    Lily Allen

    British singer, Lily Allen used the word “fags” on Twitter and got a response, trouble was it probably wasn’t the one that she was probably hoping for. Her Tweet, “Fags Hate Trump” did not go down well it’s fair to say. The singer was swiftly admonished by many in the community. Some called the singer ‘homophobic’.

    Amir Khan

    Another Celeb from this year’s I’m A Celeb, Amir Khan, was allegedly found to have Tweets on his timeline which were found to be homophobic. In a tweet said to have been sent in 2011, Khan allegedly wrote, “Nothing against them. Sort it out lad. No wonder pple think u like boys haha”.

    In another post from 2010, a tweet which read, “Abuse @saj23x for keeping pictures on his phone, he is defiantly gay after today’s tweet. Asll the guys beware, @saj23x is GAY” was sent from his official account.

    Amir has not apologised or commented on the tweets.

    Rebekah Vardy

    Yet another 2017 I’m A Celeb alumni was allegedly found to have casual homophobia found on her Twitter timeline. Vardy never commented on the Twitter and has not apologised for the offensive tweet.

    Hazel E

    Not Twitter this time, but on Instagram. Hazel E star of the Love & Hip-Hop Hollywood TV show asked her gay fans to forgive her for saying, “burn in hell just like God said in the bible”

    She made the comment in a comment on her boyfriend’s already homophobic Instagram post, which proclaimed that he said he hoped all gays would die and go to hell.

    Tom Barber

    Homophobic tweets sent by Big Brother housemate, Tom Barber came back to haunt him after it was revealed that he allegedly used the homophobic slur “faggot” and used “gay” and “lesbian” as pejorative descriptions in tweets sent to friends.

    Channel 5, the broadcast of Big Brother refused to remove him from the show, despite previous housemates from other series being removed for racist language on their Twitter accounts.

  • ‘Homophobic’ man wanted by cops after a couple threatened on train

    A couple of women were threatened and physically assaulted according to cops, who launched an investigation to find a man they wish to speak to in connection with a homophobic and racist incident.

    British Transport Police are on the hunt for a man they’d like to talk to in connection with what police are describing as a “sustained” and “frightening ordeal” on two women who boarded a train from London’s Kings Cross to Peterborough.

    On the 9th December, two women boarded a train at 8.22 PM from Kings Cross in London heading towards Peterborough. According to a police report, a man started loudly saying racist and homophobic comments. The women interjected, and the man responded by assaulting one of them by pushing her on the shoulder and inappropriately touching the other.

    He then threatened them both.

    The man, who was wearing a bright blue top and described as bald and heavy set, alighted the train at Huntingdon.

    Investigating officer PC, Christopher Marshall said, “This was a sustained and frightening ordeal for the two women, who did nothing to incite such violence.

    “We will not stand for hate crime of any kind, and so if you have any information in relation to this offence, please contact us as soon as you can.”

    Anyone with information is asked to contact BTP on 0800 40 50 40 or text 61016 with reference 590 of 9 December.

    There have been a number of attacks on the UK’s transport network in the latter quarter of 2017.

    homophobic attacks on London underground

    Earlier in December, two teenagers were arrested following an attack where a young man was forced into a headlock and told to apologise for being gay.

    In November, another man was “punched repeatedly” outside Charing Cross station, just a few hundred meters from one of London’s highest-profile gay clubs, heaven.

    In September a woman hurled homophobic abuse at two men on a train between Havant and Pulborough, with one of the victims suffering an injury after the women threw a glass jar at them.

    In September, three teenagers pleaded guilty to attacking two boyfriends on a train in Ealing. They were jailed for their attack.