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  • 9 Things You Didn’t Know About Keith Lemon

    Thousands of people have searched THEGAYUK site to find out info on Keith Lemon so we’ve done some digging around to find out everything you need to know about Mr Lemon…

    Is Keith Lemon gay?

    Firstly we should put it out there that Keith Lemon is a character, not a real person. He’s the brainchild of actor Leigh Francis.

    Leigh admitted that the character of Keith Lemon is loosely based on a friend, whose name is also Keith Lemon…

    The character’s first appearance was in 2000 during a show called Whatever I Want. The show also showcased Leigh’s two other characters Avid Merrion and The Bear.

    Leigh Francis is married to Jill Carter, a beauty therapist, and the pair has two children together. They now live in North London.

    In terms of sexuality, Keith Lemon hasn’t yet identified as gay or bi but has long been described as camp and flamboyant by the UK’s press. His fake tan, bleached hair have all added to speculation about the character’s sexuality.

    ALSO READ: 9 things you probably didn’t know about Nick Grimshaw

    On his show Celebrity Juice, Tom Daley hit the headlines when he revealed that he was gay, not bisexual and that he was dating Dustin Lance Black.

    Keith Lemon currently fronts three shows for ITV, his long-running game/magazine show formatted Celebrity Juice and Through The Keyhole. In 2015 ITV 2 started airing The Keith Lemon Sketch Show.

    Leigh Francis is 42 years old – born on 30th April 1973.

    And if you’re wondering why Keith also has bandages around his hand the story has changed, from a Kangaroo attack to just being a prop to help Leigh remember to stay in character. However, there are other suggestions that the bandage covers up an explicit tattoo.

     

  • 11 Times Mean Girls Blew Our Tiny Minds

    So today is 3rd October – a high holy day for Mean Girlers everywhere. Here are the top ten quotes from on of the most quotable films of all time.

    If you haven’t watched Mean Girls then you’ll need to hand in your gay card. Mean Girls is one of the seminal moments of camp history, basically when we learnt how to b*tch like the best of them.

    You can buy it here and bone up so you know what the rest of us are talking about.
    The 3rd October

    Trying to make So fetch work

    And again…

    If you want to be one of the plastics you have to follow the rules…

    Just saying…

    This is also where we learned modesty

    And where we get our fashion tips from… Always pink… Always Wednesday

    The most awkward sex ed ever

    No, wait most awkward

    This is where Mariah got the inspiration!

    If you are going to say nasty things about your friends, it’s best to do it on a secure server, where no one can find your bitching.

  • Perez Hilton Calls Katie Hopkins A C**T

    Katie Hopkins has come under fire after tweeting a picture of a child, saying that the parents should never have had him, because the child was born with “half a head”.

    Controversial Katie Hopkins caused outrage after tweeting that a child born with an incurable brain condition, Microhydranencephaly, shouldn’t have been born at all – calling the parents “cruel and inhumane”. Hopkins also referred to the child as “it” and said he felt “sorry for a baby with no future.”

    Seeing the Tweet, Perez Hilton who is a father of two, slammed the Daily Mail columnist and his former Celebrity Big Brother housemate branding her evil and called her a “C**t.”

    Children born with Microhydranencephaly usually only survive a few days. Some survive for a year. Jaxon Emmett Buell made headline last week after celebrating his first birthday.

  • Designer Marco Morante Pays Homage To Kim Davis – Sort Of

    Renowned fashion designer Marco Morante gave Kim Davis centre stage at the showing of his Spring 2016 collection, well sort of.

    Morante raised eyebrows and smiles by wearing a simple black t-shirt with a picture of Kim Davis on it at the exhibition of his 2016 spring fashion show.

    However the picture had been doctored and someone added a big black dildo, complete with massive balls to the picture, making it look like the anti-gay marriage Rowan County clerk is celebrating the power of sex toys.

    The clerk, who has married four times, holds a strong religious belief that same-sex couples should not be afforded marriage licenses, despite it being the law of the land, and has stated that she should be exempt from discharging that part of her job. She spent 6 days in jail because of her refusal to sign or give out licenses to gay couples last month.

