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  • Man stabbed in Soho dies from his injuries

    Man stabbed in Soho dies from his injuries

    Police in London have launched a murder investigation after a man who was stabbed in the heart of Soho dies.

    A man who was stabbed in Soho, London has died from his injuries. Although police have said that they don’t believe the vicious attack to be a hate or homophobic crime, the stabbing happened in the centre of London’s LGBT+ scene.

    On Sunday, 3 March just after 6:00 AM  police were called to Romily Street, in W1.

    Officers attended along with the London Ambulance Service and found the 37-year-old man suffering stab injuries. He was taken to hospital with critical injuries and he was pronounced dead at 19:42 hours on Wednesday, 6 March.

    His family are aware of the victim’s death. Formal identification awaits.

    A post mortem examination is due to be held in due course.

    A murder investigation has now commenced which is being led by Detective Chief Inspector Katherine Goodwin.

    A 34-year-old man was charged on Monday, 4 March with two counts of attempted murder, in relation to this incident along with another stabbing on the same day, of a teenager which occurred in University Street, WC1.

    The charge for attempted murder will be subject to a review by the CPS.

    A 41-year-old woman who was arrested remains released under investigation.

  • INTERVIEW | Aaron Sibley: Being an out artist and living as an open book

    INTERVIEW | Aaron Sibley: Being an out artist and living as an open book

    Aaron Sibley is a London based singer who, at a relatively young age, has performed at Pride In London and competed to represent Moldova in the Eurovision Song Contest. Luke Marlow sits down to talk with him.

    With his new single “Falling Through” out now, THEGAYUK caught up with him to discuss life, music, and all things Eurovision.

    TGUK: Hi Aaron, Welcome to TheGayUK. How has your 2019 been so far?

    AS: Hi, thanks for having me! 2019 has been great so far. I’ve kind of hit the ground running in terms of my music. I have been busy in the studio recording and I have been out, performing, as much as I can. Busy start to the year but I’m loving it!

    TGUK: Tell us a little bit about yourself – where are you from, where do you live – who is Aaron Sibley?

    AS: I am from a small town in south England, and two years ago I decided to move to London to pursue my dream career. Growing up in a small town was great in general but it did have its negatives.

    Being able to express myself was very difficult as I didn’t know anyone else like me. Music seemingly helped me to escape and I put all my confusion and feelings into music.

    Nowadays, my life is mostly an open book, to be honest, and anyone that knows me, know I’m an honest, open, sensitive, motivated and hardworking kind of person.

    “…growing up gay in a small town was not easy and I found myself denying the possibility that I could be different. And even now I am completely comfortable with who I am, nothing can erase that feeling of thinking “I am different to everyone around me”.

    TGUK: Your latest single “Falling Through” is out now – what is it about and what inspired it?

    AS: As I mentioned before, growing up gay in a small town was not easy and I found myself denying the possibility that I could be different. And even now I am completely comfortable with who I am, nothing can erase that feeling of thinking “I am different to everyone around me”. “Falling Through” is the musical personification of the feeling I felt when I was coming out.

    TGUK: There’s an emotional intensity and an honesty to your work – is that important to you? Is exorcising these thoughts and experiences into music a cathartic process for you?

    AS: Oh yes, that’s definitely important to me. I think writing from the heart and drawing from experience whether it’s personal or instinctual is important to me, I find it inspires a truth that is meaningful and that people can relate to it, no matter what their personal experiences.

    Whenever I’m writing music or in the studio, I find it can be a very cathartic process. Sharing music that’s personal almost feels like a therapy session, as if you’re giving a piece of yourself away. My music is very honest and ‘raw’ and this is essential when creating music from the heart. Even though my songs are personal to my life I like to think that they could resonate with an audience (LBGT or otherwise) and they can take something away from it that’s unique to them.

    “Artist’s like Bowie, Elton John, Madonna have been celebrating the ideology of queerness for years and have inspired me; how they constantly broke the mould, were constantly evolving and had their unique style that put a middle finger up to what was expected of them at the time.

    TGUK: In terms of queer artists out there-there are certainly more than ever before but, as a whole, we’re still rather under-represented. Why do you think that is, and Who are your inspirations on that front?

