THEGAYUK

Tag: Anti-Gay

Read the latest news and analysis of anti-gay crime and policy in the UK and abroad. Browse THEGAYUK’s entire archive on news about anti-gay behaviours in the UK and abroad.

  • Gay Bar Sent “Anthrax” Letter In The Post

    A gay bar in Iowa was sent a letter that purported to contain the lethal disease Anthrax.

    A bar in Des Monies called The Blazing Saddle was sent a homophobia letter, which contained a powder, which the sender reported was anthrax.

    The powder was revealed to be foot powder, however, the threat was taken very seriously by local law enforcement. A local man, Eric Reece Wiethorn, 49, has since been arrested for posting the letter and has been charged with first-degree harassment.

    The letter reads:

    “It’s time for all the faggots and dykes to die on Capital Pride night!

    “Your secret enemies are going to blow up your destination for going to hell tonight, and were going to eat roast faggot the following morning.

    “This is your punishment for sinning against God, and hopefully you’ll die from the anthrax on this letter!”

    Speaking to the Des Moines Register, co-owner of The Blazing Saddle said,

    “I opened the mail up thinking it was a thank you letter, it turned out to be a hate letter.

    “[It said] faggot this, faggot that… and a white powder popped out, so I thought ‘call the police now’, because you don’t know.

    “We were locked down until hazmat came and examined it, it turned out to be talcum powder.

    “It’s very childish, very hateful, and I though this city had grown up more than that.”

    He added: “We get hate mail like this every once in a while but never powder.”

    There have been a number of attacks using Anthrax in the past, one of the most notorious was the 2001 Anthrax attacks which targeted news media offices and two US Senators.

  • “We Do Not Like Gays Living Here” Vile Welcome Note To Gay Couple

    A gay couple that have recently moved to a small town in Yorkshire, England, were shocked to find this most unwelcoming note from a neighbour.

    A note that a gay couple reportedly received when they moved to a village near York has surfaced on Twitter and Facebook. The letter contained outrageous homophobic terms such as backstabbers and s*** stabbers.

    The person who wrote the note was quite adamant that the couple would cause trouble for the neighbourhood saying, “This is a respectable village. We do not like gays living here, we do not want a load of gays coming and going day and night.

    We have heard about the partys (sic) you have, and the young lads you having stayed the night.

    “You only have young lads for one thing.

    “You [are] a pair of s*** stabbers,

    “You pair of dirty b*****ds,

    “We will have you run out of the village.

    “This is a warning so get this house up for sale and push off back where you came from, you are not welcome here.
    “S*** stabbers.”

    It is unclear whether the police have been informed, however, The Mirror states that the police are believed to be investigating the note.

    The York Pride facebook page wrote, “Why are pride events important in 2015? Read this letter received by someone right here in North Yorkshire to see what views still exist in 2015!”

  • Gay Fans Of World Cup Football May Face Humiliating Tests By Qatar

    LGBT football fans who may want to attend the 2022 World cup, due to take place in Qatar may face humiliating tests in order to enter the country, in which being gay is illegal.

    Despite a number of worrying questions over human rights, Qatar has been awarded the hosting obligations for the World cup in 2022, by FIFA.

    Currently, gay men face between one and three years in prison if caught. In November 2014, the Qatari sports minister said that the country would find “Creative” solutions to gay people. He told AP, “It’s exactly like the alcohol question.”

    “[Qatar doesn’t want to create] this impression, illusion that we don’t care about our tradition and our ethical values.

    “We are studying all these issues. We can adapt, we can be creative to have people coming and enjoying the games without losing the essence of our culture and respecting the preference of the people coming here.

    “I think there is a lot we can do.”

    It has been suggested that members of the Gulf Cooperation Countries, which include; Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar, Oman, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates are developing a test that will be able to detect the sexuality of visitors to its countries.

    The test was first reported on in 2013 after Kuwait’s director of public health Yousouf Mindkar said, “gays will be barred.”

    Speaking to Kuwait Newspaper Al Rai, he said, “Health centres conduct the routine medical check to assess the health of the expatriates when they come into the GCC countries. However, we will take stricter measures that will help us detect gays who will be then barred from entering Kuwait or any of the GCC member states.”

