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  • Ellen DeGeneris and Michelle Obama Get Funky Together

    If you have watched The Ellen DeGeneres Show on television you will know that the out-lesbian comedian does her own dance routine every time.

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  • Peter Tatchell To Lead Demonstration Outside Flagship Dolce And Gabbana Store

    Gay and human rights activist Peter Tatchell will head up a demonstration outside the Dolce And Gabbana flagship store in London on 18th March between 1-2PM

    The demonstration comes hot on the heals after the two openly gay fashion designers insulted same-sex parents and their children. The pair have also strongly opposed same-sex marriage.

    Speaking to the Italian magazine Panorama, alongside his business partner, Stefano Gabbana, Domenico Dolce said children should be born to a mother and a father:
    “The only family is a traditional one. I’m not convinced by those I call the chemical children, synthetic babies…They are wombs for hire, semen chosen from a catalogue … psychiatrists are not ready to confront the effects of this experimentation.”
    Stefano Gabbana added: “The family is not a fad.” In 2006, he told the Daily Mail: “I am opposed to the idea of a child growing up with two gay parents.”

    LGBT rights and human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell, Director of the Peter Tatchell Foundation and co-organiser of Thursday’s protest, said:
    “It is hypocritical for Stefano Gabbana to oppose gay parents, given that in 2006 he expressed a desire to have a child via artificial insemination and surrogacy. He’s guilty of double standards. Gabbana wanted for himself what he now condemns other gay men for wanting.
    “These comments are not only an attack on same-sex parents but on all parents who’ve had children with the aid of fertility treatment, including thousands of heterosexual couples.
    “Dolce and Gabbana are echoing ill-informed, outdated and homophobic prejudices about gay parents. Research spanning 40 years shows that children bought up by gay mums and dads are just as happy and well-adjusted as those from traditional heterosexual families. The key to a child’s welfare is the love of their parents, not the parent’s sexual orientation.
    “They are playing into the hands of the Vatican and far right political parties that oppose gay families, said Mr Tatchell.

    The boycott trend #BoycottDolceAndGabbana trended all weekend forcing Gabbana to put out a statement yesterday saying, “It was never our intention to judge other people’s choices. We do believe in freedom and love.”

    Co-organiser of the protest, Edwin Sesange, director of the LGBT Out and Proud Diamond Group, added,
    “Please join us in sending a clear message to Dolce and Gabbana that same-sex families are loving, happy families. This issue is not about same-sex families alone but also about the many straight families who have benefited from fertility treatment. Dolce and Gabbana’s statements add to the stigma, shame, prejudice, rejection and intolerance often suffered by same-sex parents and their children. They should withdraw their statements and apologise.”

    Mr Tatchell concluded,
    “Dolce and Gabbana are entitled to their views but we are entitled to protest against them. We urge everyone – gay and straight – to boycott their clothes.
    “It’s intolerable for these designers to make millions out of the gay community and then turn around and insult our families. They’ve stabbed us in the back.
    “Dolce and Gabbana have been exploiting the gay market for decades. Having made their millions, they seem happy to trash loving, responsible same-sex parents and their children.
    “Professor Susan Golombok of the Centre for Family Research at Cambridge University is the world expert on same-sex families. She’s been studying them since 1976. Her latest research is in her new book, Modern Families, published last week. Surveying studies worldwide spanning four decades, she found that children with same-sex parents flourish, despite the stigma they sometimes face,” said Mr Tatchell.

  • RIP: Gay Film Maker Richard Glatzer Dies

    Filmmaker Richard Glatzer, the co-writer and co-director of Still Alice, died Tuesday in Los Angeles after a battle with ALS, also known as Lou Gehrig’s disease. Glatzer and husband Wash Westmoreland were a writing and directing team who were responsible for a string of very successful eclectic indie movies.

    Their first collaboration in 2001 was The Fluffer a comedy about a young man employed for a ‘vital role’ in the adult entertainment industry who finds himself falling for a gay-for-pay porn star whose hedonistic lifestyle may lead them both to destruction. In 2006 the pair won a Grand Jury Prize at Sundance for Quinceañera with a plot that focused on a multigenerational Mexican-American family preparing for their daughter’s quinceañera against the backdrop of a gentrifying neighbourhood in LA. Then Glatzer and Westmoreland executive-produced a heart-breaking movie in 2008 called Pedro about Pedro Zamora the AIDS activist who was cast on MTV’s The Real World and died aged 22,

    Their last film Still Alice is a movie about a fifty-year-old linguistics professor who develops early onset Alzheimer’s disease for which Julianne Moore won a Best Actress Academy Award. Some critics have suggested a connection between Glatzer’s own battle with ALS and the raw, honest depiction of illness in the film.

