THEGAYUK

Search results for: “ ”

  • Anna Wintour To Boycott Dorchester Collection Hotel

    The US Vogue Editor In Chief Anna Wintour will shun Le Meurice Hotel over Sultan of Brunei’s anti-gay laws.

    Anna Wintour joins other VIPs and Celebs who are currently boycotting The Dorchester Collection of Hotels, which is owned by the Sultan of Brunei, who has implemented Sharia Law in his country.

    Ms. Wintour released a statement to the New York Times saying, ‘While I am sensitive to the potential impact that this issue may have on the wonderful staff at Le Meurice, I cannot in all good conscience stay there, nor can Vogue’s editors.’

    Ms. Wintour was due to stay at Le Meurice during Paris Fashion Week.

    Last week the UK’s biggest LGB charity Stonewall, admitted it had got its refusal to join the boycott wrong.

    The Sultan of Brunei, has confirmed that he will continue his adoption of a Sharia criminal code in his country.

    This law carries harsh penalties for adultery and sodomy – which could includes death by stoning for homosexuals.

    SHARIA WHAT DOES IT MEAN:
    Islam’s legal system, derived from the Koran
    Informs every aspect of Muslims’ lives
    Islamic jurists issue formal guidance through fatwas, or religious edicts
    Sharia law includes provisions for capital and corporal punishment but modern scholars say getting to that stage can be difficult
    Marriage is treated as a contract in Islam
    From The BBC

    The boycott on the group, is backed by several high-profile people including Ellen DeGeneres, Jay Leno and Richard Branson. The collection includes locations such as London’s The Dorchester and Los Angeles’ The Beverly Hill’s

  • Happy 75th Birthday To Sir Ian McKellen

    Happy 75th Birthday To Sir Ian McKellen

    Sir Ian McKellen is a talented man. He has the ability to grace stage and screen with ease and is one of the best actors of his generation, switching effortlessly between blockbuster movies, independent films, TV series and a variety of stage roles. But he is also a crusader in terms of gay rights, being one of the founder members of Stonewall, actively campaigning for equality and gay rights and is a prominent and prevalent presence at Pride events around the world. He starred in the first gay sitcom involving two men living together, has achieved lifelong ambitions performing as a pantomime dame and treading the cobbles on Coronation Street. He even appeared in the music video for Heart by the Pet Shop Boys.

    I have met Sir Ian on a couple of occasions and he is one of the nicest people I have ever had the pleasure to talk to. When I worked with a LGBT Youth Group, we took them on a trip to London Pride. Walking just behind us in the march was Sir Ian McKellen. We slowed our pace slightly, and soon found ourselves marching alongside the man himself. He was gracious and friendly and spent some time talking to the young people in our group and posed for photographs with them. One of them even tugged on my sleeve and whispered to me “Bloody hell – Gandalf’s gay!” But that was the impact of his kindness and his humanity – he provided those young people with an empowering experience of their first Pride that they will never forget.

    So to celebrate his 75th birthday, here are 6 of his best performances and films.

    Gods & Monsters
    Gods and Monsters tells the true story of James Whale, the gay Hollywood director of Universal Picture’s Frankenstein. Living in his Hollywood mansion, Whale develops an uneasy and obsessive relationship with his straight, muscular gardener (played by Brendon Frasier). The film is rich in character development and an interesting period piece on the way in which gay men in Hollywood in the 1930’s conducted their lives.

    Tales of the City
    Appearing in 3 episodes of the cult TV adaptation of Armistead Maupins popular literary series, McKellen appears as Archibald Anson Gidde. The series follows the lives, loves and adventures of friends, Mouse, Mary Ann and their eccentric landlady, Mrs Madragil. Set in 1970’s San Fransisco, the series deals with the free loving of both the straight and gay community.

    Walter
    Ian McKellen plays the title role in this made for TV movie, which was originally show on the opening night of Channel 4 in 1982. McKellan puts in a genuine and touching performance as a young man with learning disabilities whose parents spend the majority of his youth trying to get him to “be normal”. As his parents die, he finds himself at the mercy of social services bureaucracy who place him in an institution, where he experiences the inhumanity of both his fellow inmates and the staff. A truly heart-breaking film.

