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  • Study Reveals Why Gay Teens Binge Drink

    Stressful experiences, such as victimisation and homophobia, associated with heavy episodic drinking.

    Higher rates of binge drinking by lesbian and gay adolescents compared to their heterosexual peers may be due to chronic stress caused by difficult social situations, according to a study to be presented Saturday, May 3, at the Pediatric Academic Societies (PAS) annual meeting in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada.

    Research has shown that lesbian and gay people experience higher rates of physical and mental health problems. One explanation for these disparities is minority stress. According to this theory, chronic stress due to discrimination, rejection, harassment, concealment of sexual orientation, internalized homophobia (negative attitudes toward homosexuality) and other negative experiences leads to poor health.

    The authors of this study sought to determine if minority stress theory could explain why gay and lesbian adolescents engage in binge drinking more than heterosexual youths. To do this, they analysed responses from 1,232 youths ages 12-18 years who took part in an online survey conducted by OutProud: The National Coalition for Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Youth. Sixteen percent of youths identified themselves as lesbian females and 84 percent as gay males.

    The survey asked questions about sexual minority experiences and included more than 260 variables. It represents the only known research to explore the relationship between binge drinking and a variety of minority stress experiences, such as homophobia and gay-related victimisation, in a large national sample of lesbian and gay adolescents.

    ‘Although other studies of adolescents commonly report on sexuality or sexual identity, these general population studies do not typically assess nuanced experiences of stress among sexual minority adolescents,’ said lead author Sheree M. Schrager, PhD, MS, director of research in the Division of Hospital Medicine at the Saban Research Institute of Children’s Hospital Los Angeles.

    Consistent with minority stress theory, participants reported greater psychological distress when they experienced violence or victimization, if they had internalised homophobia, and if they had made their sexual orientation known.

    INTERNALISE HOMOPHOBIA
    Internalised homophobia was a significant predictor of binge drinking, while experiencing violence or victimization was marginally associated with drinking large amounts of alcohol in a short period of time. Those living with their parents were less likely to report binge drinking.

    Feeling connected to the gay community was both positively and negatively associated with binge drinking. Those who felt connected were more likely to report binge drinking. However, community connectedness protected against internalized homophobia, thereby indirectly protecting against heavy episodic drinking.

    ‘Given that interventions are more effective when they are developed to match the cultural experiences of participants, theoretically grounded studies like this one can potentially lead to tailored treatment approaches based on the unique experiences of lesbian and gay adolescents,’ Dr. Schrager said.

    Dr. Schrager will present “The Application of Minority Stress Theory to Binge Drinking Among Lesbian and Gay Adolescents” from 3:45-4 p.m. Saturday, May 3. To view the study abstract, go to http://www.abstracts2view.com/pas/view.php?nu=PAS14L1_1675.5&terms=.

  • OPINION | It’s time to have gay sex ed at school

    At my school, we hardly received a decent sexual education. The meagre things we were taught – were all about reproduction. You know the story; when a man and a woman love each-other very much etc. At one point they had a group of people come in to teach us all about the many many joys of celibacy (I know, I know)

    This was at a catholic school however, and I can’t say the same of all schools, some of you might have been wonderfully informed about the delicious details of sex.

    Even so, I found that when indeed we did speak about sex in school, it was all about sex between a man and a woman (Quite often married).

    There was nothing that I could remember about intercourse that takes place between two men, or even two women for that matter.

    Believe it or not, when the celibacy buffs asked my classmates why people had sex, the only answer they got was: “To make babies”.

    I mean, really!?

    While this did provide us with the most basic knowledge of the mechanics of sex, there was little else for us to go on. It was almost as if the teachers were just sticking their fingers in their ears and singing.

    There was little explained about STIs, condoms, rape or unplanned pregnancies (Though being gay, I can’t say I cared about the fourth).

    This leads me onto another point; young gay people are not just realising that they’re gay at the age of 22.

    People are coming out young and they’re so ill informed about sex, it’s staggering. Luckily, I had older friends, and was rather well informed by them, and so I knew about using condoms, avoiding STIs and where to go if indeed I did think I’d contracted something from someone, however, this is sadly not always the case.

    For reasons unexplained, there was next to nothing told to us on the reasons for sex, such as love, lust, revenge on an ex or just plain old self esteem issues. It seems that young people were just having sex purely because their friends claimed they were all doing it. There was very little said on how we value ourselves and whether we were only having sex because we wanted to prove that we were likeable, which I think is quite upsetting.

    In a society that allows young people to be exposed to sexual images in the time it takes to click a mouse, and where persons on television and magazines are almost exclusively all bronze, buff gods and goddesses, is it truly wise to not teach young people to value themselves as an individual as well as in relationships?

