THEGAYUK

Tag: London News

All the latest from London, the capital of the UK, home to the UK’s largest gay community.

  • JD Sports “Suspends” Two Workers After Homophobic Slur

    JD Sports “Suspends” Two Workers After Homophobic Slur Aimed At Customers

    Sportswear retailer JD Sports has “suspended” two staff members after a gay couple were allegedly called “battymen”.

    The Evening Standard is reporting that three staff members from a JD Sports store have been “suspended” after one shop assistant allegedly called a gay couple “Battymen”.

    Gavin Matthews, 35, and his boyfriend Craig Hards were reportedly called “battymen”, a slur word used against gay men, as they shopped for new trainers at their local store in Eltham in south-east London.

    Gavin is said to have overheard a male store assistant use the term, which left the couple “mortified”. Mr Matthews also is quoted in saying that he has never been subjected to homophobic abuse in all the time he’s lived in the area, around 30-years.

    After making several complaints to head office, he was told that three members of staff had been “suspended” over the incident pending a full investigation.

    He told the Standard:

    “I was mortified. I have not heard that kind of talk before. I wasn’t expecting to be treated like that as a customer – it was very offensive.

    “My first thought was to go over there and speak my mind. He was totally oblivious to the offence he had caused – he was just standing there laughing.”

    He continued:

    “If I had been a young person, just coming out, then that would have been even more upsetting.”

    Speaking to the Standard Mr Matthews explained the incident:

    “There was this shop assistant in my way and I heard him say to his colleague ‘those battymen over there’. He was laughing away as he stood in the shop doorway.

    “I looked over at his colleague and he was so embarrassed. By this point my partner came back to me to ask what was going on. I thought I was going to get angry but I just left the store. My partner later said he had had worse [abuse] but I said ‘that is unacceptable’. There is no way that someone in a customer service position should get away with that.”

    TheGayUK reached out to JD Sports for comment.

  • Stars Back Royal Vauxhall Tavern After New Owners Refuse To Talk About Future

    BAFTA winning writer Stephen Beresford is among those backing performers and punters of the iconic Royal Vauxhall Tavern in a new campaign to safeguard its future, following its recent sale to property developers.

    The launch of the campaign comes in the wake of the shocking closure without notice of the Black Cap in Camden, another venerable London LGBTQ venue.

    Stars of Duckie, the RVT’s biggest weekly crowd puller, and the legendary performer David Hoyle are among those leading the campaign to save the Tavern. Rob Holley, who runs the venue’s popular Push the Button night, is also on board.

    The RVT is believed to be the UK’s longest running LGBTQ venue and recently featured in Beresford’s hit film Pride. A haven before decriminalisation, and a crucial hub during the AIDS crisis, the RVT is today a thriving site of culture, performance and community in South London.

    But since buying up the Tavern in October, new owners Immovate, an Austrian property company – have repeatedly declined to reveal their intentions, or even guarantee the venue’s long-term future as an LGBT+ bar.

    Speaking about the importance of RVT, Beresford said,
    “The RVT is so much more than just a bar. As Pride shows, it has a special role in LGBTQ history and London life; a unique place where different communities can come together.

    “The RVT has always stood out as embodying the true spirit of the LGBTQ movement and it would be a real shame if it lost touch with that heritage. I support the campaign and wish it all the best.”

    The continuing uncertainty has fuelled fears that the Tavern will be closed or transformed out of step with its unique history.

    That has spurred some of the RVT’s most successful acts to join forces with concerned regulars and take things in to their own hands.

    RVT Future is the most high profile of several recent campaigns to date to save well-known London LGBTQ venues that have fallen victim to London’s over-heated property market.

  • Stereo Kicks To End Sell Out Tour In London

    X-Factor boy band Stereo Kicks finish their sold-out 10 date headline tour with a show at Islington Academy on Sunday night.

    The eight-piece band rose to fame through their time on X Factor 2014, where they were paired together by Louis Walsh and became one of the most tweeted about acts in the contests’ history.

    Their fanbase now numbers over 270,000 Twitter follows and almost a quarter of a million Facebook fans. The tour kicked off a week ago and has seen fans queuing around the block for hours.

  • London “Gay Cure” Event Cancelled After 40,000 Say No Way

    An event that aimed to help gay people “Overcome” Their Sexuality by the Seventh Day Adventist Church has been cancelled after 40,000 people signed a petition to stop it.

    The Seventh Day Adventist Church had planned to bring a seminar to London that was aimed at people who have “struggled” with same-sex attraction. The petition against the move was signed by over 40,000 people.

