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  • Belarus on the brink of replicating Russian anti-gay laws

    Europe’s last dictatorship to replicate Russia’s “anti-homosexual propaganda” law, claim anti-discrimination activists in Belarus.

    Concerns that Belarus plans to enact an “anti-homosexual propaganda” law, of the type enacted in Russia in 2013, were raised at a meeting convened by the London-based Equal Rights Trust (ERT) in collaboration with the Belarusian Helsinki Committee (BHC) last week. A draft of the law has not been released, but work on a bill on protecting children from propaganda of homosexuality has been included in a presidential decree concerning the legislative agenda of parliament.

    The meeting, held in Minsk on 22 July brought together leading civil society groups from around the country to discuss equality law reform and agree on guiding principles for a model equality law that would bring Belarus in line with international standards.

    Dimitrina Petrova, Executive Director of Equal Rights Trust, said: ‘While in Minsk I saw signs that Belarus may be starting to distance itself from Moscow in the wake of the annexation of Crimea. Yet, at the same time, we learn that the country plans to replicate Russia’s homophobic law, relying on populist calls to defend children from “propaganda of homosexuality”.

    ‘Belarus, despite its pariah status, has a good record on promoting equality for women, disabled persons and others. We urge the government to resist the wave of homophobia issuing from Russia and uphold its track record on issues of equality.’

    Of particular concern to participants was an alarming rise in homophobic hate speech in Belarusian media. In the past 12 months alone, more than 200 publications have used homophobic language or terminology, inciting violence and discrimination and even equating homosexuality with paedophilia, zoophilia and crime. Some media reports went so far as to call for the LGBT community to be quarantined, while others said that it threatened the territorial integrity of Belarus.

    The Equal Rights Trust has been supporting civil society in Belarus to promote equality law reform since 2011. In November 2013, ERT published “Half an Hour to Spring: Addressing Discrimination and Inequality in Belarus”, the first comprehensive report on the enjoyment of the rights to equality and non-discrimination in the country, which recommended, among other things, the adoption of a comprehensive equality law.

    To read a summary of ERT’s report in English click here
    To support Equal Rights Trust and its work in Belarus visit www.equalrightstrust.org

  • Ruth Hunt announced as CEO of Stonewall

    Ruth Hunt has been announced as the new CEO of Britain’s biggest Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual charity, Stonewall.

    Ruth Hunt has been acting CEO of the charity since February this year and before that, was Deputy Chief Executive. She joined the charity in 2005 as a Senior Policy Officer, having begun her career at the Equality Challenge Unit. Her appointment concludes a comprehensive and transparent search, throwing up a strong set of candidates from which Ruth emerged as the clear winner.

    In May Hunt controversially refused to back a boycott of the Dorchester Collection, after it emerged that the owner of the group the Sultan Of Brunei said that he would adopt the Sharia criminal code for his country, the law carries harsh penalties for adultery and sodomy – which includes death by stoning.

    Hunt commented, ‘The recent boycott of The Dorchester Collection has undoubtedly raised awareness in the West of the issues in Brunei but the crucial questions for Stonewall are whether there is a mandate for the boycott and would such a boycott work? We believe the answer is no, on both counts. I do not believe the somewhat beleaguered Christopher Cowdray, Chief Executive of the Collection, can somehow influence the implementation of Sharia criminal code in Brunei.’

    Her statement led to a public outcry, which led to Stonewall changing its stance 3 days later.

    On the announcement of her appointment, Ruth Hunt said, ‘I’m delighted to have been given the opportunity to lead Stonewall, a highly-respected organisation that is synonymous with achieving equal rights for lesbian, gay and bisexual people. It is full of committed, intelligent and creative people and I am very pleased to be heading up such a talented team.

    ‘There are so many opportunities ahead, as well – of course – as challenges. I look forward to working with Stonewall’s many partners to develop what the team and my predecessors have already achieved, to advance equality and challenge discrimination both throughout the UK and abroad. These goals we share with the lesbian, gay and bisexual community and it’s fundamental that we work together to achieve them.’