    The X-Men Franchise
    McKellen plays Magneto, a mutant with the ability to create and control magnetic fields. He is the anti-hero of the piece, as he attempts to prevent the mutant population from being persecuted in the same way that his Jewish family were in the concentration camps. Whilst his motives are genuine, his methods are not always the same. The X-Men films are action packed, have great special effects and continue to thrill audiences. X-Men – Days of Future Past has just been released at the cinema, further cementing the franchise’s popularity.

    The Lord of the Rings Trilogy
    The Lord of the Rings films are already considered modern classics, with the final instalment – The Return of the King holding the joint record for the most Oscars won by a film (11 in total). The story follows the battle between good and evil as a young hobbit travels across Middle Earth to destroy a mystical ring. McKellen plays Gandalf, a kind, worldly wise and powerful wizard who sets the Hobbits off on their journey and who goes on the battle evil across the land. These films are beautifully put together, with high quality production values, lavish costumes and are a perfect example of epic storytelling.

    Apt Pupil
    Based on the Stephen King novella of the same name, in this thriller, McKellen plays a Nazi war criminal, Dussander, hiding in suburban America, whose past is uncovered by a high school student, Todd Bowden (Brad Renfro), a young man who has an unhealthy interest in the atrocities conducted by the Nazi’s during the second world war. Bowden blackmails Dussander, threatening to turn him in to the police, but Dussander blackmails Bodwen about exposing his dalliances with Nazism. Their dark relation becomes increasingly menacing, as they bring out the worst in each other leading to murder. Sadomasochism, homophobia and homoeroticism are all explored in this film, which has a dark, disturbing edge to it.

  • INTERVIEW | Adrian + Shane

    If you’re into social media of one form or another you can’t help but notice Adrian+Shane, the dynamic arty duo who march along to their own tune and create amazing art along the way. They produce t-shirts, prints, you name it, and they have a hand in it!

    This cute and hirsute duo have such talent and an amazing understanding of social media and the way to get your message and artwork out there. They are pan-european in the truest sense, and are forever hopping across the channel to show work, view work or simply march….

    Below is an interview I was lucky enough to do with this lovely couple:

    So, tell me about the Adrian+Shane brand:

    Q: How did you two meet? When and where?
    Shane: We grew up in the same town and went to the same schools. So we knew each others faces but we never actually met until mutual friends introduced us at a club in December 1997.

    Q: How did you first get to work together?
    Adrian: When we met Shane was a student at the Glasgow School of Art and I was still living in Ireland. I flew to Glasgow to visit him for a few days in February 1998. One night we got very drunk, on vodka I had bought in Dublin Airport duty free. We sat on the floor in Shane’s student flat and began sketching and painting in a pad. We didn’t speak. It just happened so naturally. We would swap the pad back and forth, taking turns of adding something. Then when we felt it was finished, we’d flip the page and start a new one. We did 10 pieces over those few days in Glasgow. We still have them. They’ve never been exhibited. Nobody else has ever seen them.

    Q: Do you still have samples of your early work?
    Shane: Oh yes. Everything we make goes into our archive.

    Q: Where do you call home and does it influence your work at all?
    Adrian: We live in Drogheda (Ireland’s biggest town). Looking at our work we don’t think it does influence it. We live in a bubble. Influence tends to come from all over the world usually when we are travelling and on holidays.

    Q: How do you divide the workload?
    Shane: It really depends on what project we’re working on. Once or twice a week we’ll have a meeting in our studio and figure out what needs to be done. We’ll each decide what we want to do, then we’ll go and do it.

    Q: Does one of you have more of a business brain than the other?
    Adrian: I’d say Shane has more of a business brain.

    Q: Where did the marching come from? How did it catch on?
    Shane: We were asked by a magazine to do some self portraits to accompany an Adrian+Shane interview. As we were taking the photos Shane just started marching. It wasn’t planned. We loved how it looked. That photo has become our most recognised image. And we use it as our logo.

    Q: Your work feels very European? Do you agree?
    Adrian: Does it? We never heard it being described as European before. Sounds good though.