    Thankfully, I had the nouse to look for this information myself, and grew to love and accept myself as an individual and have sex for the right reasons. Sadly though, many young gay men and women are not so well informed, and they can often go on to contract diseases, get raped, and in extreme cases die because of needless ignorance.

    Sexually transmitted diseases are not about to just go away, and nor will gay people. It is about time some changes were made to arm young gay people against the dangers of unsafe sex, and some care given to them so that they learn to love themselves before they consider engaging in intercourse. While the good people in the labs are working night and day to better be able to deal with disease, I think it’s high time the classroom started talking about gay sex.

     

    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.

  • MUSIC REVIEW: Atlas, by Rüfüs

    Call me biased, but I love Australian music. Especially indie records like Australian band Rüfüs’ debut album Atlas, which hit stores this week across the UK, after debuting at #1 in Australia last August.

    This Indie dance trio of Jon George, Tyrone Lindqvist and James Hunt from Byron Bay in New South Wales formed in 2010 and now offer a downbeat ambient dance album featuring mellow tones and especially catchy hooks.

    From the moment the opening track Sundream kicked off, I was instantly attracted to the laid-back sound mixed with the high falsetto-vocals. The album works its way through to some dancier tracks, like Take Me and Tonight before going into full chill-out mode with Rendezvous. This is an album I could imagine being played at one of those funky-grungy warehouse dance parties in Berlin.

    This is an album that is right at home whether you’re listening to it as background music while you work, getting ready for a night out on the town, or chilling out on a Sunday afternoon after a big night out. If you’re like me, you’ll quickly find yourself humming and singing along with thetracks on this album.

    For those of you who love the live vibe, Rüfüs will be touring the UK in September, dates and tickets available here: www.rufussounds.com/tagged/Tour

    Available from Amazon

  • Dustin Lance Black Speaks Out About Leaked Sex Pictures

    Screenwriter and LGBT Activist Dustin Lance Black has spoken out about his sex pictures and his relief at finally being able to address the leaked photos.

    Dustin Lance Black, Oscar-winning screenwriter and LGBT activist has finally spoken out about 2009 leaked sex pictures on the red carpet, whilst out with his boyfriend Tom Daley.

    Perez Hilton originally published the pictures of Dustin Lance Black engaging in bareback sex with an ex-partner.

    In an interview with Digital Spy Lance-Black said:

    ‘If you invade my privacy, this is what you will find,” he wrote. ‘I have sex. It brings me joy, fosters intimacy and helps love grow…I am the victim of this “scandal”, not the perpetrator.

    ‘People have been so incredibly supportive.

    ‘It was about time [I addressed the picture leak]. I always just sort of think it’ll disappear, but it came up again.

    ‘Cleve Jones, who’s in Milk, is like a mentor to me, and he said, ‘Girl, you need just to say it and let people know what’s up’, so I went ahead and did that. It was good to finally get it done.’

  • Top Russian Politician Calls Eurovision ‘Sodom Show’

    The Eurovision Song Contest has been branded a ‘Europe-Wide Gay Parade’ by the Russian Politician who called Stephen Fry ‘Sick’.

    Vitaly Milonov, a prominent anti-gay Russian politician has branded Eurovision a ‘Sodom Show’ and said that Austria’s Drag entry Conchita Wurst was a ‘pervert.’

    Last year Milonov, who was instrumental in creating Russia’s anti-gay law, banning the ‘promotion of non-traditional relationships’ to anyone under the age of 18 has branded the actor, writer and broadcaster Stephen Fry ‘Sick’.

    The Independent reports that he wrote a letter to to Russia’s Eurovision selection comittee requesting that Russia be removed from the competition altogether. He said that inclusion in the competition would: ‘contradict the path of cultural and moral renewal that Russia stands on’ and ‘insult millions of Russians’ watching the broadcast.

    ‘The participation of the obvious transvestite and hermaphrodite Conchita Wurst on the same stage as Russian singers on live television is blatant propaganda of homosexuality and spiritual decay,’ Milonov said.

    Conchita Wurst was subject to a backlash recently after thousands of Russians signed a petition for Austria’s entry to be banned or edited out of the Eurovision broadcast.

    Last year Turkish National broadcaster TRT was rumoured to have cancelled their broadcast of the 2013 Eurovision because of a lesbian kiss between two women in Finland’s entry Marry Me. There were in fact two gay kisses in the 2013 show.

  • GiFi Releases Disruptive Launch Video

    GiFi, the increasingly popular app billed as “the next generation social app that aims to change forever the way gay men chat, network and meetup” has released its launch video.