  • FILM REVIEW | The Last Match

    ★★★★ | The Last Match

    It’s still very tough and even quite dangerous being gay in some places, none more so than in the oppressive machismo society of Cuba. So when two male teenage best friends acknowledge their attraction to each other, life starts to get very complicated for them, and we have the sense from the outset that it cannot possibly end well at all.

    Yosvani and Rey both play football every day on a scrap of land in the midst of a poor slum neighbourhood in Havana. Yosvani lives with his fiance and her unscrupulous black-marketeer father in a comfortable middle-class apartment. Rey, on the other hand, lives in a cramped shanty-like two room dump with his wife, their baby, and Theresa his shrill and demanding mother-in-law. It is she who actively encourages the young man to prostitute himself with male tourists willing to pay for a quickie or a whole night of passion.

    With no hope of anything approaching a real job on the horizon, he is happy to oblige but draws the line at doing anything he considers is ‘gay’. Which actually seems to be very little when we see him in action enjoying himself giving his all to Juan a handsome visiting Spaniard

    Rey’s few encounters with Juan make him overly confident and he ends up spending more money than he can afford to buy black-market shirts and sneakers from Yosvani’s father-in-law. He perpetually lives more than precariously on the edge and when he is flat broke he pawns Theresa’s few possessions which results in more anger from her until he redeems them again after he has turned another ‘trick’.

    It’s obvious from the word go that Yosvani and Rey much prefer hanging out on the soccer pitch together than spending any time at all with their respective partners. One night after the two of them have been on a drinking binge they lose their inhibitions and hesitatingly kiss each other and somewhat surprise themselves how much they like it. They like having sex together even more, to such an extent that they cannot get enough of each other. However, because of their home situations, they have to keep this budding relationship very much on the down low and they manage to do just this until one-day Yosvani’s father-in-law gets the wind of what is going on.

    It’s at about the same time that Rey suddenly gets a lucky break when a Scout offers him a chance to train to become a professional soccer player. This is another reason not to go public with their love affair but it’s actually too late as they are already at the point of no return. And then just as we had supposed, the inevitable ending is both tragic and sad.

    Directed and co-written by Spanish filmmaker Antonio Hens (‘Clandestinos’) this heartbreaking well-crafted wee drama is completely engaging as if so accurately portrays the price that young men have to pay when they discover their sexuality in such an unaccepting and intolerant culture. The hypocrisy that it is acceptable as a means to an end as long as you don’t enjoy it, makes this sad tale even more poignant.

    Hen’s young inexperienced lead actors did a fine and convincing job, particularly Reinier Díaz who nailed the character of Rey so perfectly. And less this should put you off going to Cuba, I should tell you that it was all filmed in Puerto Rico!

  • Bachmann: Gays Working Towards Multiple Marriages And Child Molestation

    During a radio interview, US Republican representative, Michelle Bachmann said that gay people were pushing for multiple marriages and to repeal age of consent laws.

    In the interview, Michele Bachmann, who is infamous for her anti-gay views said that gay people not only wanted to be celebrated but to ultimately change laws to allow for multiple marriage and the repeal of age of consent laws, so that adults could have sex with children.

    https://soundcloud.com/rightwingwatch/bachmann-child-rape-result-of-gay-rights

    She argues that the gay community’s ultimate goal was too ‘not allow for diversity of opinion on this issue, because they don’t wanna be celebrated, they want to force everyone, to not only to agree with them but to also to have to finance their agenda.’

    Continuing she said that the gay community was working to, ‘abolish age of consent laws, which means we will do away with statutory rape laws so that adults will be able to freely prey on little children sexually. That’s the deviance that we’re seeing embraced in our culture today.’

    Earlier this week Bachmann said there was a ‘chance’ that she would run for Presidency again in 2016 after a failed attempt in 2012.

  • COLUMN | Mr Nosey

    I have a very bad habit on public transport. I’m incurably nosy and I can’t help peeking over people’s shoulders at what they’re reading, watching or texting. It’s naughty, voyeuristic and an invasion of privacy but oh what a joy it can be.