    During his recent trip to the United States, the Pope allegedly, according to Ms. Davis’ lawyer met with her and “thanked” her for her courage and told her to “keep strong”.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Dead Dog in a Suitcase (and other love songs)

    ★★★★ – packed with explosive surprises. (more…)

  • INTERVIEW: It’s Okay To Be Gay With Lush

    A long time fan of the brand, Alessandro started his Lush career in 2001 as a copywriter and brand ambassador in Italy

    From here, his Lush journey has taken him to Germany – where he worked to re-launch the brand and expand the business. In 2013 he moved to the UK and started working on special projects, such as packaging; international rollouts of websites and Lush Times; and ensuring freshness across the business. Ale is now part of the Lush Digital team, supporting partner countries and global operations. He also dips into product creation, having recently developed a new range of oral care for the launch of the flagship Oxford Street store. Ale is passionate about communication and has been integral in some of Lush’s most successful campaigns, most noticeably the 2014 award-winning ‘Sign of Love’ collaboration with All Out – their first global LGBT campaign.

    JH: Why was it important for LUSH to launch the GAY IS OK campaign?

    A: About two years ago, the press was full of sad news for LGBT+ people: the fight for equality was facing new challenges in places like Russia, Uganda and even the United States. Our staff and customers felt very passionate about these issues and asked us to make a stance – and so we did our first #SignofLove campaign. At that point I had to confront a sad reality: Lush has almost 100 shops where running that campaign would have been illegal, and our staff security could have been at risk. When we spoke to our charity partner, All Out, they told us that in 75 countries being gay is illegal and in 10 it can cost you your life. This was shocking, how can love be illegal? We developed #GayIsOK to raise awareness and developed a charity soap that was actually illegal to sell in around 100 of our shops simply because it has the word ‘gay’ on it. The response has been overwhelming, and even if a lot of victories are happening on this side of the world, this is a reminder that there’s a long way to go for global equality.

    JH: Who came up with the design?

    As usual at Lush, it was a collaborative effort. I came up with the concept of the soap and our R&D team made up samples in different colours in the Lush lab. When we tried to take selfies, only the bars filled with golden lustre would show the hashtag clearly in the pictures – it was meant to be sparkly. Our design team worked on the mugshots that we used in the windows and on social media, and some of them are actually featured in them! They seemed very happy to lend their faces to a good cause.

    JH: Are LGBT employees encouraged to bring product ideas forward?

    A: You don’t always need to invent new products for a campaign, and a lot of Lush product are already full of love, rainbows and glitter! For instance our recent campaign for marriage equality in Ireland was developed by John, the manager of one of our Dublin stores, and we asked customers and allies to take a say YES to equality by taking a selfie with our “Yes Yes Yes” solid massage bar which has a fat big YES engraved on it.

    JH: Some people criticise corporations for jumping on what they consider the “pink pound”, what do you feel about that?

    A: Every little helps – but turning a logo into a rainbow for a week definitely doesn’t make a company more diverse or friendly. The work on equality within organisations starts from the people within it. If there’s a real commitment, I see companies and brands playing a crucial role in educating the public, creating policies and pushing for change alongside governments and charities.

    JH: Lush linked up with AllOut recently, what was that like?

    A: You just need to subscribe to their newsletter on AllOut.org to figure out that they’re absolutely on it. They are a small organisation but they use the internet to reach over two million members, at least one in each country of the world, and achieved amazing things. For instance, they managed to get Chinese LGBT+ activists released from jail, convinced the International Olympics Committee to consider equality criteria for countries that want to host the games and are currently campaigning to stop damaging “Gay Cure” therapies.  Most of All Out members campaign on LGBT+ rights for the first time, just like many Lush staff or customers.

    JH: Basically the soap smells gorgeous, who decided the smell of gay acceptance would be so fruity and fresh?

    A: We used to make a perfume called Love and this was the perfect opportunity to resume it from the Lush archives. The soap smells of love, in every sense. It also contains lovely oils of bergamot and lemon that we buy in Italy – the country where I come from and that is still lagging behind on LGBT+ rights. A gentle nudge to the Italians won’t do any harm.