    Gay rights groups have criticised FIFA for choosing Qatar to host the event.

    An advertising ‘modesty’ campaign has already begun teaching visitors to the nation about acceptable behaviour including what and whatnot to wear, with the slogan, “If You Are In Qatar You Are One of Us…”

    Today the FIFA taskforce has recommended that the World cup event should take place in November and December due to concerns regarding the health of player and spectators, who are unaccustomed to temperatures that can exceed 40C in the summer months.

  • Vile Homophobia Blasted At Johnny Weir On Super Bowl

    Openly gay former US skater and NBC Sports commentator Johnny Weir suffers a tirade of homophobic abuse on Twitter as viewers vent about him hosting the pre-game Super Bowl show.

    Wearing a sparkly football themed costume, of blue rhinestones and matching face make up Johnny Weir who retired from figure skating last year, certainly knows how to make a statement, however, his appearance has left many users of social media sending a torrent of homophobic abuse.

    https://twitter.com/yonkersED/status/561952777325543424?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    https://twitter.com/ThreeSixRW/status/561965049729003521?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    https://twitter.com/MyMindOnGeorgia/status/561978324986363904?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

    https://twitter.com/lturpin28/status/561965895447486464?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw

  • Sam Smith: Homophobia? Just Ignore It

    So how does Sam Smith deal with homophobia? He just ignores it.

    (more…)

  • Vile Homophobia Directed At Perez Shows What Visage Was Talking About

    Dozens of people have taken to Twitter to talk about Perez with vile homophobic comments.

    During yesterday evening’s programme, Michelle Visage blasted openly gay celebrity blogger Perez Hilton for setting back the community fifty years, after witnessing him perform sexual acts on garden furniture and against mirrors in the garden. Speaking to Big Brother she said, “What we just witnessed is an outrage” and that Perez “sets our community back fifty years”, before the RuPaul’s Drag Race judge added, “He’s an embarrassment, I do not want people judging the gay community on this ass.”

    She then went on to explain, emotionally, that she had fought for years along with the gay community for equality and equal rights and that Perez was undermining the progress the LGBT community had made.

    Regardless of Perez’s behaviour, a quick search on Twitter confirmed the harassment that many gay people can endure, when fans of the show called him anti-gay slurs like faggot, queer and batty boy. Some users have even used death threats against the US personality.

    https://twitter.com/SamHenderson_1/status/556206943023673344

    Last year the government introduced a new punishment for those who trolled or bullied people online. Those found gulity could face up to two years in prison. The government is changing the law to increase the maximum sentence for the offence of sending certain items with the intent to cause distress or anxiety. This will mean more serious offences can be dealt with in the Crown Court and there will not be a time limit for police and Crown Prosecution Service to bring a prosecution.

    In the past various openly gay celebrities have endured online bigotry. Last year Duncan James talked about how online trolls had wished AIDS on him, whilst X Factor’s Rylan Clark suffered an internet blacklash in 2012.

    So do we report online homophobia to the police?

  • Over THIRTY-FOUR THOUSAND Homophobic Incidents Not Reported In The UK

    Commission launches new project to help tackle LGB and T hate crime.

    (more…)

  • No One Is Born Gay: Says US Gay Cure Group On Billboard

    A US-based “gay cure” organisation, PFOX.org has bought ad space on a billboard in Virginia, which proclaims no one is born gay.

    Parents and Friends of Ex-Gays and Gays have bought billboard ad space in Richmond, VA, that say that gay people aren’t born that way.

    Writing on their website PFOX states,

    “Identical twins have the same genes or DNA. They are nurtured in equal prenatal conditions. If homosexuality is caused by genetics or prenatal conditions and one twin is gay, the co-twin should also be gay … because identical twins are always genetically identical, homosexuality cannot be genetically dictated. No-one is born gay.”

    According to their website, thousands of individuals have made the decision to leave ‘the homosexual life’ and can confirm that change is possible.