    Sponsored by

     

     

     

    Much like the brand that ‘Dares to be Different’ the video does exactly that. Kristian Tangen-Sorgendal, GiFi Community Manager says “in both a brand and fashion conscious community, it was both fun and exciting to bring an entirely new social app video concept to the table”.

    Kristian continues, “the inspiration came from the ZARA AW13 campaign; the concept of the video was so clear and emphasised what the GiFi brand is; to bring the community together through a social app that does not hold predominant values on engaging users for hookup only”.

    The GiFi video holds an air of class about it. The simple storyline follows a group of four nusers around in the daily use of the GiFI app, that penultimately sees the guys engaging in a group chat together before meeting at a bar for drinks: this perfectly epitomises the GiFi brand image and aims.

    For all who are unaware, GiFi has just launched, offering a brand new take on how guys meet!

    GiFi is launching firstly in the UK market, as the GiFi team want to work closely with their home community to make it great for everyone. GiFi are currently working with some amazing groups and people within the community and look forward to bringing further functionality and community engagement as they progress.

    GiFi has numerous functions and can be used to build a support network, find new friends, stay in touch with existing friends and look for a job. Of course, it can also be used to arrange a date or hookup.

    GiFi users are able to browse the 500 nearest guys – to a location of their choice – who match their interests, preferences and current mood. Oneonone chat and group messaging functions are both available.

    GiFi is all about disrupting the status quo. Rather than focussing on one need other apps in the community offer, GiFi focuses on the bigger picture. GiFi gives users the opportunity to meet other members with shared interests, whether this be a mutual mood to meet for coffee, drinks, networking and so much more.

    Furthermore, GiFi’s various profile view options spread further than the typical grid view seen in so many other apps, GiFi also offers carousel view for members to find people who they find hot or not, a map view (set to 0.2 km safety zone as standard) to see nearby members as well as a viewed by and who’s viewed me option to encourage communication between GiFi users.

    The GiFi aim is to work with the community as a whole, as there is such a need for the functionality and options the GiFi app provides. Businesses and charities can use GiFi as a further platform to reach their members, and GiFi will reinvest profits back into the community through platform development and also their charity partner the London Lesbian & Gay Switchboard.

    Businesses, groups and charities will be able to communicate effortlessly to members of their setup groups and places to send updates via broadcasts and notifications to inform the larger community on what is going on as well as their products and services.

  • Facebook Users Demand Action To Remove Homophobia

    A picture of Adolf Hitler cooking a Jew in an oven is the latest picture on Facebook to be deemed ‘not offensive’ by the social network as a group of users continue to demand a public meeting with Facebook representatives claiming the site is actively permitting content that incites racial and homophobic hatred to go unchecked.

    Three weeks after its creation, the group “Facebook –No To Hatebook”, has attracted over 8000 members from around the world, and has claimed some success after multiple complaints in forcing the network to take down pages or content on pages that range from “HOAX OF GAS CHAMBERS”, “HOMOSEXUALz DESERVE IMMEDIATE DEATH”, “Death To Queers” and “Death to Islam”. However, frequently the pages or the content is put straight back up under a slightly different name.

    The Group notes also that the social network’s policies are still preventing the removal of many clearly racist or homophobic pages, with Facebook saying they are ‘not offensive’.

    Speaking on behalf of the group, Jonathan Glass said:

    “There is now a clear palpable anger growing towards Facebook for the way that its users are being treated. We all love Facebook. It has reconnected us with old friends from around the world and we strongly see it as a force for good.

    However, it also provides an outlet for people to spew violent hatred into the world more easily than ever before. This is not Facebook’s fault but it is their responsibility to do its best to remove these pages from its site. And not only are they failing miserably, but they rub salt into the wounds of those who are trying to combat this poison by sending an automatic 20 second response stating that the page does not violate their policies, regardless of clear racism, anti-semitism or homophobia on these pages. The page owners are then able to ban those of us fighting them from their pages, rather than Facebook banning them and their pages.”

    Glass goes onto explain how

    “There are literally thousands of racist, anti-semitic and anti-gay pages that Facebook delivers around the world,” and while “we are huge believers in free speech, when posts cross the line into incitement and violent threats Facebook has to decide if it wants to be a force for good in this world or a force for evil.”

    The group says it has received many public and private messages of support from people and has invited Facebook to explain them in a public forum and for an open dialogue to commence.