    AS: I think the level of queer representation in the mainstream has flourished in recent years and it’s great to see, but we still have ways to go in terms of queers bands and artists expanding from predominantly ‘gay’ audiences and becoming more widespread. Artists like Years and Years, MIKA, Sam Smith, Frank Ocean have really branched out in terms of their unique sound, style, visual representation and what it means to be queer.

    The fact that the LGBT community have slowly but surely been granted the rights we are entitled to, has allowed for artists and queer music to evolve from being viewed as ‘sub-culture’, ‘niche’ or ‘underground’ to a more universalised sound that allows artists the free reign to celebrate what it means to be queer and introduce new music to wider demographics.

    Artist’s like Bowie, Elton John, Madonna have been celebrating the ideology of queerness for years and have inspired me; how they constantly broke the mould, were constantly evolving and had their unique style that put a middle finger up to what was expected of them at the time.

    “Eurovision music is vastly underrated in the UK

    TGUK: We know you’re a big fan of Eurovision – having competed in the National Finals for Moldova back in 2018. What is it about Eurovision that you think appeals to the Queer community so much?

    AS: Eurovision is a celebration of all things camp! It’s a serious competition that all the artists and countries involved don’t take lightly, however it’s all wrapped up in a nice glittery bow!

    We all love watching fierce women and leather bound men get up and strut their stuff to a cheesy pop song or ballad that gets the audience going wild.

    I, however, love the music side of things. Eurovision music is vastly underrated in the UK. Every year I fall in love with a song, and I might not even understand the language. Eurovision connects people worldwide on a musical level and it’s interesting to hear different sounds that are inspired from all parts of Europe.

    TGUK: How was it being an openly Gay Singer in Moldova for Eurovision – an Ex-soviet State.

    AS: This experience was incredible. My song qualified to the national finals of Moldova, A county with limited LGBT+ presence. I was a little worried before heading out to Moldova as I did not know what to expect in terms of the LGBT community. Unfortunately, they do not have the right to be who they are over there and it is considered still not normal.

    Whilst in the country I was receiving messages on social media from people who were not able to come out, telling me that simply my being there performing in their country gave them Pride.

    The whole experience proved how important Pride still is. And it made me aware that I have a voice to help make LGBT+ people celebrate who they are.

    TGUK: Working as an independent artist can be tricky – but in the last couple of years you’ve competed in Eurovision and sung to crowds at London Pride. What are your ambitions for the next few years?

    AS: I’m just going to carry on working hard, keep laser focused and enjoy the process. Being in London for only two years and perusing a professional music career here for less than that, I’ve achieved quite a lot. BUT I have a long way to go. I am aiming for new opportunities and adventures this year amongst other things. I’m currently in the process of writing and recording a musical inspired EP with a talent LGBT musician friend.

    And I am releasing a new EP on 16th March. I am hoping to perform at more Prides this year and of course pursuing Eurovision once again. I will be performing as much as I can and I am so excited to begin writing new solo music again.

    Thanks to Aaron Sibley for taking the time to chat with us – new single “Falling Through” is out now, and you can check Aaron out at the below links:

    www.aaronsibleymusic.com
    www.youtube.com/aaronsibleymusic
    www.facebook.com/aaronsibleymusic
    www.instagram.com/aaronsibleymusic
    www.twitter.com/asibleymusic

     

    Photos provided / (C) Aaron Sibley

  • Parents at Parkfield School say they’ll protest every Thursday until No Outsiders is cancelled

    Protesting parents outside Parkfield Primary school in Birmingham have said that they protest every Thursday until the pro-LGBT+ equality lessons provided by the school are cancelled permanently.

    Parents of children at the Parkfield Primary School in Birmingham have said that they will protest outside the school grounds every Thursday until equality lessons, called No Outsiders, dealing with LGBT+ issues are cancelled permanently.

    The school is due to provide just five of its No Outsider lessons for its students over the course of the year.

    Last week around 600 children were removed by their parents in protest to the planned lessons. The school has said that it will continue with the lessons next term.

    A crowd of parents and their children gathered outside the school this morning from around 8:20 AM with at least three speakers present, including one from an American Christian organisation, who congratulated the parents on their protest. The protests have taken places for around four weeks.