    British-born Westmoreland and Glatzer’s partner for 20 years issued the following statement:

    ‘I am devastated. Rich was my soul mate, my collaborator, my best friend and my life. Seeing him battle ALS for four years with such grace and courage inspired me and all who knew him.

    In this dark time, I take some consolation in the fact that he got to see Still Alice go out into the world. He put his heart and soul into that film, and the fact that it touched so many people was a constant joy to him.

    Thank you to everyone for this huge outpouring of love. Richard was a unique guy — opinionated, funny, caring, gregarious, generous, and so so smart. A true artist and a brilliant man. I treasure every day of the short twenty years we had together.

    I cannot believe he has gone. But in my heart and the hearts of those who loved him he will always be alive.’

    Richard Glatzer (January 28, 1952 – March 10, 2015)

  • Five Things Straight Men Who Sleep With Gay Guys Should Know

    On Monday, New Next Now reported on a straight-identified Redditor who recently hooked up with a gay man. Afterwards, the man finds himself right in the middle of a Sam Smith song; he decides he actually is hetero, but fears the gay man wants to take the relationship to the next level. (more…)

  • FILM REVIEW | Three In A Bed, Where is the chemistry?

    ★★☆☆☆ | Three In A Bed
    three in a bed film review

    After his mother dies, twenty-something-year-old struggling musician Nate has taken on her mantle and the responsibility of looking after his two self-centered sisters.

    When both of his sibling’s lives take a turn for the worse: one finds out her live-in boyfriend is cheating on her and the other discovers that the married man she has been dating has got her pregnant, they move in with him in his small one-bedroom apartment. It doesn’t give him much privacy or independence at a crucial time in his life when he is slowly discovering his sexuality.

    The object of his affection is Jonny the boy-next-door who quickly falls in love with a confused Nate, but when the going soon gets rough, Jonny runs off to France to drown his sorrows by getting a job erecting tents! Nate discovers that not only does he miss Jonny, but also that he finally has something to write a song about.

    This micro-budget romantic comedy set in Manchester and funded mainly by actress Jody Latham who plays one of the sisters, is full of good intentions and a great deal of enthusiasm. Sadly that does not make up for the painfully weak script or some extremely lame acting that makes one wince instead of smiling much of the 81 minutes. What was particularly disappointing was the lack of any real chemistry not just between the two men but with the siblings too and all the other characters.

    The movie has a happy ending for Nate but not necessarily for us. When there are three in a bed, sometimes that can be at least two too many.

  • COMMENT: Why The World Needs David Walliams

    Last Wednesday it was announced in the media that David Walliams and Lara Stone are divorcing.

    As David has always been a very private man this should have been, enough information to satisfy anyone not in their immediate circle. But surprisingly, the next day there was an avalanche of headlines and frontages that seemed almost from a different era. The blame was put squarely on David’s beloved camp persona and his love for playing female characters.

    The writing seemed offensively homophobic and more about the change of hurting David than an article informing the public on why the couple are divorcing.

    (The claim that Lara did not know about David’s image before they were married seems quite far-fetched, as she spoke about watching his work following their courtship in interviews soon after they begun dating.)

    On Twitter and message boards two certain groups of people seemed very concerned with David’s sexuality and his dresses, as if the two are always mutually inclusive.

    Isn’t it sad that in 2015 a camp man with a love for dressing up still seems so threatening to the media and certain parts of the population?

    The idea of a man being at ease with his feminine side and appreciating same sex beauty still seems like one of the biggest taboos in the world (one man even wrote to the Daily Telegraph to say people like him should be castrated. And no, he was not part of ISIS.)

    David has always fought against these taboos, from his earliest interviews on he has spread the message that being locked in a box of forced masculinity is boring and worse, limiting. It is also damaging to some-one’s personality, always having to think about whether doing something is or isn’t “gay” or “feminine”. People raised to be aware of such things are often the ones that end up attacking others who are more “open minded” and free spirited.

    In a time where people who are transgender, gay, flamboyant or in any other way different from the “norm” are facing fresh oppression around the world (homophobia is rising in the UK), people like David are needed to spread a counter message.

    David is working hard at doing this and is succeeding.