    The group makes it very clear that they want to be Facebook’s partner in helping combat and remove the hate from the social network and has multiple suggestions on how they may do so which include:

    1. Stronger algorithms to pick up and remove hate sites and individual posts on a more timely basis

    2. More user support to respond to complains of hatred on a timely basis, improving what appears to currently be an automated non-responsive system

    3. Creation of a watch list, which would monitor specific known individuals and organisations who promote and regularly publish hate

  • Leicestershire Gay Man Left With 7 Stitches After Anti-Gay Attack

    A man in Hinckley, Leicestershire, has been left with facial injuries needing 7 stitches after a homophobic attack.

    Craig Chapman, 44, has spoken out after he abused by two men who tried to rob him, whilst walking his dog, the Hinckley Times is reporting.

    He said to the paper: ‘My face was an absolute mess – I couldn’t see through my eye and I needed seven stitches. I had to be kept in hospital overnight in case there was damage to my spleen.’

    The attack happened on the 16th April 2014, along Welwyn Road at around 4pm-4.45pm, when two men in a metallic blue Vauxhall Corsa approached Chapman.

    The two men apparently got out of the car and said: ‘Oi gay boy’ and punched the victim in the stomach .

    The first suspect is described as white, 18 – 25 years of age, approx 5’10’’, medium build, with short light brown hair possibly in a quiff. He was wearing a blue zip up top with white piping, blue jeans and Nike trainers with a blue sole and Nike logo on the side.

    The second suspect, who was the driver of the vehicle, is described as white, 18 – 25 years of age, approx 5’10’’ with an athletic build. He was wearing a red baseball cap with a white NYC logo and large wrap around sunglasses.

    Detective Constable Matthew Wiggins said: “This was a particularly nasty attack with the victim being left with a number of injuries. We are interested in hearing from anyone who may have witnessed the attack, or anyone who recognises the suspects from their description.”

    Anyone with information in relation to any appeals featured on this site is asked to contact the relevant officer on 101, follow the instructions to leave a message for the officer and when prompted key in the officer’s identification number. Alternatively, contact Crimestoppers, which is free and anonymous, on 0800 555 111.

  • Me. I Am Mariah

    In case you didn’t know who Mariah was, she’s named her forthcoming album to help remind you.

    Mariah has revealed the name and release date of her forthcoming album. The Hero singer has named it: ‘Me. i Am Mariah. The Elusive Chanteuse’.

    The album is due to be released on the 27th May and will include previous singles #Beautiful and You’re Mine (Eternal).

    The album has been named after a drawing she drew of herself when she was 3 and a half years old.

    The tracklisting for the new album is:
    1. Cry.
    2. Faded
    3. Dedicated (feat. Nas)
    4. #Beautiful
    5. Thirsty
    6. Make It Look Good
    7. You’re Mine
    8. You Don’t Know What to Do (feat. Wale)
    9. Supernatural
    10. Meteorite
    11. Camouflage
    12. Money ($ * / …) [feat. Fabolous]
    13. One More Try
    14. Heavenly (No Ways Tired/Can’t Give Up Now)
    15. It’s a Wrap (feat. Mary J. Blige)
    16. Betcha Gon Know (feat. R. Kelly)
    17. The Art of Letting Go
    18. Me. I Am Mariah… The Elusive Chanteuse

  • Boy George And Adam Lambert Out On The Town Together

    Legendary singer Boy George and the incredible Adam Lambert share a selfie moment in LA.

    Boy George seems to be living it up large in LA as these tweets prove. The Do You Really Want To Hurt Me singer was spotted hanging out with American Idol alumni Adam Lambert.

    Boy George, who showed off his toned new look last year proves he can still have fun and let loose hanging out with Adam Lambert saying: ‘Ha! LA makes me dizzy!’

    and added: ‘How pretty is @AdamLambert

    Adam Lambert made history in 2012 after becoming the first openly gay male singer to achieve a number one album on the US Billboard 100.

    We have to agree Adam Lambert is pretty – and Boy George you’re not looking too bad yourself!

  • Peaches Geldof “Likely” Died Of Heroin Overdose

    The late Peaches Geldof ‘Likely” died of a heroin overdose toxicology reports will show.

    The 25-year-old daughter of Sir Bob Geldof and Paula Yates died of a heroin overdose, the results of a toxicology report at her inquest will reveal today, according to The Times newspaper.

    The hearing will be opened by North West Kent Coroner Roger Hatch at Gravesend Old Town Hall from 2pm. It will last around 10 minutes.

    Writer, model and TV presenter Peaches Geldof was found at her home, which she shared with her husband, Tom Cohen and their two young sons on April 7th.

    Paula Yates, Peaches’ mother died from an accidental heroin overdose in 2000 – she was just 41.

    On the day she died, Peaches posted a picture of herself and her mother on her Instagram account.

    The police have said that her death is not being treated as suspicious, but sudden and unexplained.

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