    There was also a large media presence and police presence at the demonstration.

    The protest was filmed and streamed on Facebook live.

    Parents at the school have suggested that the lessons are “not age appropriate” and that they infringe of their children’s belief as well as their own religious beliefs and suggesting that the lessons were a “safeguarding issue”.

  • Noxious substance thrown in the face of two men in ‘homophobic assault’

    Noxious substance thrown in the face of two men in ‘homophobic assault’

    Police in London are looking to speak with victims of a suspected homophobic assault where a corrosive substance was thrown in the faces of the victims.

    Police were called to McDonald’s on Brixton Road, SW9 at 04:00hrs on Saturday, 19 January following reports of an unknown substance being sprayed in the face of two men.

    Officers attended and found two 22-year-old men who said they had been attacked at a bus stop.

    Police report that the men advised they had been sprayed in the face with a noxious substance, believed to be pepper spray, by a man in a hate crime attack.

    The men were treated at the scene by paramedics and did not require hospital treatment.

    Two other men were allegedly attacked in a similar assault 20 minutes earlier.

    Detectives investigating the assault have identified that two other men may have been the victims of a similar assault in a nearby KFC 20 minutes earlier on the same night.

    “Unprovoked Attack”

    geralt / Pixabay

    Detective Constable Amy Cross, of Lambeth CID, said, “This was a completely unprovoked and targeted assault on at least two members of the public, with a possible 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 contact Lambeth CID by dialling 101 and quoting reference CAD 1206/19JAN19, Tweet @MetCC or contact Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111.

  • Nurse Jackie star gets engaged to his partner

    Nurse Jackie star gets engaged to his partner

    Actor Stephen Wallem who played Thor Lundgren in the hit show Nurse Jackie just got engaged to his boyfriend.

    (C) SHOWTIME / YOUTUBE

    Stephen Wallem and partner, theatre director Tony Humrichouser, are officially engaged.

    The Nurse Jackie star took to social media today to announced the engagement with a simple photo of their two hands plus engagement rings and the caption, “He said yes”.

    https://twitter.com/stephenwallem/status/1103526792005062662

    Stephen is probably best known for his role as Thor on the Showtime hit dramedy, Nurse Jackie, which ran from 2009 until 2015.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The engagement has been a long time in the planning, with Stephen revealing that they had talked about marriage back in 2011, but same-sex marriage was still illegal in their home state of New York.

    Embed from Getty Images

    The couple recently celebrated their 10th year together. To celebrate Stephen published the very first time the pair were photographed together, saying, “The first photo we ever took together. Ten years ago. My everything. Happy Anniversary”

     

    Congrats guys!

  • Straight dudes touch another man’s junk for the first time “beautiful experience”

    Straight dudes touch another man’s junk for the first time “beautiful experience”

    YouTubers, BriaAndChrissy decided to get some self-identifying straight guys to touch another man’s penis and the results may surprise you.

    Straight men touch penis for the first time
    CREDIT: BriaAndChrissy / YouTube

    The video, which was posted a few years ago now was an experiment to see what self-identifying straight guys felt when they touched another man’s penis.

    One of the guys even went as far as to say it was a “beautiful experience”. Another, whose identity remained secret (his bosses threatened him with the sack if his face appeared in the video), said that it “didn’t turn him on”, but “didn’t turn him off either”.

    Straight men touch penis for the first time
    CREDIT: BriaAndChrissy / YouTube

    Aleks happens to be that man who’s penis gets all the attention…and it appears as though he’s got a sizeable asset! Check out the comments in the video.

    Don’t forget to leave your comments in the box below.

     

     

     

     

     

     

  • Piers Morgan offered £1 million to get off Twitter

    Piers Morgan offered £1 million to get off Twitter

    The controversial Good Morning Britain presenter has been offered £1 million to leave Twitter for a year.

    (ITV)

    The founder of HushHush.com, an online marketplace dubbed “Amazon for millionaires”, is offering Piers Morgan £1m to quit posting on Twitter.

    This is following Piers’ resolution earlier this year to continue annoying as many members of the public as possible. After analysing his Twitter profile for social sentiment, HushHush.com found that only 10% of interactions with Piers Morgan were positive.

