Massachusetts becomes the first state in the US to legalise gay marriage in 2004, meaning that the state is currently celebrating 10 years of same-sex marriage.
There are 17 states in the US which currently allow same-sex marriage which include:
New Mexico, Delaware, Hawaii and Iowa.
Around this time I used to revel losing myself fantasising about the man who I would share my life with. I found one of the most exciting and intriguing scenarios to play out in my wild and at the time, innocent mind, was the moment where you meet your life partner.
Albeit idyllic and far-fetched, it was almost euphoric to entertain the idea of meeting the special someone in a sickly sweet situation and you both realising that you were born to be together. I blame Meg Ryan & Jennifer Aniston films for the bar being set so very high.
It was only 10 years ago that meeting, or dating- was so much more organic than what it is now. I remember having that instant sparkle with someone, and he became my partner for the next 6 years. Coming out of that relationship and all of a sudden the way we met new people and love interests had changed with social media exploding, and the introduction of applications like Grindr, Brenda, Tinder etc. I think we can safely say that the blind date is well and truly extinct. Gone is mystery and magic and welcomed is a world of over exposure and bearing all. It all feels and seems so unnecessarily lazy. The other day I was doing some snooping on a guy’s facebook to see what his interests were and found myself making assumptions on him, which is wrong. It’s foolish of me to make an assumption without truly getting to know the person (or even before meeting them), but it’s also foolish to assume that someone’s profile is an accurate reflection of who that person really is.
We can paint whatever picture we like with our ability to edit what’s presented on screen. We are more likely to try and convey the person we would like to or aspire to be, rather than who we are today.
Even in bars and clubs we resort to our handy applications to see who is around, what “tribe” they belong to? (WTF). On the plus side, this does offer the opportunity to someone that lacks confidence to reach out to someone that they may have not approached at all without this at their fingertips. Rejection used to more often take its form in awkward shimmying away on the dance floor, or in that moment where you’re just about to present your pearly white smile and their eyes disengage and look somewhere else- these scenarios could have then transformed into a comical story shared amongst your friends, perhaps. Now you know you’ve been rejected when their profile no longer shows up on your app- no one wants to know about that. Yawn.
Grindr was launched 5 years ago in March 2009. I came across an online forum where people had first discovered the app and were writing posts about their intrigue but also fear over whether the app was safe, based on its geographical social nature. So, where do we go from here? Because there will be another level, there always is. I wonder if it may look something like us all walking around with Google Glass, and instead of us having to consciously / physically send a message to someone- Google Glass will do the match making recognising face and body types we like (and also blocking where necessary), initiate conversations, and before we know it Google has booked us a table on Friday at a restaurant that we’ve both liked and visited before, AND put a reminder in our calendar for us.
The technological trends unfolding in front of us are relentless, and constantly changing our “normality”. I fear for a future where the only connection we know of, experience, and care about, may be our wi-fi.
Officials in Moscow have vetoed an application for a parade to honour the Eurovision 2014 winner Conchita Wurst.
Wurst won the 2014 competition with her song Rise Like A Phoenix with 290 points.
Speaking to Russian news agency interfax Alexei Mayorov, from the Moscow mayor’s office said, ‘We informed them that the event could not take place,’
The application was denied to, ‘respect morality in the education of the younger generation’.
Before the show aired last week, top Russian politician branded the show a ‘Sodom Show’.
The parade had been planned for May 27th, the 21st anniversary of legalising homosexuality in Russia.
The activists behind the application have said it will appeal the decision and have vowed to stage a gay pride on 31st May 2014, despite a 100 year ban of Gay Prides.
Many men in Russia have started to shave their beards off in protest of Conchita’s win, but Rise Like A Phoenix continues to chart high in the Russian iTunes chart.
His life became the subject of an HBO biopic starring Michael Douglas and Matt Damon, called Behind The Candelabra in 2013.
Although Liberace never publicly came out, in fact, he sued the Daily Mirror for suggesting that he was, his former chauffeur and live-in lover, Scott Thorson wrote a book about the pair’s relationship called: Behind the Candelabra: My Life with Liberace
Britain’s biggest LGB charity has announced that it won’t back a boycott of a hotel group owned by Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, the Sultan of Brunei, who 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 includes death by stoning.
The Dorchester Collection has a number of hotels across the world including The Dorchester in the UK’s capital and The Beverly Hotel in California.
The Sultan’s actions have caused calls from the around the globe to boycott the chain – backed by many Hollywood names and celebrities, including Ellen DeGeneres and Jay Leno
However Ruth Hunt, the acting Chief Executive of Stonewall stated,
‘At Stonewall we share the anger and fury of those calling for a boycott but we won’t be joining them’.
‘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. He can’t. I do, however, fear that the boycott could do very real harm to the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people of Brunei. By turning the issue into a battle between gay people and the Sultan – which it isn’t, it affects everyone in Brunei, not just gay people – we limit the opportunity for dialogue and put the lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans people of Brunei at far greater risk. A group of people, I hasten to add, who’ve yet to publically call for a boycott.’
‘Stonewall’s plan is to instead work with groups, like the Dorchester, rather than against them. Companies have enormous power to change and challenge cultures and we help them utilise that influence.’
