Boycott: Stop Eating American Cupcakes!

There comes a time when it's time to say "Enough is enough".
That time is now!
American homophobia must stop.
Now!
Boy, am I pissed about this.
Gay marriage still illegal in 37 states.
Gay men are still being arrested for "crimes against nature"
Gay adoption banned.
It's legal to sack a worker for being gay in 29 states.
Bradley Manning imprisoned for life.
Gay teen suicides seem to never end.
Queerbashing in New York is on the rise.
The Westboro Baptist Church won't shut up.
The Republican Party is in hock to anti-gay Evangelists.
Radio talk shows are dominated by homophobic loons.
Yet they hold up Hilary Clinton - an unconvicted war criminal - as some kind of "gay icon"
The last season of Glee wasn't very good.
And don't even get me started on Lady Gaga.
Enough!
We must make a stand.
Now!
What can we do to oppose this hate-filled homophobic sham democracy where political power is in the hands of a few mega-rich oligarchs?
STOP EATING AMERICAN CUPCAKES!!
I REPEAT STOP EATING AMERICAN CUPCAKES!
Remember - even if you weren't eating them before - this pointless gesture could change the world.

@Fagburn Twitter.
— Dan Savage (@fakedansavage) August 3, 2013

Vodka: Gay Mass Hysteria Grips New York

Vodka has been seen being poured down the drain outside Russia’s consulate in New York this afternoon as another gay bar boycotts Russia’s national drink in protest at the country’s homophobic stance.
Bottles of Stoli were gripped with disdain and emptied by staff from Boxers, a gay sports bar in the city, outside the Russian consulate on Manhattan’s Upper East Side.
Around 100 people [sic] took part in Wednesday’s protest.
The bottles of vodka were donated by Boxers, situated on 37 W 20th St, Manhattan, who earlier had confirmed they would no longer be selling Stoli.
“As the largest LGBT seller of Stoli in the region, we feel that this symbolic step is of great importance in showing our solidarity,” said Robert Fluet, co-owner of the Boxers NYC bars...

Pink News.

So someone's boss told their minimum wage slaves to put on a branded company t-shirt for a photo op he then press released to publicise his over-priced bars?
Amazing!
This is how revolutions start!
Reminds me of the CNT's streetfighting in Barcelona in 1936.
Actually, I'm being sarcastic - what this "campaign" reminds me of is the hysterical mass buying of Elton John's Candle In The Wind when Princess Diana died.
ie It's a load of silly bollocks.

PS Tomorrow I will be protesting Russian homophobia by not eating caviar while not doing that silly Cossack dance. If you care as much as I do, please join me.

• Extraordinary Popular Delusions And The Madness Of Crowds by Charles Mackay (1841). Edit: Hilarious video of gay mass hysteria in New York on the Telegraph online - whose Russophobia clearly trumps their homophobia.

Update: Here's the VK page where videos of the attacks on young Russian gay men are being posted. I can't verify them, but I find it hard to believe they're not real. Heartbreaking, terrifying stuff - but how anyone can think that not buying Russian (or Latvian) vodka is going to change anything is beyond me...

Fagburn: On Gay Orientalism

Old dreams of empire fade so slow

Oh Russia

Africa

Arabia, Iran

Afghanistan

When will you learn

we must own you?

"The foreigners are at it again
when will they learn to fight like our men?"*

 

We know what's best

The West is the best
To boycott or to bomb?

Fuck you.

Some neo-colonialist balls about The Gays in The Guardian.
Some neo-colonialist balls about The Gays on Queerty.
Other recent examples of gay Orientalism too numerous to list...

“Every empire, however, tells itself and the world that it is unlike all other empires, that its mission is not to plunder and control but to educate and liberate."

Edward W Said.

* Robert Wyatt.

PS We live in age of "We must do something" hysteria.
Usually involving doing as little as possible.
We ignore the voices of LGBT activists in other countries that our actions may only make things worse there, as their politicians love grandstanding that they are resisting Western interventions.
Remember the Hippocratic oath; "First, do no harm."

Update: New Amnesty International release on human rights abuses in Western Europe and the US.

Bradley Manning: The Guardian

x

PS Uncle Noam says Bradley Manning violated the principle that power must be protected from scrutiny. Video.

The Sun: This Is Our Britain

Oh FFS.
PLEASE KILL ME NOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Brighton Trans Pride: An Apology

The Argus says...
Our article of Monday, July 28, covering the excellent Pride events of the weekend has caused some concern given the juxtaposition of Doggy Pride with Trans Pride.
It certainly was not our intention to be disrespectful to this important first, not just for the city but for Britain.
This was a landmark event and deserved more prominence, which we [are] happy to provide here and in the newspaper.