    The official offer can be seen on the HushHush.com website with the Terms and Conditions here: https://www.hushhush.com/million-pound-question/

    Piers Morgan is notorious for his prolific Twitter posts and getting into public spats with celebrities and members of the public. As well as the content of his tweets, he’s also known for the frequency of them, and it’s not uncommon for him to post more than 22 tweets in a 24-hour timeframe.

    However, the presenter has already poo-pooed the offer saying it would cost at least £10 million to make him think about the offer.

    Aaron Harpin, founder and CEO of HushHush.com said, “They say that money can’t buy happiness, but this offer comes pretty close. At HushHush.com, we make people’s dreams come true with luxurious products and experiences, but none sound better than this. Imagine 365 days of Piers-free bliss online! This isn’t being stretched to Piers’ TV appearances but at least it’s easier to turn the TV off than to avoid him online!

    “Personally, I just cannot understand how someone can be so opinionated all the time. My only fear is that he could come back worse than before, but it’ll be a nice break. I hope if he accepts it will go towards making Twitter a more pleasant social media platform.”

  • Taking A Toy Boy To Silverstone With Toyota GB

    Taking A Toy Boy To Silverstone With Toyota GB

    Toy Boy Toyota

    ‘He’s my toy boy, toy boy. I’m out with my toy boy, toy boy. And when I get to take him home, I know he’s gonna love me right’

    Now don’t worry, I’ve not lost the plot. I was fortunate one week in February to be given the keys to Toyota GB’s Mk1 MR2. It came with Toyota’s state of the art cassette player and I found a mixtape with Sinitta’s hit ‘Toy Boy’ and if ever there was a song that suited a car, it was this.

    It all started after I contacted Graham from Toyota press about a future article I was planning to write about the MR2 Vs Fiat X1/9. He suggested I come over, collect the car and take it to an event Toyota GB had organised at Silverstone with the Vintage Sports-Car Club (VSCC) called the Parallel Pomeroy Trophy. It dates back 70 years and was devised to find the best GT car. For Toyota, it consisted of 4 tests. I couldn’t really say no now could I.

    All that was needed was to collect the car and pay the £30 entry fee that was going towards Toyota’s chosen charity for the past couple of years, Guide Dogs for the Blind. Toyota has been sponsoring the training of 4 dogs and lifetime costs of one. That’s around £55,000. https://www.guidedogs.org.uk

    The MR2 was collected and a look around some of the heritage fleet Toyota keep was shown. The MR2 was a lovely little car and had undergone an extensive restoration that also came with some words of advise about being sympathetic to the newly built engine. So no pressure there then considering the weekend Toyota had planned!

    Tests centred around a slalom handling course, flat out short distance and a series of forward-backward-forward etc strip where you had to stop within the boundaries of some pre-set cones. Penalties were issued if you messed it up. Suffice to say, I did. Twice! Annoyingly. 

    In total, there were 38 Toyota’s ranging from a 1971 Corolla coupe to the 2018 Yaris GRNM with everything in-between included 4 generations of Prius and a Hilux. All this was made even more serious when we were issued with number decals to apply to our cars. All road going cars (the rules stated that ALL entrants must be road legal) were instantly turned into race cars. Applying numbers to a car just makes them racy. The MR2 had sharp looks, an engine making borborygmi noises behind you and sporting potential to start with. The immaculate 1973 Crown estate however didn’t. 

    That said, it didn’t stop Eddie Bellringer beating me and the MR2. His times showed commitment at EVERY level. If I’m honest, I got beaten by practically everything out there including Steve Cropley from Autocar magazine in an Mk1 Prius. That said, Alan Bradley from the Motoring Podcast, in his Yaris GRMN, also got beaten by the Crown Estate.

    This was the first Parallel Pomeroy event PR and social media manager, Scott Brownlee and his team had organised and it went very well, even down to the weather. There was however only two Toyota PR team members taking it for the team. Product and technical, Mr Richard Seymour in an iQ and PR student, Mary Nicholls in a Prius. She also beat me in a Prius.  

    Well, let’s not leave you in suspense. Richard in the iQ won. The smallest car with the smallest engine with the impossibility of positioning a car with a cone within the wheelbase won the event. Which went to show that Richard of product and technical either knew his stuff and the iQ or it was a fix? Either way, it’s a long way to fall when you are at the top, I’m wondering what Toyota could put him in next time.