Read the full statement on the Stonewall website
A former Tory Chairman, said that Stonewall’s refusal to boycott the Dorchester Collection ‘doesn’t make sense’
Lord Dehen criticised Stonewall’s decision not to back a boycott. Speaking to Pinknews about the British Society of Magazine Editors (BSME) decision not to hold an event at The Dorchester, Lord Deben said, ‘Well done Magazine editors. I think no decent organisation should use a hotel owned by someone who stones women accused of adultery and gay people purely because of their sexuality. I think that everyone should boycott The Dorchester Collection.’
Have your say, What do you think Stonewall should do?
Sponsored by:
The “WE ARE IN VIENNA” campaign of the Vienna Tourist Board demonstrates how homosexuality is part of life in the Austrian capital, showing that people can be whoever they want to be in Vienna.
Caspar & Kristoffer, Petra & Jess, Marko & Gerd, Marlene & Silvie, Martin & Max: Gay and lesbian couples living in Vienna get together at their favorite place in Vienna. At this place, they are photographed, freeze style, sharing an intimate moment. The resulting film will be posted on the we-are.vienna.info microsite with a short personal history of each couple. In total 12 gay and lesbian couples will be introduced on the site by the end of 2014.
Join in and win!
Would you like to be one of them? Then submit a photo and a short text about you and your partner on we-are.vienna.info and with a bit of luck you are in with a chance of winning a trip to Vienna!
Win four busy days for two to explore city life in Vienna and discover the place that turns your stay into your Vienna story. That’s where you’ll be filmed at the end of your trip, and the footage produced will be presented here on this site.
Join in at we-are.vienna.info!
What happens when your life has descended into an endless round of masturbating to Internet porn, seeking casual pick-ups and having catastrophic career and relationship failures? How do we manage to live in a world where sex is ever present and the only way we can sometimes connect is through (not always satisfying) sex?
This is a very unique production and a well-deserved Olivier Award nominee. You’ll have to act fast if you want to catch a seat. It’s a not to be missed experience. Just don’t take your granny along unless she happens to be very open-minded.
Fleabag runs until 25th of May 2014
Book tickets here: http://www.sohotheatre.com/whats-on/fleabag/
Benji’s mantra has got him through the first year following his HIV diagnosis, and the time has now come to grab life by the balls and get his love life back on track. Inspired by true stories, Positive is an honest and uplifting story about an ordinary guy living with one of Britain’s most misunderstood diseases.
Shaun Kitchener’s new play is a work of quiet and restrained power. The power of the piece is in its initial appearance as a light comedy with an almost sit-com like feel at times. Whilst the situations, characters and dialogue are often achingly funny, the message at the heart of the play is a strong one with a compelling depiction of what its like to experience living with a diagnosis of HIV in a frequently ignorant and uninformed world and a world where new drug treatments aren’t the easy ride that some people would like to believe they are.
The seven-person cast are universally strong with standout performances from Sally George as Benji’s overbearing mother and Jamie-Rose Monk as Benji’s consultant. Writer and actor Shaun Kitchener gives a bemused and amusing turn as Benji’s potential new love interest.
This is a quietly moving and uplifting play that will make you laugh as well as think. It’s definitely worth a look. The theatre itself is an intimate space that lends itself well to the production and is only a short walk from Waterloo station.
Positive runs until the 1st of June 2014
Buy tickets here: http://www.waterlooeast.co.uk/positive%20.html
In the latest issue of Out, US director and producer Bryan Singer has opened up about his relationships, which have included women, in an interview which was taken before the enbattled producer went to court over alleged sexual assault.
The X Men director said: ‘I’m quite bisexual, in the last five years, I’ve had two girlfriends – one for two years, one for eight months… (but) in the end, it’s probably going to be a guy (I settle down with). I emotionally lean towards male relationships, so I’m happy to say I’m gay, too.’
When he came out to his parents, Singer said, ‘My sexuality is not what is tearing me up inside. I’m in love and he doesn’t love me back and it’s killing me. I need relationship advice!’
Designer Andrew Christian, 2013 Model Contest Winner Jake Houser, Topher DiMaggio, Murray Swanby, Cory Zwierzynski, Pablo Hernandez, star in the new ad for Andrew Christian’s Black/White campaign.
A statement on their website reads:
‘We wanted to show off our artistic range and produce a video to demonstrate our interpretation of classical Greek sculpture; after all we love the ancient Greeks because they did not conceive of sexual orientation as a social identifier as modern Western societies have done. Greek society did not distinguish sexual desire or behavior by the gender but rather by the role that each participant played in the sex act, that of active penetrator or passive penetrated. This active/passive polarization corresponded with dominant and submissive social roles: the active (penetrative) role was associated with masculinity, higher social status, and adulthood, while the passive role was associated with femininity, lower social status, and youth.’
Enter the contest & win:http://www.andrewchristian.com/contest
According to Wikipedia:
The film had some impact in the Berlin lesbian clubs, but was largely eclipsed by the ongoing cult success of Der blaue Engel (1930). The film did however generate large amounts of fan-mail to the stars from all over Germany and was considered a success throughout much of Europe. The goodnight kiss Thiele received from Wieck was especially popular: one distributor even asked for more footage of other kisses like it to splice into prints of the film.
From its premiere at the Capitol cinema in Berlin until 1934 the film is said to have grossed some RM6,000,000. Despite the collective nature of the filming for which cast and crew received only a quarter of the normal wage, none saw a share of the 6,000,000 marks and Thiele later hinted that the profits had been mostly retained by the producers.