    Q: Is this your full-time role? Does it support both of you?
    Shane: Yes, this is what we do full-time. Things have really started to take off over the last few years. Selling prints and T-shirts online is a constant income. They sell worldwide. We also get commissioned to make artwork/paintings too.

    Q: Where did the type t-shirts come from? Where do you get your ideas from?
    Adrian: Like a lot of our work they were accidental. One day we stencilled on to a couple of T-shirts to wear out to a club that night. Then photo’s of us wearing the T-shirts were posted online. Suddenly we got a tonne of requests from Facebook and twitter followers wanting to buy the T-shirts. We hadn’t planned on making them for anyone but ourselves. So we decided to give it a go. Back then we were using spray paint and stencilling directly onto the T-shirt. These days we screen print them.

    Q: What’s next for you two? What’s the next project?
    Shane: We currently have some new paintings on show in a gallery in Berlin (until June). There’s an exhibition featuring a brand new photographic print of ours opening in Brooklyn, New York next week. Right now we’re working on some new pieces that’ll be exhibited in London in September. And there’s a few major top secret projects that we can’t talk about right now.

    Q: You use social media very well, how did this come about? It gives your work a very 21st century feel.
    Adrian: Social media is an important tool to get your work seen by a large audience in an instant. It’s played a key part in our success over the last few years. We use it as a sort of visual diary, recording what we’re seeing and doing every day. Technology excites us. We love discovering new apps etc.

    Q: You offer prints of your work – do you like this option as it gives everyone a chance to own decent artwork?
    Shane: Yes, prints are a great way to own a piece of Adrian+Shane if you don’t have the money to buy the original artwork. We plan to offer a larger selection of prints in the coming months.

    Q: How did you get into video work? Why use this art form?
    Adrian: We love experimenting with different mediums. Our first short film “42 Rotations” was shown at several film festivals and won awards. We’d definitely like to explore film making some more.

    Q: There’s an air of Gilbert & George about the brand – not as in a copy, but were they an influence in any way?
    Shane: We get compared to Gilbert & George a lot. They’re great artists so it’s flattering. Maybe subconsciously they’ve influenced us.

    Q: What and who are your influences?
    Adrian: Films (we love documentaries), music, graphic design, fashion, Madonna, Andy Warhol, Cindy Sherman, Willy Wonka, The Catholic church, The Wizard Of Oz, Alexander McQueen, My Own Private Idaho.

    Q: Does it feel like a brand? My personal feel is that there is a G & G/Warhol/Factory feel about what you do. It’s all about clean, clear, wonderful images and colours.
    Shane: Wow. Thank you. They’re all great things.
    We both love graphic design and branding. And we’ve just applied that to ourselves and a lot of people have picked up on it. We don’t mind being called a brand.

    Links to follow the lovely Adrian+Shane:
    adrianandshane.com
    adrianandshane.bigcartel.com
    facebook.com/adrianandshane
    twitter.com/adrianandshane
    adrianandshane.tumblr.com
    youtube.com/adrianandshane
    flickr.com/adrianandshane

  • Teachers Facing Homophobia

    Teachers that are identified as gay or lesbian are actually less likely to challenge homophobic language and behaviour in the classroom a recent study shows because of the fear of rumours and abuse being brought to their sexual orientation.

    In an interview, a huge number of teachers and secretaries were questioned about how they cope with homophobic situations at their schools. A vast number that were interviewed replied that they did not feel comfortable or they were slightly “un-nerved” about “coming out” at school, with many reporting that they were particularly worried about losing their jobs.

    Administrators or secretaries were found to be particularly uncomfortable to “come out” as gay.

    Over half of the teachers that were interviewed reported that they had been aware of homophobic language or they had heard it being used in the tea room at work, and subsequently two-thirds reported that they had never witnessed other teachers offer to step in and defend them when such language was being used either in conversation or in malicious ways.

    Around the same amount of teachers also reported that they didn’t get involved or try to tackle homophobic language or personal jibes when they were faced with them.

    During the interviews it was brought to light that the people grew up in an era where being called “gay” meant you were bad, even bringing up a situation where a teacher chose to use the phrase “this is so gay” to mean “this is so stupid”, again this is classed as abusive in today’s “day and age”.