    An MR2 perhaps?

    As for me, it was a blast and a really good day was had by all those who attended. So it is with great thanks to the Toyota GB team for letting me have the MR2 for a few days prior to the event. 

  • Parents are planning another mass protest outside Birmingham school over LGBT+ classes

    Parents from Parkfield Community school are planning a protest outside the school on Thursday over LGBT+ equality classes.

    CREDIT: © tomwang Depositphotos

    Parkfield Community Primary school in Birmingham is to become a protest ground for parents who are against the school’s plans to hold No Outsiders classes – a campaign where the ethos is to promote LGBT+ equality, inclusivity and to question transphobia and homophobia in primary schools.

    In an interview on Facebook live on the ArunRock community page, one community leader said that there was to be a mass protest outside the school on Thursday and told viewers to attend whether they were parents of children at the school or not.

    On Friday last week, around 600 children were removed by their parents from the school in protest of the No Outsiders lesson.

    The school have said that there are no plans to hold these lesson this term – as it focuses on religious studies for the rest of the term.

    A statement from the group reads,

    “The majority of parents at Parkfield are extremely unhappy with the fact that no consultation has taken place on the age appropriateness of the material used to teach their children.

    “As a result of this most parents have signed a letter to the governors calling for the immediate abolition of the “No Outsiders” programme.

    “As parents we have a right over our children & want to make sure we are consulted what is being taught.”

  • Theatre Review | Club Tropicana – National Tour

    Theatre Review | Club Tropicana – National Tour

    ★★☆☆☆ | Club Tropicana – National Tour

    After being jilted at the altar, lovelorn Ollie embarks on the planned honeymoon with his friends, arriving at Hotel Club Tropicana. However, unbeknown to him, his bride-to-be also had the same idea and arrives with her bridal party.  Meanwhile, overly camp entertainments manager, Gary, (X-Factor’s Joe McElderry) and hotel managers Robert and Serena have entered the hotel into a competition, and are in the midst of trying to butter up the hotel inspector, Christine, by any means necessary.

    Like many jukebox musicals, the wafer-thin story is used solely to wrap around the string of the Eighties hits, which are perhaps the show’s strengths, comprising primarily of upbeat classic pop which you can’t help but clap along to; whilst a bit of forced audience participation and a manic energy throughout the show resonated with the audience and created a party atmosphere in the theatre.

    The show sits somewhere between dated sit-com and pantomime, but with an added abundance of crass innuendo, stereotyped characters which belong firmly in the Eighties and plenty of jokes about bodily functions. Written with every cliché in the book, from the characters to the story and from the jokes to the borderline offensive stereotypes, there is nothing here by way of originality.

    But the show is silly enough to just about get away with it, and there are a handful of genuinely funny moments and some decent one-liners. Kate Robbins steals the laughs as Spanish maid, Consuela (yes, it really is that clichéd), McElderry camps it up whilst the ensemble cast dance their neon Day-Glo socks off. With plenty of nods to the decade that fashion forgot, and songs which you know all the words to, Club Tropicana is crowd-pleasing nonsense, provided you take it on face value and enjoy it for what it is.

    Club Tropicana is at Sheffield Theatres until 9th March 2019 before continuing its national tour.

  • So much emoji diversity is coming your way

    So much emoji diversity is coming your way

    Interracial couples are now going to get the inclusion they deserve.

    smartphones
    This autumn, interracial couples will be included in an emoji update which sees all different types of races of couples included, and will be available on all smartphones. The new emojis feature same-sex couples as well as opposite couples and has 12 different permutations.

    Behind this great news is one of the world’s biggest dating apps, Tinder, which told THEGAYUK, “Tinder advocates for the freedom of people to live how they want to live and love who they want to love,” said Jenny Campbell, CMO, Tinder.

    “The success of our Interracial Couple Emoji campaign shows how powerful the voices are of the more than 50,000 people who joined our cause by signing our petition; together, we effected change and ensured visual representation for interracial couples around the world. I couldn’t be more proud of this incredibly positive outcome.”

     

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