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  • LGBT tourism to reach $200 BILLION in 2014

    Tourism is on the rebound according to experts, who expect the LGBT spend on travel and tourism to rebound to a staggering $200 BILLION in 2014.

    BIG SPENDERS

    The outlook is good especially for those who are gearing their marketing and products towards the LGBT community, as the collective spend is believed to be in excess of $200 billion (£120 billion).

    The latest findings from the Out Now market research group suggest that the top markets for tourism were: Europe (USD$66.1 billion) USA (USD$56.5 billion) and Brazil (USD$25.3 billion).

    In terms of most sort after destinations France led the way by more than 6%, the LGBT2020 Research found.

    ALL SIGNS POINT TO FRANCE

    Founder of the The Villages Group Rainbow in France, Danny Silver said:

    “France is the ultimate destination for the LGBT community. Having lived here for many yearsnow I have seen the progress which has been made in transforming the nation into a LGBT-friendly destination; the legalization of gay marriage last year was a significant step in the right direction and with Paris hosting the Gay Games in 2018, I can only see LGBT tourism to France going one way – up!

    “Indeed for older members of the LGBT community, often more concerned with cultural and safety issues in other destinations, France offers a truly welcoming atmosphere with numerous gay-friendly restaurants, bars, beaches and accommodation choices such as our project, The Villages Group Rainbow located in the Languedoc-Roussillon region of SW France.’

    France was highly rated in last year’s ILGA Rainbow Map, which measures how LGBT friendly each country is in Europe. It was given a rating of 65%, which is shared with Belgium, Norway, Sweden, Spain and Portugal.

  • SEX TOY REVIEW: Pulse by Hot Octopus

    Something very pleasurable awaits you with the new vibrating sex toy, Pulse, which some are calling the ultimateguybrator.

    Despite looking like some kind of futuristic Star Trek comms unit, the Pulse, will, without doubt, drive you nuts.

    Apparently, there’s a lot of science to back up why, essentially a vibrating cock ring, will drive you mad with pleasure, but who cares – just put it on and find out for yourself.

    You can use with or without lube and the unit has multi speeds – so you can control how much vibration you get.

    Unlike other masturbators the Pulse is cleverly very usable and simple to get used to – and thanks to its open top design requires a lot less cleaning and drying out compared to other products.

    It can be used solo or together – however the sharing option with this toy is most probably for a man/woman combo rather than a man on man experience- as the woman gains pleasure from the vibrating Pulseplate on the outside of the unit, which another just wouldn’t

    The unit retails for £69 and is rechargeable via a USB connection.

     

  • Everything you need for Valentine’s Dinner, Chocolate and Sex

    Valentine’s is one of those days you either enter with full spirit or try to avoid at all costs. However, it’s a general agreement that everyone loves a good dinner, tasty chocolates and pleasurable sex, be it with a partner or alone! so I’ve put together a little collection of treats to enjoy either by yourself or to share with a loved one this Feb 14th.

    DINNER: Carluccio’s | Carom Soho | Floridita
    Carluccio’s: If Italian is the love of your life then check out the delightful menu put together this Valentine’s at the nationwide Carluccio’s. Start with cannellini bean soup with sundried tomato pesto, pan roasted cod fillet and raspberry panna cotta with chocolate-dipped strawberries. 3 courses for £25.

    Carom: This Pan-Indian restaurant set in the heart of Soho, London has created a spicy menu to help put a tingle into any couples night including, jumbo tiger prawns with grilled madras, pan fried lobster kerala curry and heart-shaped toasted sandwich with saffron, nuts, cherry and chocolate. 3 courses for £42.40.

    Floridita: A Latin-American inspired evening awaits loved ones this Valentine’s. Set in Soho, London, a menu including; Cornish crab tarts, chargrilled fillet of beef on roasted red peppers and valrhona chocolate tart with raspberry and cream fraiche will be dished up with live Cuban entertainment. 3 courses for £49.