    So-called ‘gay cures’ have long been debunked by doctors and scientists. Last year Doctor Christian Jessen filmed a documentary for Channel 4, where he uncovered various treatments to ‘cure’ homosexuality. All of which he found to be useless, and with no scientific proof that they worked.

    Gay cure can range from reparative therapy to ‘shock’ treatments. In July a man who was ‘treated’ for homosexuality in the 1970s, talked to the BBC about his ordeal administered by the NHS and the damage it had done to his life. The 69-year-old said the treatment had made him feel that he was, ‘going to pass from this life without ever having a full relationship with a human being.’

    A statement from Jamie Machut, Vice President of Lamar Advertising Company, the owners of the billboard responded to criticism about allowing the advertisement saying,

    “There are no plans for billboard to come down,

    “Please keep in mind that the advertising is a message from PFOX and not Lamar Advertising Company. We support the First Amendment right of advertisers and believe that it is in the best interest of our company and the communities we serve to accept advertising copy openly.”

  • Anti-Gay Pastor Jokes About AIDS Video Asking It To Go Viral

    An anti-gay pastor, Steven L Anderson asked his followers to make a video about AIDS go ‘viral’ on the 1st December.

    (more…)

  • Same-Sex Couple Told To Stop Showing Affection In London Restaurant

    A woman and her partner were told to stop showing affection in a London restaurant, after being told ‘This is a family restaurant’.

    Lydia Cawson, said that she was told by a staff member at the Canteen eatery at the Southbank’s Royal Festival Hall, to move away from her partner whom she was consoling at the time.

    The couple had met at the restaurant during a break and Ms. Cawson was consoling her partner after a stressful week at work – with an arm around her shoulder and a ‘peck on the cheek’.

    Allegedly the couple were approached by a member of staff and asked to move away from each other.

    She told London Live ‘I didn’t notice any adverse reaction in the restaurant, myself. Then the lady came over to us and said “can you stop what you’re doing please, this is a family restaurant”.’

    Her partner then asked the member of staff, ‘Is it a family restaurant or is it a homophobic restaurant?’

    Ms. Cawson also added, The first thing is that we were really shocked by this challenge.

    We didn’t feel like we were overly affectionate. Yes, it was an intimate moment, but consoling her and just a simple loving reaction.

    The second comment was that it was a family restaurant and it made me feel; ‘why does that matter? Is it because children are present – not that there were any children present at that time – anyway, why should it matter if it is a family restaurant?’

    Taking to Twitter, Canteen owners tweeted, ‘Everyone is welcome at Canteen, gay / straight/old/ young regardless of sexuality. We are horrified at the thought of being labelled anti gay – half of our team are gay. At Canteen, we pride ourselves on being a modern, equal opportunities, open and accessible business. We want everyone to feel welcome in our restaurants.’

  • Google Play Criticised For Selling Gay Hunting Game

    The Google Play store is receiving online criticism for allowing a game to be sold that lets players hunt gays and kill them.

    The game Ass Hunter is a very basic shooting game where the player clothed in green safari outfit and holding a shotgun, moves around the screen shooting ‘gays’ – depicted here as naked men with waving tackle!

    You could be mistaken into thinking that the game is just another war game with men shooting other men, however, the developer’s almost comical homophobic description explains that you are indeed hunting gays here.

    ‘Play and do not be gay!’

    ‘Legendary game, where you are a hunter and your mission is to kill gays as much as you can.’

    ‘Gays may be hidden in bushes and unexpectedly catch you.’
    ‘Remember! When they catch you they will do with you whatever they want ;)’

    The ‘whatever they want’ turns out to be a rape of the hunter of he loses a life. BarryDennen12 on YouTube has very kindly provided his walk through of the game.

    Of course, not everyone thinks this game is legendary leaving one star reviews on Google Play Store.

    ‘Homophobic filth A disgusting piece of trash Google you should be ashamed to have even published this.’ – Fifi Anderson

    ‘Abhorrent app This abhorrent app is disgusting. I too downloadabled so I could rate and report it. Google should remove this game immediately.’ – Ron Gowans-Savage

    The Google Play store has now removed the game, and Google have been approached for comment on the game.