    JH: Are there more products in the pipeline?

    A: My lips are sealed! But for those who want to use their hard earned cash to make a difference, I suggest to check out our Charity Pot. It’s a lovely hand and body lotion made with beautiful ingredients grown sustainably around the world, such as like aloe vera from Kenya and Colombian cocoa butter. All sales (excluding VAT) go to grassroots charities working on human rights (including LGBT rights), animal rights and environmental causes.

    JH: How important is social media to Lush?

    A: Social media is at the core of Lush and its campaigning effort. It helps us reach more people and is a democratic space for debate and feedback with the public. Our community is very engaged and especially supportive when talking about LGBT+ rights. With this campaign alone we had a direct social reach of over thirty million – with an extra forty million thanks to all those that used the hashtag #GayIsOK as part of their celebrations about marriage equality in the US.

    JH: Complete this: Gay Is Ok Because…

    … because LGBT rights are human rights. And how on earth can anyone be entitled to fiddle with those.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Kiss Me, Kate – Leeds Grand Theatre and National Tour

    As a sucker for a classic musical, I was very curious to see what Opera North would make of the Cole Porter classic. ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ is a typical tale of mistaken identity, a will they/wont they love story, a bit of swindling and a bunch of likeable characters all interwoven with an appealing collection of songs. ★★★★★

    Porter’s tale stages a play within a play, telling the story of Fred Graham, an actor and director who casts his ex-wife as his co-star; and finds himself in hot water when one of his other leading men signs off a gambling debt in his name. He tries desperately to keep his musical production of The Taming Of The Shrew on track, as a couple of inept gangsters show up to collect the debt and Grahams relationship with his ex-wife sways between love and hate. But as everything falls apart and the backstage bickering starts to mirror the story on stage, Graham does everything he can in ensuring that the show must go on.
    The songs from Kiss Me, Kate are some of Porter’s most sterling work, with an overarching jazzy vibe which made the musical numbers delightfully catchy. “Why Can’t You Behave”; “Tom, Dick or Harry” and “Too Darn Hot” were all proper toe tappers, and Tiffany Graves multiple reprises of “Always True To You In My Fashion” were simply glorious.
    Opera North have gathered a great company for this show, which draws from a variety of disciplines to produce a collective cast of people who not only specialise, but excel in their field. The classically trained opera singers blended absolutely seamlessly with the musical theatre actors and the dancers. The collective sound and sheer power of the ensemble was stunning. The cast combined to make the production one where each individual element was performed by those with pure strength in their performances and was all the better for it. Quirijn De Lang is vocally strong and charismatic as Graham, whilst Jeni Bern proves an equally impressive sparring partner, and Tiffany Graves and Ashley Day both playfully bounce off each other quite happily.
    But on top of that, the production was top notch, with a beautifully designed set, which was detailed and ingeniously versatile; showing what was happening on stage, in the wings and backstage on the twirl of a backdrop. The costumes were sumptuous, being full of sharp suits and flapper dresses behind the scenes; and lavish, detailed period costumes on stage. Jo Davis directs the show with a flair which mirrors the quality of the presentation and the whole thing oozes class. Add into that a cracking, brass filled performance from the orchestra, conducted by David Charles Abell, and you have an outstanding production which wouldn’t be out of place on any West End stage.

    The show looks and sounds superb and there are not many productions that have such a great show stopping numbers at the start of each act. The script glistens with wit and charm which is reflected in the performances and the whole thing is professionally polished to within an inch of its life. Don’t be put off by thinking this is traditional opera. It’s not. ‘Kiss Me, Kate’ is musical theatre as it should be performed.