    The study follows lengthy research in the United Kingdom that prioritised in stamping out homophobia in the educational environment and the results of this study are vital in the effort to end bullying and physical and mental abuse to teachers in schools colleges and universities.

     

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

  • OPINION: Slam Is The New Snort

    Drug plateaus seem to be getting higher and higher, drug users are striving for the next level of euphoria. Taking shots of paint stripper in one room and slamming (injecting) meow (Mephedrone) in the next.

    Slammers are the black belt of drug users and are usually sneaky, solo, or in a syndicate when using. However, recently I have noticed a change in that people who inject find the practice quite normal and on occasion have even peacocked the process in front of others at house parties.

     

    Back at the Doll House (my debauchery den, aka Home). I allowed (very polite of them to ask in the first place) someone at a party to inject heroin on the condition that I could watch.

     

    Is that sick?

     

    Probably.

     

    My agreement only came from a selfish scheme to see it for the first time up close. I had such a fascination with the process, definitely an intrigue- But I knew with my existing addictions at the time, that really would have been the end of me.

     

    Friends or people that I know who have tried slamming have not been able to get the same rush from the things they were able to once before (snorting etc). One even saying that after injecting meow, there had been a pandora’s box after-effect of wanting to smash and grab any substance that was available to them when on the mission of destination trash.

     

    Perhaps Pandora’s box is too glamorous a term in this instance. Can of worms is probably more appropriate. On the subject of glamour, where do you see any in that tourniquet between your teeth tightening its grip to summon a juicy vein? (A slammer once told me I had beautiful veins… sorry what?). Where is the attraction of bruised and sliced arms that conjures others concern until you falsely blame your vicious bitchy cat, or that notorious door?

     

    It put me right off my special K breakfast watching someone’s skin literally crawling and quivering like something out of a sci-fi horror as they were coming up after injecting meow.

     

    They proceeded to be vacant for the next hour or so. We watched him in horror praying that we wouldn’t all of a sudden come out of a K-hole and realise we had in fact been staring at our reflections all along. Someone that slams, or anyone for that matter may ask me, how can you be so critical when you have never tried it? My immediate answer would be “I do not want to die”. What I’m really saying is, “I am a drug snob”. Both are not really valid answers. Drug users, especially those with dependence are delusional about death. Thinking it won’t happen to them because they use responsibly, or they have done the research on statistics and actually it’s alcohol that kills more people per year- anything they can scrounge to justify a few more weekends, months, years of partying. I was (somehow) able to justify continuing snorting shortly after coming to from passing out and hyperventilating. I have spent far too much time attempting to justify my drug use. I was actually really shocked when I was told / witnessed people injecting meow at parties. I just didn’t see the point in it. If the gay scene didn’t have a bad enough drug reputation with the likes of GHB, it certainly will soon with the injection of meow, and in some instances, heroin. GHB (after taking too much) and injecting substances both have really anti-social effects. You may as well be in a room on your own.

    The BBC published a story recently on Brighton & Hove potentially soon to create drug-use room facilities(“shooting galleries”), where trained health workers observe and monitor the user during the process, which proves the severity of the city’s problem if we are the pilot.

     

    Did you know that the average age now for someone to try heroin is 21?! The World Health Organisation has also stated on average, injecting drugs causes one out of every ten new HIV infections.

     

    I suppose my concern is that if we are becoming familiar with injecting drugs such as meow, and for young adults to enter the club / party / after party scenes and seeing this going on around them, this will become another part of our and their normality. Your defences are down under the influence of alcohol or drugs, and I will openly say that when slamming has been going on around me, my finger has hovered above the “f**k it” button.

     

    However some people may not have the fortunate outcome that I did, and they could end up hitting that button and injecting. And if you’ve already injected meow then why the hell not have a go at heroin?

     

    Recreational / regular users may have boundaries of where they would and wouldn’t go with drugs, but those can easily become open to question (or justified).

     

    June 26th is “World Drug Day” – A day dedicated to raising awareness of the global drug problem and illicit trafficking. This world will never be free of drugs, but what we can welcome is knowledge, and strength to keep it out of our social circles- with our next generation in mind. I would certainly not allow someone to inject in my home ever again and am annoyed at myself for allowing that to happen in the first place. I am all for these drug-use rooms Brighton & Hove may be installed as they are aiming to keep injecting separate, off the streets, and out of sight from others.