    According to the advert, three people Mike Carducci, Wayne Blakely and Danielle Harrison have found “redemption, victory, healing and freedom from their lifestyle.” and want to talk to members of the public about their “struggles” with homosexuality.

    Kirsten Lundqvist the communications and media director of South England Conference of Seventh-day Adventist said, “A decision was taken on Monday, 13 April to cancel the ‘Holy Sexuality’ Conference originally planned for London, 21-25 April 2015.

    “Seventh-day Adventists are a people of peace who believe in hope and dialogue. However, it appeared that rather than drawing people together the conference had the potential to divide. The Adventist Church recognises that the individuals invited to speak at the Holy Sexuality Conference have compelling life stories to share but equally appreciate that there are those who take a different point of view.”

    “We are disappointed that in a society that values freedom of speech and divergence of opinion that there are those whose wish it is to silence individuals who hold a different point of view to their own.”

    Speaking to GSN one of organisers of the event Anamaria, had said, “These three people have overcome what many people are still struggling with, the people who felt so unloved. For them, they have moved out of this lifestyle and embraced Christianity,’ she said.

    “It’s like committing adultery. This conference will teach homosexuals how to overcome similar habits.”

  • THEATRE REVIEW | Rise Like A Phoenix

    ★★ | Rise Like A Phoenix

    Things have changed a great deal since the days of Larry Kramer’s The Normal Heart, Kevin Elyot’s My Night with Reg and Tony Kushner’s brilliant Angels in America. HIV is something we can talk about more openly, people don’t die anymore, and, with treatment, can live a pretty normal life, though there is still a lot of stigma attached to it.

    Paul Emelion Daly’s new play, Rise Like a Phoenix, is billed as a comedy, but, apart from some admittedly hilarious one-liners, it actually takes itself rather seriously, maybe too seriously. As an HIV negative man, maybe I found it hard to identify with the five gay men, all of them HIV-positive, in Daly’s play, but I’m pretty sure that the majority of my HIV positive friends would have a problem too. Too many of the characters were fixated on the blame game, how they acquired the virus, who gave them the virus, and indeed, not giving too much away, much of the story revolved around a love triangle, in which one of the characters had unknowingly given it to one of the men, who then unknowingly gave it to another.

    I was hoping that a new play about HIV would take a more positive stance, but it seemed to me, that, for all the talk of the success of antiretroviral therapy, emotionally the play was still stuck in the 90s, with its reminders of those tombstone adverts. But the whole landscape has changed since then and we live in a far more positive world (in both senses of the word) than we did? Why was there no talk of TasP (Treatment as Prevention), of PEP or PrEP, the once a day pill that stops you getting HIV?

    I’m afraid I found it all rather dispiriting and negative.

    Performances were good, but Tim McArthur’s usually faultless sense of pace seemed to have deserted him this time round and the play dragged for too much of the time.

  • Mental Health Charity For LGBT+ Youth Boosted By £120K

    Greenwich-based METRO has received nearly £120,000 from the City of London Corporation’s charity, City Bridge Trust, to boost its London-wide mental health programme for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) young people.

    Established in 1984, METRO runs community and youth services and is one of London’s few specialist providers of emotional and mental health support to the LGBTQ community. It promotes health, wellbeing, equality and participation through one-to-one counselling, group therapy and assessment, and referral services.

    The charity faces increased demand for mental health services and its Youth Chances research found that 44 per cent of LGBTQ young people have contemplated suicide, while 52 per cent have self-harmed and 42 per cent sought treatment for anxiety or depression.

    Dr Greg Ussher, METRO Chief Executive said:

    METRO is delighted to receive this funding from the City Bridge Trust. The findings from our Youth Chances research and the demand on our existing mental health programme show just how vital this funding is to enable us to support so many more Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender and Questioning (LGBTQ) young people across London. This investment from the City Bridge Trust gives LGBTQ young people direct access to the essential services when they need them and will save lives.”

    Jeremy Mayhew, Chairman of City Bridge Trust, said:

    Negative attitudes towards these young people make them more likely to experience higher levels of mental health distress than their heterosexual peers. Understanding their needs and providing accessible services during a difficult time in their lives, is vitally important. At City Bridge Trust, we are committed to supporting Metro Centre in breaking down barriers, removing stigma and improving mental health.”

    City Bridge Trust is the grant-making arm of Bridge House Estates, whose sole trustee is the City of London Corporation. It addresses disadvantage by supporting London charities, providing grants totalling around £15 million annually.