    Kiss Me, Kate is part of Opera North’s Autumn programme, which also includes The Barber Of Sevilleand Jenufa. These shows can be seen on various dates at Leeds Grand Theatre until 31st October 2015, before visiting The Theatre Royal in Newcastle (3 – 7 November 2015), The Lowry, Salford Keys, Manchester (10th – 14th November 2015) and Nottingham Theatre Royal (17th – 21st November 2015). For tickets and further details, visit www.operanorth.co.uk

    by Paul Szabo | @IAmScubamonkey

  • FILM REVIEW | Wasp, Sexual tension in Provence

    A gay couple and a jilted woman spend a weekend together in a house in Provence. It’s a triangle that becomes messy, in the new film ‘Wasp.’ ★★★★

    Olivier (Simon Haycock) and James (Hugo Bolton) have been together for a year. Caroline (Elly Condron), a college friend of James, has just been dumped by her French boyfriend of 3 years. So James invites Caroline to spend the week with him and Olivier in a house that belongs to Olivier’s family. It’s a beautiful house, typical French Chateau, with an outdoor pool, a trampoline in the backyard, and amazing views of the valley. Olivier is a privileged man; he’s 30, handsome, has a great job, and comes from a well-off family. And he’s got a younger good looking trophy boyfriend in James. He also used to sleep with woman.
    So the tension, not just sexual but all sorts, builds up as the week progresses. Caroline hears Olivier and James having sex upstairs, yet she’s vulnerable and feels a bit left out.
    Olivier starts noticing Caroline more and more. He steals glances at her from across the pool, and Caroline notices. She plays it up, teases Olivier, until James realises what is happening right in front of him. And the relationship between all three of them may never be the same again.
    Director/Writer Phillippe Audi-Dor makes an auspicious debut film. His style of long shots of various places and objects (wasps being one of them) brings out the beauty of the locale, as well as helps to build up and sustain tension between the three characters. Audi-Dor begin filming Wasp just four months after graduating from film school, and what an impressive debut it is. And while the films winds down with a very melodramatic ending, Wasp is an impressive filmmaking debut with a just as impressive cast.

  • Dustin Lance Black and Tom Daley Are Engaged

    Tom Daley and Dustin Lance Black have announced their engagement.

    The loved up pair, who have been dating for 2 years announced their engagement via The Times in the Births, Deaths and Marriages section.
    “The engagement is announced between Tom, son of Robert and Debra Daley of Plymouth, and Lance, son of Jeff Bisch of Philadelphia and Anne Bisch of Lake Providence.”
    Tom Daley first hinted that he was in a relationship with DLB in his coming out video back in December 2013. He said that he had fallen in love with someone that had changed his life.
    Hurrah for the pair and we’re eagerly awaiting our invite…

    Tom Daley was recently revealed as being one of the UK’s top gay icons, as voted for by readers of THEGAYUK. He came runner up to Stephen Fry.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Vincent & Flavia in The Last Tango – Sheffield Theatres & National Tour

    If the return of Saturday Night stalwart ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ has whetted your appetite for some classic crooning, some archetypal moves on the dance floor and all things sequined, then why not swap your sofa for a theatre seat and see the whole thing live? ★★★ (more…)

  • Daily Mail Readers Can Not Help Themselves As Tamal Ray Comes Out

    One can’t help but look, but when the Daily Mail reported that Tamal Ray from Great British Bake Off came out as gay, we had to go through the DM’s comment section to see what its readers thought….

    Now we’re careful to point out here that these are moderated comments and do not reflect the thoughts, opinions or anything else of the DM editorial team…

    There was a lot of conspiracy talk of the BBC ticking boxes.

    Bert Puttocks: “Another BBC diversity box ticked”

    JackMonroeFanClub: “The BBC has to tick the boxes. No random selection of candidates here methinks.”

    Hansel: Boxed ticked. Well done BBC. Another year a, another chance to open the diversity playbook.

    Then there were those who were happy with the proactive actions they had taken to make sure no gayness ever entered their living rooms ever again:

    allyc: “So glad I cancelled my TV licence.”

    That’ll show em…

    Stephen: This guy is a dream come true for the left wing, he seems to tick all of the right boxes to gain him favour with them.

    smg: is everyone gay now?

    However to be fair and balanced – there were a lot of positive comments – but most people commented on whether Tamal was a “heartthrob” – the answer is yes people, yes!

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