     

    Unfortunately, it’s likely that most reading this will have known or known of someone that has died through drugs- I will be remembering those that I have known on June 26th.

     

    If you’re affected by the subject of this article you can call the London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard on 0300 330 0630 or visit Frank

     

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

  • Singer Sam Smith Hints At His Sexuality In New Video

    Singer Sam Smith Hints At His Sexuality In New Video

    In a new music video, UK singer Sam Smith seemingly hints at his sexuality, by asking a man to leave his lover for him.

    The Money On My Mind singer, Sam Smith, 21, has released his new music video Leave Your Lover a hauntingly beautiful song, in which we see him appear to ask a man to leave his lover for him.
    The video features a love triangle between himself, another man and a woman, but as the song progresses he is seen dancing intimately with the man.
    It also features the lyrics ‘Leave your lover/leave him for me’. Towards the end of the video, it shows that Smith is suggesting that the man break-up from his boyfriend to be with him.

  • Commentary | Turning Back the Clock on HIV

    Growing Old with HIV

    Life expectancy has increased remarkably in HIV+ people. This is due to the improved efficacy of antiretroviral drugs. However, according to a recently published article, “Inflammatory Co-morbidities in HIV+ Individuals: Learning Lessons from Healthy Ageing” by lead authors Dr Anna Hearps and Professor Suzanne Crowe at the Burnet Institute in Australia, this comes with a price [1].

    “Increased life expectancy in HIV+ individuals has uncovered an increased risk of acquiring age-related conditions such as cardiovascular diseases, neurocognitive decline, osteoporosis and frailty.”

    The authors linked these conditions to inflammation that causes premature ageing of the immune system. The immune system of young HIV+ people resembles that of uninfected elderly people.

    Where Does Inflammation Come From?
    Damage to the lining of the intestine during HIV infection is thought to cause leaking of bacterial products into the blood stream and this contributes to inflammation. Chronic Inflammation is a feature of ageing and is recognised as the driving force behind many age-related diseases. HIV infected individuals have high levels of inflammation even in those receiving anti-retroviral therapy (ART) and who have undetectable viral load. In fact, as shown in the Data collection on Adverse events of Anti-HIV Drugs (DAD) study [2], a non-smoking HIV+ person on ART and a long-term smoker face the same health risk of developing heart disease.

    Therapies
    Preventing or treating inflammatory diseases by reducing inflammation seems an obvious approach. Unfortunately, as there is no “magic bullet” pill, healthy lifestyle choices remain the most effective way to control inflammation. Low-dose aspirin (baby aspirin) is commonly used as a preventative strategy for heart attack in the general population. The medical world holds its breath for results from a large Australian study (ASPREE) that has been evaluating the efficacy of low-dose aspirin treatment over a 5 year period, in preventing age-related conditions in 19,000 elderly individuals. Other drugs such as statins and hydroxychloroquine have been evaluated, but adding yet another drug to the already complex HIV regimen is not an inviting prospect for those already on a cocktail of pills. Furthermore, the long-term effects of these drugs are unknown. Some evidence suggests that probiotics and a Mediterranean diet could be beneficial although more studies are warranted.

    The Future
    The majority of studies conducted examined a limited number of biomarkers that consistently show a strong relationship with several age-related co-morbidities and therefore may have diagnostic potential. The main challenge that remains is to understand how these association studies can pinpoint the mechanisms involved in these clinical manifestations to engender novel therapeutics to delay the onset of pre-mature ageing in the HIV+ population. Most importantly, these novel strategies should be long lasting, perhaps once per week or once per month, to limit additional pill burden.