  • Church Plans Event For People Who Want To “Overcome” Their Sexuality

    The Seventh Day Adventist Church is planning to bring a seminar to London that is aimed at people who have “struggled” with same-sex attraction.

    According to the advert, three people Mike Carducci, Wayne Blakely and Danielle Harrison have found “redemption, victory, healing and freedom from their lifestyle.” and want to talk to members of the public about their “struggles” with homosexuality.

    The advert also claims,

    “This conference will be invaluable for those who are struggling with their sexuality or for those who wish to find out more about issues surrounding sexuality and same sex attraction to reach out to others.”

    GayStarNews has called the free event, called Holy Sexuality Conference a “gay cure summit”.

    Speaking in a video Carducci spoke about how God had anointed him to start a ministry called Exceed, which stands for “Excellence in Christ through evangelism for the erotically defiled.”

    Speaking to GSN one of organisers of the event, said Anamaria, “These three people have overcome what many people are still struggling with, the people who felt so unloved. For them, they have moved out of this lifestyle and embraced Christianity,’ she said.

    “It’s like committing adultery. This conference will teach homosexuals how to overcome similar habits.”

  • Nigel Farage Invited To HIV Play “Positive” After Debate Remarks

    The leader of UKIP, Nigel Farage has been invited to a comedy about HIV called “Positive” by the show’s producers after his remarks about HIV in last week’s Leaders’ Debate.

    Positive credit Bobbin
    Positive credit Bobbin

    In a brand new outing for the play, which previously ran at the Edinburgh Festival Fringe in 2013 and completed a critically acclaimed run at Waterloo East Theatre in May 2014, the show is inspired by true stories from those who are living with HIV.

    Playwright Shaun Kitchener said: “I’m so excited that Positive is part of the Park Theatre’s line-up this year. Whenever HIV is presented on-stage or on-screen it’s usually all doom, gloom and death-beds; but that’s simply not the case in 2015.

    “HIV sufferers in Britain today are reportedly more likely to die from depression resulting from the stigma attached to them than they are from the virus itself. It’s not that it’s a medical walk in the park, but it’s not a death sentence anymore – and it’s about time theatre reflected this. If Mr Farage wants to come along and see the play for himself to learn a thing or two, we’d be more than happy to have him.”

    “Following UKIP leader Nigel Farage’s outrageous claims made about HIV and immigrants at last week’s Leaders’ Debate, an open invitation stands to have him along to watch the play – and find that the stigma he fiercely promoted is total BS,” say the producers of the show.

    View image | gettyimages.com

     

    Nigel Farage was lambasted by the other leaders on the televised debate, with Plaid Cymru’s leader Leanne Wood winning the first applause from the audience after saying that he should be “ashamed” for his remarks.

    Dr Rosemary Gillespie, CEO Terrence Higgins Trust said: “It was great to see so many people express outrage after Farage’s comments about the numbers of people in the UK with HIV who were not born here. HIV is a public health issue in the UK and globally. If we do not take an inclusive approach and provide treatment for people who need it, we will never prevent onward transmission. 24% of people living with HIV in the UK do not know they are living with it, and 4 in every 10 are diagnosed at a late stage, after they needed to start treatment. HIV doesn’t discriminate and politicians shouldn’t either. Such ill-informed and discriminatory comments generate stigma, and make it harder to encourage people to take a test and stay safe”.

    Positive runs July 9 to August 1 at the Park Theatre near Finsbury Park, London N4.

    Tickets available: https://www.parktheatre.co.uk/whats-on/positive

  • ART REVIEW: Alexander McQueen God Of The Runway: Savage Beauty

    When the retrospective work of British fashion designer Alexander McQueen was exhibited at Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York in 2011, tickets moved quicker than Naomi Campbell’s mobile during a hissy-fit.

    (more…)

  • BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival wrap up

    The BFI Flare London LGBT Film Festival has unfortunately come to a close after a highly successful nine days of films and events. It was perhaps the best festival in a long time. Tim Baros takes us through the highlights:

    – Dior and I: An exquisite (and nail biting) documentary of Raf Simon’s first eight weeks as artistic director of Christian Dior, in which time he has to put together a collection. Director Frederic Tcheng uniquely blends voiceovers of an actor speaking excepts from Dior’s memoir intertwined with the pressure Simons and his staff are under. Dior and I is one of the better fashion documentaries ever made. It is now in wide release.
    Read our review of Dior And I

    – Portrait of a Serial Monogamist: Canadian Directors Christina Zeidler and John Mitchell’s tale of 40-something year old Lesbian Elsie (a perfectly cast Diane Flacks) who breaks up with her girlfriend but is not so sure that she’s done the right thing, especially after meeting another woman right away who appears to be ‘the perfect one.’ Portrait is funny and clever and will leave you laughing out loud of its portrayal of Lesbian relationships amongst friends.