    His book The Boy in the Dress, which he admitted was semi autobiographical, is selling in countries where being gay, trans or different is illegal, changing young peoples outlook, showing that being different is actually being normal.

    In the UK the book has changed young boys considerably and in a good way: helping them understand and accept their more feminine male classmates.

    This World’s Book Day it was clear how much of a difference David is truly making: his timeline was flooded with young boys proudly in dresses, some mothers said they even demanded makeup! These boys were not afraid to do what they wanted, not limited in their choices: they just thought wearing a dress was fun. This book has opened their eyes. So if in future they may see or be the person that preferences the feminine over the masculine, they will see it as normal – having David’s message in their mind.

    But he has done more. The following might sound odd to people, but his flirting with Simon Cowell (and other men,) which has also been judged by the media and parts of the public, is also important to society. When David first appeared on Got Talent having David flirt with Simon on a big pre-watershed family TV show tells the world: “Hey, flirting with someone of the same gender is not weird or scary. It’s just as normal as a male judge flirting with a female judge.” And yes, it has brought difference. Young kids are talking about “loving” how David flirts with Simon, saying they want that kind of relationship too. They are “shipping” them as they would male and female characters. They see it as normal. Also David is not “pretending” to be gay, as some say.

    Over the years he has made it as clear as possible, without actually saying the words, that he has attraction to men and women, and would just at as easily have married a man had he found the right one.

    NOT that it matters, as that is not the message he is trying to spread. He is going beyond this, saying everyone should be able to be who they are: difference is to be celebrated. This has even affected Simon Cowell, who has changed considerably and even allowed David to put him in a dress and last season had David sat on his lap.

    Maybe this is what scares some people so much about David Walliams. They fear he is threatening their masculinity, their sexuality.

    Is his mission to put every man in drag and make up? Is he forcing people into homosexuality?

    Of course he is not, don’t be ridicules. No, he is just trying to change your attitude. It is not just about dresses or sexuality or gender, but difference: “It is alright to be different”. He is trying to spread tolerance.

    Think about it: who wouldn’t want to live in a world where no one is judged for being who they are? This is his message and if the new generation can understand that message, if boys and girls alike can be free in how they want to express themselves, maybe it is time that the adults allowed themselves this freedom again too.

    Many parents, thankfully do understand, as these messages posted to him show:

    Thankfully David still seems to be himself. When asked at his book tour on Thursday ‘if stealing was legal, what would you like to steal?’ David quickly retorted: ‘Simon Cowell’s heart’…

     

    NEVER change!

     

    Opinions expressed in this article may not reflect those of THEGAYUK, it’s management or editorial teams. If you’d like to comment or write a comment, opinion or blog piece, please click here.

  • INTERVIEW | Russell T. Davies And Lynn Hunter On Banana

    Russell T. Davies and Lynn Hunter talk about tonight’s episode on Banana at 10PM

    It’s a two-hander, but it’s not a normal one, is it?
    No, it’s not. I like Banana to change and to keep people on their toes and surprise people. And E4 is all about risk – and Banana takes all sorts of risks. Every episode is different – there’s drama, tragedy, romantic comedy, and then this.
    This being a two-hander where one of the characters basically doesn’t speak English!
    Yes, that’s right. Pretty much every word uttered by Zara is in Yoruba [a Nigerian dialect]. She’s not understood, which isn’t unusual for her, because she’s never understood or listened to. She just comes in and cleans and goes away again, unnoticed. She’s part of the underclass that exists, however much we might not like to think about it. I liked the fact that the last episode of Banana, after all of the dramas about the gays and their lives and loves and disappointments, was about the women who clean for them. It got us wondering, on the set, who cleans up after us?

    Did you spend as long on Zara’s dialogue as on Vanessa’s?
    Yes, I did, actually. I wrote the script, and then it was translated into Yoruba. And we thought about whether to have an English translation of the script on set, and decided not to. But for the extremely small minority of viewers who can speak Yoruba, there are lots of jokes in there, because Vanessa’s opening up about her life and her lesbian relationships, and thinks they’re becoming friends, and Zara is actually disgusted by what she’s hearing and really doesn’t approve of it.