    References
    1. Hearps A.C, Martin G.E, Rajasuriar R, Crowe S.M: Inflammatory Co-morbidities in HIV+ Individuals: Learning Lessons from Healthy Ageing. Current HIV/AIDS Reports (2014).
    2. Friis-Moller N, Thiebaut R, Reiss P, Weber R, Monforte A.D, De Wit S, El-Sadr W, Fontas E, Worm S, Kirk O, et al: Predicting the risk of cardiovascular disease in HIV-infected patients: the data collection on adverse effects of anti-HIV drugs study. European journal of cardiovascular prevention and rehabilitation : official journal of the European Society of Cardiology, Working Groups on Epidemiology & Prevention and Cardiac Rehabilitation and Exercise Physiology (2010), 17:491-501.

    About the author
    Dr Clovis Palmer heads the Immunometabolism research team at the Burnet Institute in Melbourne, Australia. He recently identified a new subset of immune cells and is the first to show that HIV affects the way CD4 T cells use energy – a discovery that could revolutionize the prognosis and treatment of people infected with HIV. He frequently speaks at The International AIDS Society/AIDS conferences and is a guest editor and reviewer for several top ranked scientific journals. He is the Founder of Natural Immunity-Health, a scientifically driven organization that promotes a healthy lifestyle in order to combat inflammatory conditions such as HIV and obesity. Dr Palmer’s work has also been featured in The Australian Sydney Morning Herald and The AGE: http://www.smh.com.au/digital-life/digital-life-news/ideas-that-could-change-your-life-20130312-2fxo6.html, and the Star Observer: http://www.starobserver.com.au/news/study-finds-new-route-against-hiv/90705.

     

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

  • Channel 4 Unreported World: Jamaica’s Underground Gays

    Tonight on Channel 4 at 7:30pm is another episode in the Unreported World series. This time it focuses on the Underground gays of Jamaica.

    The documentary follows a group of young gay and transgender men and women who are forced underground and are currently living in a gully due to being ostracised by their friends and family.

    We see the heartbreaking ordeals that they have to deal with on a daily basis including unprovoked abuse from a local councillor and stones being thrown at them by passersby. However the documentary also shows how this group lives; through prostitution to donations made by a lovely lady called Yvonne from Dwayne’s House.

    To find out more information about Dwayne’s House, please click here: http://www.dwayneshouse.info/

    As many people know Jamaica is a country that is very proud and holds traditional Christian values and unfortunately this is an area where the repugnant homophobia comes from.

    Furthermore Jamaica has a very rich musical history with dancehall originating in the country, yet it is even through this music that you hear blatant homophobia as in this track by Buju Banton entitled Boom Bye Bye: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aIUZlzd37sI

    If you’d like to see a preview of the documentary, please click here: http://www.channel4.com/programmes/unreported-world/videos/all/jamaicas-underground-gays

    Channel 4’s Unreported World: Jamaica’s Underground Gays is on at 7.30PM

  • Cher Is Anti-Gay Church WBO Next Protest

    The hate mongers at Westboro Baptist Church have decided on their next picket: Cher.

    This could get messy folks after the almost parody of its own self church, Westboro Baptist Church (WBC) released information on its next anti-gay protest.

    In a press release (comedy one-sheet as we like to refer to it around these parts) WBC says, it plans to picket ‘that bundle of confusion going by the name of Cher’ at the singer’s Kansas City concert on 31 May.

    The press release gets personal by dismissing Cher as a bad mother saying, ‘It’s no wonder that Chastity did a slow motion meltdown before the eyes of the world with such rage in her heart that she decided to show Cher who was boss and started chopping body parts off and calling herself a man.’

    In March the founder of WBC Fred Phelps died at the age of 84.

    We think that Cher will get along just fine…

  • Hertford Teen Jailed For 21 Months After Anti-Gay Attack

    A teenager who attacked a gay man in Hertford has been jailed for 21 months.

    Daniel Keem, 18, attacked a gay man after hurling anti-gay slurs in Hertford.

    Giving evidence at the St. Alban’s crown court, the victim said, ‘He shouted [abuse] I just ignored it and walked into the shop. I don’t normally respond to it. It encourages homophobia.’

    The unnamed victim was shopping at the Co-Op in Flemming Crescent and said that he had recognised Keem as he had made comments in the past.

    After leaving the store the victim made his way down Windsor Drive, he said,

    ‘I was confronted by Daniel.

    ‘He said: ‘Don’t take the piss out of me.