    – Drunktown’s Finest: 34-year old Native American Director Sydney Freeland’s well done portrait of three Navajo Indian characters all coming of age and exploring not only their identities but also their relationships with their families and their culture. An amazing job by Freeland, who also wrote the script.

    – 54: The Director’s Cut: A highlight of the festival – this is the film that gay director Mark Christopher shot and intended to release in 1998 but was not able to due to pressure from the studio to ‘degay’ it. Literal cutting room floor and lost footage has been incorporated into the original version of this story of a young man (Ryan Phillippe) being accepted into the historic NYC club’s inner circle, and includes the gay scenes originally taken out. This film still takes us back to a time when it was all about the music and the dancing.
    Read our review of 54

    – Tiger Orange: A sweet tale of two gay brothers, one – Chet (Mark Strano) who looks after the family hardware store in a small town in California while younger brother rebel Todd (porn star Johnny Hazard – real name Frank Valenti) comes back home because nothing’s happening for him in Los Angeles. Chet and Todd are opposites in every way – Chet is very subdued and simple and plain looking, while Todd is hot and sexy with a body to die for and a naughty personality to match. Valenti is the true star of this film – not only does he light up the screen when he’s one, but he can act as well.

    – Match: Sir Patrick Stewart is an older dance teacher (Toby Powell) whose life is shaken up when a straight couple show up one day on his doorstep to supposedly interview him about his life as a dance teacher. But what they really want from his is to find out if he’s the father of the husband. Stewart has never been better in a film that’s stretched a bit too long and with a cast that can’t quite match Stewart in the acting department.

    – The Last One: Unfolding the AIDS Memorial Quilt: A film, half about the AIDS quilt and the other half about statistics and other AID’s organisations, it would’ve worked better if it stuck to its main subject – the quilt. We’ve seen so many documentaries about AIDS and statistics, as well as the quilt, and this documentary gives us nothing new.

    – The Golden Age of the American Male: This film is just a series of images and videos from the archives of the Athletic Model’s Guild, which was created by Bob Mizer. The Golden Age is pretty much 65 minutes of soft porn, if that’s your thing.

    – Frangipani: The first LGBT Sri Lankan film, it tells the tale of two men (very good Dasun Pathirana and Jehan Sri Kanth) who fall in love with each other in spite of one of them getting married to a woman. Beautifully shot and easy to identify with – Director, Writer and Producer Visakesa Chandrasekaram) has made a lush film that is highly recommended.

    – Everlasting Love: A strange, eerie Spanish film that can be best described as Stranger on a Lake (without the Lake) meets Twilight. Throw in some flesh eating and many boring moments and what you have is a film that should be missed.

    – Fulboy: A documentary about the unseen world of football, Director Martin Farina was given full access to a professional Argentinean football team. He speaks to them in their hotel rooms and in their locker room, when, lucky for us, they are not shy about displaying their athletic bodies, from head to toe, for the camera. Not much a narrative on this one, but it’s worth watching as you feel like a fly on the wall in a very straight male environment.

    There was an excellent selection of shorts, and a few stand out:
    – Hole: Gay disabled actor Ken Harrower plays a man who frequents video booths but gets frustrated when he’s unable to receive sexual pleasure, so he enlists the help of his male carer to get it.

    – Limanakia: The strangest yet sexiest short film I have ever seen. Gay men frolic on the rocks of a beach somewhere in Greece, all naked and all having sex, shot in motion-moving imagery with the sun providing a hint of gold on the bodies and on the rocks.

    – been too long at the FAIR: Who would’ve guessed that there is a gay cinema in Queens, New York? This short documentary exposes the FAIR Theater in Jackson Heights as one of the oldest continuing running gay establishments in New York City.

    All in all, it was a great festival and we’re looking forward to next year. Well done FLARE gang!

  • 60 Protesters Rally Outside D&G Flagship Fashion Store In London

    Sixty protesters rallied outside Dolce and Gabbana’s flagship London store in Old Bond Street at lunchtime today, Thursday 19 March.

    Rally went ahead despite “backtrack” on comments made about same-sex parenting
    82% of GayUK readers support a boycott on goods from Dolce And Gabbana
    Tatchell demands they retract their statement and apologise for their statement.