    For the viewer, in effect, Vanessa’s just delivering a whole series of soliloquys, isn’t she?
    Yes, it becomes almost a monologue, even though the person who’s crying out for attention is sitting there – which is very true of life, I think. I actually created Vanessa for Lynn [Hunter], because I’d worked with her before, and loved her. She was in a supporting role when I worked with her on an ITV drama called Mine, All Mine. I was always thinking Cucumber was lacking something, and about two years ago I was in a Cardiff café one Sunday morning, and Lynn walked in and I just went “That’s it! That’s the woman! That’s her!” And I went and wrote the part for her. And it’s the first time, in all her acting life, that she’s had a big, strong, leading role in something, and I think she’s magnificent. And I love the fact that Channel 4 is so bold. E4 is meant to be a youth channel, and Zara is young, but Vanessa – well, Lynn would happily tell you herself, she’s 62 years old. And there she is, being absolutely magnificent in this lead role. I love this episode, I think it’s a mad, strange episode, and I’m very proud of it.

    Lynn Hunter on Banana ep 8
    How did you end up landing the role of Vanessa? Had you worked with Russell before?
    Yes. I did a series ten years ago of Russell’s called Mine, All Mine. It was about Swansea, really, which is where Russell’s from. It was an eight or ten part series, and I met him then, and we became friends, in a way. And when I went up for the part of Vanessa in Banana and Cucumber, I went to meet the director, David, and the producer, Matt, and I spoke to Russell afterwards and he said that he’d actually written episode 8 of Banana for me. I was incredibly moved by that, really – it’s a massive, massive honour and privilege to have someone like Russell actually writing an episode for me. I was blown away by that. I didn’t know any of this when I went up for it, but I found out afterwards.

    Explain a little bit about Vanessa. What’s her story?
    On the surface of it she’s a really tough cookie. She’s worked hard, she’s built up her own business, she’s brought up a daughter on her own. She’s always known she’s gay, she had her daughter knowing that. But while she’s a tough cookie on the face of it, she’s a real salt-of-the-earth woman. If Vanessa was your mate, you’d be well-covered. She’s really there for you if she’s your friend. That’s why she can’t turn her back on people who need her help, as we discover in her episode. She’s very much a woman who wants to make people’s lives better. She’s an incredibly caring woman. And she’s also got a secret that’s been eating away at her for many years. And she only tells the girl in the episode because she knows she can’t understand a word of what she’s saying. Vanessa lifts the lid and it all comes pouring out, years and years of this guilt that she’s lived with.

    You mentioned that the other character in the episode doesn’t speak English. That must have been quite a bizarre acting experience.
    Yes, it was. Strangely enough, I made a conscious decision not to find out what it was she was saying. They offered me the chance to have a translation of her script, and I said “No, I don’t.” Vanessa doesn’t understand what she’s saying, so it was good for me to be in the same situation. I had no idea what she was saying. That made it really difficult to learn cues, for example. But it was really helpful not to have the translation. Apparently some of what she is saying makes the scene very funny, because I totally misinterpret what she says. Apparently it’ll be a very funny scene for the tiny minority of people who speak both English and Yoruba. To this day I’ve not read the translation, so I’ve no idea what she said.

    How does it feel to have someone like Russell come along and write a whole episode for you? Where does that stand, for you, in the grand scheme of your career?
    In the 35 years of my career, no-one has ever invested that amount of faith in me, as a performer. I am totally overwhelmed and humbled by that. I don’t have the words to say to Russell what this means to me. I’ve tried to tell him. When I got the script originally, I could not believe it. It’s virtually a monologue. I’ve done a lot of television in my time, but never anything as big as this. Even in the big series’, the very well-known actors rarely get that amount of exposure or airtime. When I got the script, it was totally terrifying. With that level of faith invested in me comes a level of responsibility, though. It’s the most incredible thing that’s happened.

  • Coming Out As Gay To A Devout Muslim Father

    Khalid el Khatib the son of a Palestinian refugee who risked everything to come to the United States, stayed in the closet on the advice of his therapist because he did not want to disappoint his father. However, when the pain became too much Khalid decided he could no longer lie to his family.

    In a new very touching video for www.imfromdriftwood.com the LGBTQ Story Archive, Khalid articulately explains that four years later, although some issues remain, he has the full love and support of his father.

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Radiant Vermin, Soho Theatre, London

    ★★★★ | Radiant Vermin, Soho Theatre, London

    “I want this house. Oh, yes, I know there’ll be problems. But at least we’ll have the hope of things getting better. Isn’t that the least we owe our child? Hope.”

    Jill and Ollie: a seemingly ordinary couple, trapped in poor housing on a rough estate, unable to get on the property ladder. They want to tell you about how they found their dream home and some of the things they did in order to get it. It’s a beautiful house. They know you might find some of the things they did shocking and horrible but they want to explain. They deserve that chance, at least. It may well be that you understand more than you initially think you do, too.