    ‘He punched me and tried to headbutt me.

    ‘Someone grabbed my arm and pushed me around.’

    Keem, admitted causing actual bodily harm in October last year, after punching and trying to headbutt his victim, although he denied making homophobic remarks.

  • Domestic Abuse In LGBT Relationships Twice As Likely

    Domestic Abuse In LGBT Relationships Twice As Likely

    Members of the LGBT community are more than twice as likely to have experienced domestic abuse in the past year compared to those in heterosexual relationships, and almost half of victims say that they didn’t know where to turn for support.

    Domestic violence and abuse in the LGBT+ community is an issue rarely highlighted, with many victims too afraid to speak out. When questioned, 45 per cent of LGBT respondents from the 2013 ROAR study on domestic violence and abuse said that they didn’t seek help for fear that they wouldn’t be taken seriously.

    To raise awareness of this growing issue and to let people know that help is available, the UK’s only LGBT domestic violence charity, Broken Rainbow, has launched its first ever awareness campaign.

    The campaign, running this month, celebrates 10 years since the LGBT charity first brought the issue of lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans + (LGBT+) domestic violence and abuse out into the open.

    Last year, over 4,000 calls were made to Broken Rainbow’s helpline; a figure that the charity’s Managing Director (Interim), Jo Harvey Barringer, says is increasing: “Over the past 10 years Broken Rainbow has received more than 25,000 calls from members of the LGBT community in distress, with the number of calls continuing to have an upward trend.”

    Lord Brian Paddick, former Met police Deputy Assistant Commissioner, knows first hand how devastating domestic abuse can be in a relationship.

    ‘I didn’t go to the police because I didn’t want to be open about my sexuality and the type of relationship I was in. I was too embarrassed. We need to be more open about this so that people in abusive relationships realise they are not alone.’

    Lord Paddick says services such as Broken Rainbow’s helpline are vital for those in the LGBT community who often face coercive control, emotional or physical abuse at the hand of their partners.

    ‘Unacceptable behaviour in a domestic abuse setting can and tragically does escalate to violence. Despite the research, the experience and the good work by some police forces, there is little the police can do to combat emotional abuse. Broken Rainbow’s helpline offers a place where those who feel they have no where to turn can confide and find support.’

    Jaci Quennell, Broken Rainbow UK Trustee, echoes Lord Paddick’s comments about the difficulties of combating emotional abuse, ‘It took years for me to realise how emotionally and psychologically abusive my partner was – it was so insidious that I couldn’t see it. She ridiculed me and sabotaged my studies, my job applications and my friendships. It only really sank in how effective she had been when old friends that I hadn’t seen for years were upset at what they saw as the complete dismantling of my sense of self-worth’.

    Twenty-three year old Hugo Sugg experienced domestic abuse in his first-ever relationship, and says that the support of a service like Broken Rainbow would have been invaluable.

    ‘In hindsight, I didn’t realise how much control my partner had over me at the time, he controlled who I saw at college and would become insanely jealous.’

    Hugo finally ended the relationship when he was woken by his partner screaming at him, angered by text messages he’d found on Hugo’s phone.

    ‘It was then I decided enough was enough, he begged me to stay but I decided it was time to leave and went to stay with a friend.’

    Hugo’s story is just one of the many previously untold about abuse in LGBT relationships. The aim of Broken Rainbow’s campaign is to encourage others to speak out and highlight the help that is available to those who need support.

    Twenty-eight year old Hollyoaks actor Kieron Richardson has thrown his support behind Broken Rainbow’s cause. Having played Ste Hay in Hollyoaks, he says there is a popular misconception that needs to be overcome in LGBT relationships.

    ‘After playing a character in Hollyoaks who suffered abuse in a gay relationship, I was astounded at the amount of people saying: ‘it’s two guys they can just hit each other back.’

    This statement is categorically wrong and by highlighting this issue and by helping people understand and educating them, we can change this perception.

    ‘It’s extremely important to recognise charities, such as Broken Rainbow UK, that highlight domestic abuse in an LGBT relationship. Much has been mentioned in the news and popular culture on domestic abuse but it needs to be clearer that it occurs in ALL relationships no matter what gender.’

More posts