    CHOCOLATE: Cadbury With Love
    Cadbury has always been the reliable, good quality, affordable brand of chocolate and this Valentine’s have released their heart shaped With Love chocolates. Ok I say new, it’s just their mother’s day Thank You chocolates reshaped and packaged, so no points for imagination. However why change a winning formula? Hazelnut pralines to be enjoyed with a loved one or as I prefer, alone! Well there are only eight in a pack!

    SEX: Pulse
    “I’m pickin’ up good vibrations.” There’s a new pleasure toy in town and it’s guaranteed to be the happy ending to a perfect evening. The best part about this toy is that you can use it hands free! Just place it on your member, click required speed and away you go. Soft and easy to use offering maximum pleasure. If using with a partner why not put it on for them and then sit on top to stimulate yourself at the same time. Easy clean under a tap and comes with USB power charger – meaning no batteries required.

  • There have been a large number of arrests made since the start of Sochi Olympics

    The winter Olympics have kicked off in Sochi and so has the heavy weight of the anti-gay propaganda laws with over 60 arrests having been made since the opening of the games.

    With the world watching it seems the perfect time for human rights activists to stand up and say ‘enough is enough Russia, we won’t be silent any longer.’ However, this is coming at a great price according to The New York Times who reports that 61 people since Friday have been arrested for doing just this.

    It’s not just new Russian laws protesters are angry at but also the Olympics Committee themselves for allowing the Olympics to go ahead in a country with outrageous human rights violations and homophobia. Many protesters have taken to using the Principle 6 slogan which comes from the Olympic Charter which states: Any form of discrimination with regard to a country or a person on grounds of race, religion, politics, gender or otherwise is incompatible with belonging to the Olympic Movement.

  • OPINION | Sochi Sucks

    So, there I am, minding my own business when BAM – suddenly being gay in Russia is seen as a crime and beating people much like myself seems to be turning into a national sport!

    To top this off, the eyes of the world are on Sochi from today – with the opening of the Winter Olympics, and the patronage of dozens of sponsors and the IOC. Seemingly, despite calls for the games to be moved, they are staying put with the clarion call of “keep politics out of sport”.

    However, there are mixed signals here – is ensuring that people have basic human rights across the globe really politics? When there were issues over South Africa and apartheid, it actually felt wrong to buy something flown in from there when we were urged to hit them where it hurt – in the economic pocket.

    So what’s the issue here? My social media timelines are full of conflicting messages.

    1: Boycott the games totally as a show of support for gay people over there, show Russia that the world wont stand for this by NOT participating in the myth that everything is lovely and there aren’t cases of state sanctioned beatings and murders which are available to view as shared videos fly around various sites.

    2: Watch the games as a way of showing Russia that the world really is watching and watching carefully. Every loo seat that is put on the wrong way round in a journalists hotel, every reported case of “canine cleansing” where companies are recruited to clear the streets of stray dogs days ahead of the opening ceremony, every report of $30 Billion of a reported $50 billion budget going missing…

    What’s the answer? Is there one? Is it a case of make your own mind up? Make an informed decision? If this interests you, and we have to accept it won’t interest everyone, then read what you can and decide for yourself.

    Me? I hate sport – dull as dishwater, so I wouldn’t be watching anyway – but I am boycotting some of the sponsors.
    Why I hear you cry? It’s simple really – it’s my own little response, my own little act of defiance. I’m just me, one teeny tiny individual in the world – but I hate bullies and having seen some of the footage around, that’s what this feels like it comes down to – sanctioned bullying. I had enough of that at school and I’ll be damned if I’ll stand by and watch it happen elsewhere IF I feel I can do something about it.

    So, a certain well known brand of soft drink is off the menu for good – my teeth and general health will no doubt thank me too! It won’t change the world, it won’t stop the bullying and assaults happening worldwide, but it makes me feel like I’m doing something. They may think they can placate us as a group by adding a lovely image of gay marriage to their recent ad – but compare that with being beaten and humiliated for what you are and it just doesn’t cut it.