    Philip Ridley’s plays are often visceral and dark with skilful humour leading the viewer subtly down dark routes too often brutal and sharp conclusions. This play is no exception with a hilarious and seemingly light-hearted satire on consumerism and the lengths we’re willing to go to acquire things. That’s till things get nasty and the gruesome secrets come out with Jill and Ollie’s suburban niceties peeling away to reveal deadly secrets.

    The sublime Gemma Whelan, star of Ridley’s last play, “Dark Vanilla Jungle”, puts on another brilliant performance as the seemingly naïve and sweet, Jill. She’s ably supported by hapless and sweet Sean Michael Verey (Pramface) as wholesome Ollie and Amanda Daniels as the Mephistophelean Miss Dee.

    A stark white set supports the raw action in this play that is perhaps one of Ridley’s most accessible. It’s a piece that’ll make you laugh, squirm and shudder and ultimately question your own motivations and desires. What would you do for a rapid induction hob, a four-man Jacuzzi and a flat screen TV? The Soho Theatre has yet again managed to put on something truly original and contemporary that suits beautifully in our current cultural landscape.

    Radiant Vermin runs until the 12th of April 2015

    Buy tickets here: http://sohotheatre.com/whats-on/radiant-vermin

  • Advice: How To Deal With A Breakup

    Lots of people hope to meet someone special and to live the rest of their lives with them. It seems to be a drive in us. But in the physically-focused gay world, most of us jump from short term relationships to short term relationship. Causing great pain and questions about how good we are and how attractive we are.

    But if we do break-up so often why is it so painful? Most therapists believe that ending a relationship is similar to losing someone through death. The future together and plans of happiness are smashed. And it doesn’t matter if you broke up with them or they broke up with you, the pain of not having that person around can be great.

    The end of a relationship needs to be mourned. To move on you have to go through the pain of accepting the loss and change in your life. And it takes time. This is something that cannot be instantly be fixed. Jumping into activities or new relationships may help a little but won’t sure everything. They may be a distraction but in the end the loss of a relationship will catch up with you.

    First thing is to focus on yourself. Find time for just you and think, and perhaps cry, over the future you are now not going to have. List your good points and even ask your friends to tell you what they see your good points are.

    Write a letter to your ex but please, please do not send it. Tell him or her why you are better off without them, and why you will find an even better relationship. Put it away for 2 days, then read it and tear it up or burn it. You may want to repeat this exercise a few times as you begin to get over the break-up.

    Good friends will want to help but may feel awkward and maybe not sure what to do. Friends who deal with their breakups by denying them may encourage you to find someone new. There are those who think if you have fallen off a bicycle the best thing is to get back on quickly. But only you can decide how quickly you want to recover. Most of us need time to reflect and to heal our wounds.

    Of course, there is the temptation to get back together again with that partner if only to prove that there is nothing wrong with you. To prove that you are still attracted to them. maybe even to show them what they are missing. And it can be seen as a great way to ease the loneliness. Happy couples all around you may encourage you to think that you still could be happy too. And yes it might happen. Only you will know why you really broke up, and only you will know whether the relationship can be sorted or not.

    If you feel you may get back together then stop and look critically at what the problem with your relationship was. Was it just sex driven? Unromantic I know, but you need to be practical. What were the problems and are they really repairable?

    This may be a time where you need to talk to someone independent. Talking to someone who is not part of your life could add to how you see your life and relationships and may help you find your way forward. But your happiness is important. If you are not happy with your relationship get out. There will be someone out there for you. It just may take a bit of time to find them.

  • Drag Queen Becomes Mr S F Leather 2015

    The times are definitely changing.

    The prestigious MR S.F. LEATHER 2015 title was won on Saturday by a Drag Queen called Jem Jehova. She is the persona of Trevor Wisnieski whose version of drag is ‘San Francisco style’ in that she is bearded and androgynous.

    To qualify for the competition, Trevor/Jem had to prove an abiding love for leather and the leather community, and beat out fellow contestants representing bars and businesses around town modelling gear on stage. He will now go on to compete at the INTERNATIONAL MR. LEATHER CONTEST in Chicago in May.

    On of Jem’s sister drag queens Juanita More! writes on Facebook, “It’s a new world in San Francisco. Congratulations to [Jem] on her title. She is living proof that you can be EVERYTHING in SF.”

     

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