    Whether it’s spotting the suited businessman who is secretly reading a romantic novel on his Kindle, the surprisingly sexual texts of a middle aged woman or the semi-pornographic and bizarre social media feeds of a teenager; I love the little glimpse it gives me into people’s lives. It’s a bit like the dusky late summer nights when you get a peek into people’s sitting rooms in the magical little hour when people light the lamps just before they draw their curtains. It’s a very guilty pleasure but I confess. I’m guilty as charged. I love to see and imagine what others’ lives are like. I’m not after spying on people naked or spotting people in coitus. I’d be pretty mortified if I did and blush the colour of a pillar-box whilst quickly looking away. I want to see nasty curtains and ornaments, not cocks.

    I got a couple of shocks recently. About a month ago I was on the train into central London and a well-groomed man of about 20 was answering a volley of texts on his phone. I cast a sneaky sideways glance and was pretty horrified to read that he was setting up being the all you can eat buffet for a group of Chinese businessmen in a hotel. The reassuring factor was that the person procuring his services appeared to have arranged it very carefully and was reassuring him that the businessmen would all wait in a separate room and take it turns, forming an orderly queue to make use of his body. I must admit to feeling a bit queasy but reproached myself for my bourgeois small mindedness. He was wearing McQueen (he needed income to maintain that look), looked relaxed and happy and who am I to have qualms about his job just because I wouldn’t do it myself. Although, an orderly queue? I love good manners. Maybe not such a horrific job after all, provided it was a good quality hotel.

    A few weeks ago I was travelling up North and my nosiness caused me a major dilemma. The middle-aged businessman man sitting in front of me was reviewing his selection of photographs on his phone.

    These weren’t happy snaps of his kids or shots of Instagrammed food: they were covert photos of young women’s crotches taken under train tables. After an hour of seeing him from between the seat backs enlarging, changing definitions and compulsively viewing a huge collection of photos of women’s thighs and gussets (all taken under train tables), I made my displeasure known through a series of huffs and tsks that made him stop for a good 5 minutes before resuming his compulsion.

    To cut a long story very short: I managed to make like a cross between Mary Whitehouse and Miss Marple and got his name and company address from his email signature when he sent an email on his laptop and reported him to the police. Being the person I am, I challenged him first and asked if I could take a picture of his cock or not; a question he seemed to object to which was something I found hypocritical in an inveterate vagina snapper.

    He, ultimately, got a police caution, which was great. My point in telling the story? I wonder am I any better than him? I invade privacy by reading texts, looking in people’s houses and I lecherously glance at men’s bulging crotches on public transport. Only yesterday, I couldn’t resist a good look at a muscled man in tight Lycra (he was definitely circumcised). I know people who post pictures of hot men in the street on Facebook for their friends’ to comment on.

    There are whole social media feeds of people’s photos of bare chested young men on Tube trains. It’s no wonder that we can get confused on what is right and wrong any more. Is my grandmother’s favourite 1950’s past time of passing on overheard bits of gossips over the garden fence any different in its intrusive and harmful voyeuristic joy? Is the digital age making us all into a bunch of twisted individuals?

    Maybe we should all think twice about what the boundaries are and what is harmless admiration and what is invasion of privacy. The questions and issues are endless. The big question: will I stop peeking at people’s I-Pads and phones? Of course not.

  • 12 Signs You Might Be Patsy Stone

    12 Signs You Might Be Patsy Stone

    Man loving, alcohol swigging, chain smoking, power dressing magazine icon. Patsy Stone we love you. (more…)

  • Elyar Fox Shares Bedtime Shirtless Selfie

    Billion Girls singer Elyar Fox posted cute topless picture. (more…)

  • Politician Congrats Institute Backing Anti-Gay Marriage Bakers

    Jim Wells, a Northern Irish Assembley member has congratulated the Christian Institute (CI) for backing the bakery which refused a ‘gay marriage’ cake order.

    Jim Wells, 57, has taken to Twitter to congratulate the strongly gay apposed Institute by saying,

    ‘Well done to the Christian Institute for their strong backing of the family firm who refused to make a pro gay marriage cake.’

    The Ashers Bakers Co. a Christian run bakers in Northern Ireland, refused an order to make a pro ‘gay marriage’ cake because it went against the owner’s beliefs. The bakery is now facing legal action from the Equalities Commission.