    So, do what your heart tells you is right – watch or don’t watch, support the sponsors or don’t. Remember, we have the freedom to decide to do this, some don’t have that luxury.

     

    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.

  • Google adopts gay rainbow doodle in response to Olympics

    Google have joined the growing number of corporations that are speaking out against the anti-gay situation in Russia on the eve of the Sochi Winter Olympics.

    Famous for its Google Doodles, the web giant has created a rainbow flag out of its logo. The rainbow flag is most famous for its use within the LGBT community.
    Below the logo, the company has added part of the Olympic charter that reads:”The practice of sport is a human right. Every individual must have the possibility of practicing sport, without discrimination of any kind and in the Olympic spirit, which requires mutual understanding with a spirit of friendship, solidarity and fair play.”

    When users click on the google doodle, users are taken to a search that includes the Olympic charter.

    The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has come under strong criticism since awarding Russia, with its terrible gay rights abuses, the Winter Olympics, in Sochi, which are due to begin today.

    Yesterday Channel 4 in the UK launched a video which supports gay rights within the Olympics. Whilst earlier in the week telecoms giant AT&T became the first major Olympic team sponsor to publicly condemn Russia’s anti-gay laws.

    TheGayUK released its findings this week that shows the potential true cost to companies that have commercially supported the Olympics.

  • A Topless Gary Lucy Looks Hot As Ever

    A Topless Gary Lucy Looks Hot As Ever

    So at the beginning of the year / end of 2013 we saw Danny and Johnny (Sam Strike) have a quick kiss, now Shelley is on the war path – but Gary Lucy still looks amazing!

    (more…)

  • INTERVIEW | Darren Pop – Organiser of Raining Men to Number 1

    Last week history was made when a Facebook campaign ensured that The Weather Girls’ classic It’s Raining Men stormed its way to Number 31 in the official UK singles Chart.

    We talk to the organiser of the Facebook campaign DJ Darren Pop

    When you first heard David Silvester’s comments what were your immediate thoughts?
    I just thought he was an old fool initially and didn’t pay much notice. It wasn’t until later when I thought about it again that it actually annoyed me at how idiotic and blatenty bigotted someone could still be in this country in 2014. His comments could have caused a lot of harm to any young person who is struggling to accept who they are and who thinks they are alone in this world because people like David Silvester keeps telling them that they are ‘wrong’ or ‘not normal’.

    When did it occur to you to try and get IRM to number 1?
    On the Sunday morning after the story had been reported, I was checking my Facebook newsfeed and saw 5 or 6 people post about it, but none of them were being angry as such, most of them were having a laugh, one person wrote one saying “Just out enjoying the gay weather” another said “I hope it rains men over David Silvester’s house tonight”. I thought, what is the best way to get a message out to everyone that bigotry doesn’t have a home in the UK, the whole ‘get a song to number 1’ thing has been done before and always managed to grab my attention and so it just kept growing in my head until i set up the page a few hours later.

    How did it feel when the Facebook like counter starting passing the 1000s / 10K marks?
    I was, and still am thinking “How the hell did that happen”. I expected at the most a couple of hundred people would like the page and maybe then download the song. It got to around 3000 likes in 24 hours, and then it was reported in The Sun. Every morning I woke up thinking, that’ll be it now, people will have forgotten about it, but it just kept jumping up. By the time it got to 10k I was adamant that it was going to go at least top 40.

    Have you heard from Martha Wash one of the original Weather Girls?
    Martha Wash from the Weather Girls contacted the page when it got to about 5000 likes and said that she totally supported the campaign and the song being used to send a message out. She was incredibly nice and was pushing the campaign from her own Facebook and twitter page too. It meant so much more than Martha was behind what we were trying to do.

    Do you think your campaign has given more attention to UKIP than it should have?
    I love to think about it as shining a spotlight on how awful they are to millions more people who may have otherwise voted for them had they not understood what a bunch of idiots they are. British people aren’t stupid and they are seeing straight through UKIP. I agree that you can turn bad publicity into good publicity with certain things. But as soon as you start being homophobic, racist, fascist, or whatever, forget it. You’re done. Every country has a political party who are a laughing stock because of their bizarre and ridiculous views. That party in the UK is UKIP.

    Do you think UKIP suspending David Silvester is enough?
    I don’t, no. But even worse than that is that David Silvester has never apologised for what he said, nor have UKIP. David Silvester should never be allowed to represent anyone, ever. Had his comments been aimed at any other social group, David Silvester would be a criminal. That’s why as long as their actions will keep being excused as ‘Freedom of speech’, we will continue to challenge them, shame them, and occasionally embarrass them with a well timed song related ‘pun’.

    What are your hopes with the Facebook page now?
    It would be a huge shame to just close it down, especially when it now has over 15,000 people on it who all have an opinion and are all united to in defiance to inequality. My favourite part of all this was a feeling of community. Thousands of people debating, supporting and encouraging each other. I don’t think i have ever come across any other page like it on Facebook. The page should now be used so that people never forget that they have got a voice, they can stand up and fight people like David Silvester. Hopefully i have now given them a platform to do that.

    Are you bit of an LGBT Activist at heart?
    It’s funny because i just see myself as a normal guy who thinks David Silvester is an idiot. But i guess the minute you stop fighting or trying to defend who you are to people like him then they win, if the way i chose to defend myself to what he said makes me an activist then i am happy with that.

    Which version is better the Geri Halliwell or The Weather Girls?
    Hands down, The Weather Girls. It is lots of fun and will forever be played in every DJ set I give. The song means so much to me now.

  • Irish Eurovision singer comes out as gay

    Irish hunk and Ireland’s representative in the 2013 Eurovision, Ryan Dolan has come out

    During an interview on Irish radio, the Eurovision hunk and “Only Love Survives” singer Ryan Dolan came out. You can hear the interview here

    Here’s what he said:

    COMING OUT
    It was only when I was 21, really that my whole family found about it. The first person I ever told was my older sister, and that was when I was 14. And then I just gradually told other people in my family afterwards. My father was the last person I told because I was afraid about what he would think – but he actually took it better than anyone I told. It was actually my mother that told him, because I was so afraid, on my 21st birthday. He just texted me and told me that it didn’t make one difference to him.

    My father was the I last person to find out because I was afraid of what he would think. I think he actually took it the better than anyone I told. I couldn’t ask for better parents, they’ve been great to me my whole life.

    DEPRESSION AND SUICIDE
    Thinking back now I wish I would have came out about it a long time ago. I think my youth was wasted worrying all the time about it. If I had been more open back then I would have been happier.

    I really did struggle growing up with that in my head and wondering how people would take it. I really got depressed about it for years. I did contemplate suicide. I never attempted suicide, but it was always a thought in my mind. I know depression can be hereditary, and I know it’s in my family. Over the last five years I’ve lost two uncles and an auntie to suicide – all on the one side of my family – my mum’s side.

    COULDN’T BE HAPPIER
    Now I’m completely happy, the last few years have been the happiest of my life since every one in my family knew. My life changed and the weight of all that stress lifted off my shoulders. Having dealt with it for all those years, it went away.

    YOUNG GAY PEOPLE TODAY
    It’s not a big deal anymore. Things have changed compared to even when I was in school. Young people are coming out now at 15 or 16 which would never have happened when I was at school.

    There’s parents who might have an inkling there’s something different about their son or daughter. Maybe just ask them, and they don’t have to go through the pressure of coming out and saying the words.