    In response to the news that the Equalities Commission were seeking to undertake legal action, the minister tweeted,

    ‘Why is the Equality Commission wasting a large amount of tax payers’ money pursuing Ashers Bakery because it stands for taditional [sic] marriage?

    On its website the Christian Institute, which is described as a British evangelical Christian pressure group, has said, ‘The Christian Institute is backing this case which proves the need for the law to reasonably accommodate family-run businesses with firmly held beliefs.’ and is asking members of the public to donate to help support the Ashers Baking Company and ‘others like them.’

    The CI is a registered charity that has sought to retain section 28, to raise the age of consent for gay people and opposed the Civil Partnership Act and same-sex marriage act.

    The CI has backed many legal actions in the past, but has been unsuccessful in many attempts, most notably the CI backed Hotel owners Mr and Mrs Ball, who infamously denied lodgings to a gay couple. Numerous attempts of appeal have all subsequently failed.

    Wells has been in office since June 1998 and also believes that abortion in Northern Ireland should remain illegal, except in medical emergencies. According to Wikipedia Wells is an environmentalist and a young earth creationist, who believes the earth to be 6,000 years old.

    He is currently the Deputy Chair of the Committee for Health, Social Services and Public Safety and a member of the Committee for Justice for the Democratic Unionist Party.

  • James Arthur Wants To Rebrand As Gloria

    X Factor Winner admits to terrible ‘stigma’ attached to his name and suggests a name change to Gloria.

    Not a lot surprises us a TGUK Towers but this is left of field. Disgraced X Factor winner James Arthur wants to rebrand as – Gloria.

    Taking to Twitter, the Impossible singer said,

    ‘Id like to start over.

    ‘This will be my artist name and stage name.. Of course you guys know I’m james in real life

    ‘There’s stigma attached to the name james Arthur that im ashamed of.. They can throw dirt at a triangle with Arthur beside it all day long’

    The Sun reports that the singer then changed his Twitter name to Gloria.

    He’s been having a hard time since a series of events, which included releasing a homophobic ‘diss rap’ online, which ultimately left him dumped by his label, the Sony owned Syco.

    His Twitter name has since returned to @JamesArthur

  • Sex abuse lawsuit against Bryan Singer, dismissed

    Earlier this year the X Men Director and producer was accused of sexually abusing Michael Egan.

    The second case was brought against the director by a British man, who accused Singer of forcing sexual acts upon him at the age of 17 – despite the age of consent in the UK being 16-years-old.

    However the charges brought by the unnamed man had been withdrawn and yesterday were ‘dismissed with prejudice’ by the court.

    Bryan Singer’s legal rep, Marty Singer, said, ‘We are pleased the case was dismissed.’

    In April the director pulled out of all X Men media events.

    Bryan Singer is still the subject on an ongoing suit with Egan. Bryan Singer has called the ‘absurd.’

    Egan is looking for more than $75,000 in damages for each of the charges – which are listed as battery, assault, invasion of privacy and intentional infliction of emotional distress.

  • Obituary: Dora Bryan

    The death of veteran actress Dora Bryan has been announced this week at the grand old age of 91 years old.

    This star of stage, screen and radio specialised in playing scatter-brained blondes and even though they were often small parts, she always managed to steal the scene.

    Her long and varied career saw her working alongside some of the greats in British entertainment. She was on Hancock’s Half Hour on radio, co-starred in British classic movies such as The Great St Trinians Train Robbery, and Carry On Sergeant appeared in numerous TV shows including The Last of The Summer Wine and Victoria Wood’s Dinner Ladies and she starred in the West End in shows like ‘Hello Dolly’ and ‘Gentlemen Prefer Blondes’.

    There was a serious side to her acting too and in 1962 she won a BAFTA Best Actress Award for her role in Tony Richardson’s gritty film A Taste Of Honey.

    To gay men, she was the complete epitome of camp and managed to be as outrageous as she could in all the great comic roles that came her way. None so more when towards the end of her career she played go to June Whitfield’s best friend in the Jennifer Saunders Absolutely Fabulous a role, which earned her another BAFTA Best Actress Nomination.

    This tiny woman was in her way, a legend, an Icon and a true star in the old-fashioned sense of the word. The world will be a sadder place now that she has gone.

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