    NEW MUSIC
    I wanted to write a song about myself growing up, which is how [Start Again] came about. The idea of the video is basically about two young boys in school, who know they’re gay. Everyone needs to love their life being who they are, who they really are and not to hide their feelings and things like that. I think it’s got a great message

  • GMFA calls for HPV jab for 357000 secondary school boys

    Sexual Health Charity GMFA have called on the UK Government to provide a HPV Vaccination to 367,000 12-year-old boys in the hope of protecting them against HPV-Related Cancers

    · HPV infection in men is associated with up to 90% of anal cancers, 60% of penile cancers, and 75% of tonsillar and base-of-tongue cancers.
    · A massive 64% of parents surveyed in a YouGov poll agreed that boys should be offered the HPV vaccine.

    GMFA, one of the biggest sexual health charities in the UK and HPV Action has called upon the government to offer boys HPV Jabs – which will protect them against HPV-Related cancers – such as anal cancer.

    Girls in the UK are already vaccinated.

    GOVERNMENT SHOULD ACT FAST
    HPV Action, a coalition of 25 patient and professional organisations, says, “The Government should act immediately to end the serious future health risks facing boys from some of the UK’s fastest growing cancers.” HPV is commonly known to be the primary cause of cervical cancer in women, but it is also a real and rapidly growing health threat to UK men and especially to gay men.

    VACCINE MOST EFFECTIVE
    Matthew Hodson, Chief Executive of GMFA, adds: “GMFA supports HPV Action’s call for HPV vaccination to be universal. The vaccine is most effective when it is given to pre-adolescents, before the age when most young gay men feel able to be open about their sexuality, even if they have accepted it. The current policy of providing the vaccination to young girls but not to young boys may help prevent heterosexual men from getting HPV sexually but provides no protection for gay men and only limited protection for bisexual men. Gay men are more likely to acquire sexually transmitted infections, including HPV, and so the current policy amplifies existing health inequalities and contributes to the high prevalence of cancers within the gay population.”

    CANCER
    In 2012 HPV accounted for 40,392 new cases – a 15% increase since 2003 of genital warts. In men HPV is associated with up to 90% of anal cancer, 60% of penile cancers and 75% of tonsillar and base-of-tongue cancers.
    Tristan Almada, who co-founded The HPV and Anal Cancer Foundation after losing his mother to HPV-related anal cancer in 2010, said: “I want to prevent the horror my family went through from ever happening to anyone else again. We have that opportunity today via universal HPV vaccination. The UK should be a leader, not a laggard, to the rest of the world.”

  • Gay rights protest targets Sochi Winter Olympics worldwide

    Gay rights activists will be holding a demonstration today in cities all over the world, against the homophobia faced by LGBTs in Russia.

    • Protest will take place outside Downing Street in Central London
    • Protestors asked to wear red to symbolise Love
    • Channel 4 to air Gay Hunted Programme about Homophobia In Russia Tonight.
    • Tube Strike threatens numbers of protestors.

    With just a day away from the Sochi Winter Olympics opening, gay rights protesters will be taking to the streets of cities around the world to protest the treatment of LGBT people in Russia.

    A mounting disquiet has been bubbling away as the world’s spotlight is now cast upon Russia‘s dreadful treatment of LGBT people, as an event that threatens to permanently damage the Olympics’ brand starts tomorrow.

    Last year Russia’s president Vladimir Putin signed into a law which made the ‘promotion of non-traditional relationships’ illegal to anyone under the age of 18. A 100 year ban was also placed on holding any pride events in Moscow.

    In London protesters are expected to gather near downing street from 6:00PM. the events have been created by mass petitioning site AllOut.org. Organisers are asking attendees to wear red.

    Tonight Channel 4 will be broadcasting a Dispatches which shows the true horror gay people face in Russia, in a programme called: Hunted .

    Our correspondent Greg Mitchell said of the film:

    ‘This deeply disturbing programme, directed by Ben Steele and reported by Liz MacKean, shows us a bleak picture of a Russia, where gay people are literally hunted down like animals, subjected to humiliating and painful abuse.’

    London is in the midst of a 48 hour strike – so to find out how to get to Downing Street click here.

    TheGayUK will be Live Blogging the events from here

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