Brighton Argus.

Well done to everyone who kicked up a fuss over this.
Glad to see the new article and apology will - hopefully - be in the print edition.

Image via Sarah Savage.

Bradley Manning: Later Dude!

Gay 25-year-old US army private Bradley Manning stood trial for supposedly aiding the enemy by passing classified information to Wikileaks, including several hundred thousand pages of army reports, diplomatic cables and information that detailed the killing of civilians by American soldiers. His verdict is expected today.
The trial, which ended last week, was marked by government intimidation of the media and comes after Manning spent almost a year in solitary confinement in Quantico, Virginia, prompting international outrage.
One of the interesting factors is that two of the largest and most well funded LGBT rights groups in the US have stayed quiet about Manning, his reprehensible treatment in custody and his trial. Why has Manning, whose revelations about the US Army's actions epitomize social justice in action, gotten the cold shoulder from the Human Rights Campaign and GLAAD (formerly known as the Gay & Lesbian Alliance Against Defamation)? The silence of these groups has been deafening...

Christopher Carbone writing on Guardian Online.

Umm, yeah, kinda, I guess... but although Bradley's gay, and his sexuality is germane to this story, his trial is not really "a gay issue" (though all gay men should be concerned about it, as should anyone), so I'm not sure why you think a group like GLAAD - who basically just run a big talent contest for The Gays on TV and fillum - should have got involved, and the piece - though making some valid, albeit unconnected points about gay campaign groups in the States - just reads like faux-radical posturing.
What's more worrying is how the gay media ignored him for so long.

PS The judge is expected to announce the guilty verdict at about 6pm Britisher time - live updates on Firedoglake.

Update: Guilty - but charges of aiding the enemy were ditched.
But seeing as Brad's still likely to get 136 years in prison - you do the math/s etc etc - this is kind of meaningless.
Sorry Bradley, if it means anything.
And death to the AmeriKKKan military-industrial complex and all your secrets and lies!

(That told 'em).

Harry Styles: Blow Me!

HARRY STYLES has laughed off rumours he’s gay or bisexual.
He told an interviewer: “Bisexual? Me? I don’t think so. I’m pretty sure I’m not.”
And the whispers are now riling him. He added: “Some of them are annoying.”

The Sun - who managed to turn this wonderfully uninteresting quote into a news story.
As indeed have I.
Bugger!

Update: Looks like 1D's fans aren't happy. :(

Update2: The Mirror on 1D gay porn fan fiction. Huzzah!

RIchard Smith: On Passive Activism

Some idiot called Richard Smith - who? - has written a barely coherent rant for Pink News about "passive gay activism" - whatever that is.
Here's what Pink News Readers are saying:

"Richard seems very bitter and cynical. What an arsehole."
"This “comment” is such a self important smug piece of sh!t I don’t know where to begin."
"That articles reads like he was still at school – maybe part of his GCSE coursework? He has said nothing about the problems for LGBT people in Russia to raise any awareness himself – just bitchy comments about his ex-flatmate and queeny gays…. and threw a few wordy bits in at the end, brilliant journalism…wow! (as he would no doubt say)…"
"Pretentious tw*t."
"Probably the worst article I’ve ever read on pinknews. So to summarise, “You’re all useless, all-talk, I’m better than you, the end.” Was there actually any point to this article??"

Well said, guys!

Thought For The Day: Michael Arditti

“I often think that coming out as a Christian today is so much harder than coming out as gay."

Michael Arditti interviewed in the Daily Telegraph.

And quite right too! Christians are disgusting.

• And here's the Not The 9 O'clock News sketch Are You A Gay Christian? Hilarious. It's 30something years old and you don't need to change a word - not so hilarious.

Alan Turing: Tragedy

Many people are familiar with what happened to Alan Turing: the national hero and genius of the first order who was prosecuted in 1952 because of his homosexuality and “chemically castrated” as a sanction of the state. And following this conviction and punishment, he was to apparently kill himself two years later aged only 41. 
The immensity of his intellectual accomplishments and his crucial contribution to the war effort make the prosecution of Turing and its aftermath seem a particular tragedy. Something very badly went wrong, and that wrong needs to be righted. Indeed, as Jack Goode, a colleague of Turing at Bletchley Park, said:

“It was a good thing the authorities hadn’t known Turing was a homosexual during the war, because if they had, they would have fired him…and we would have lost”.

But how can we right the wrong did to Alan Turing? One way is to be clear about the actual wrong which was done to him, and the starting point for this would be to look closely at the law he was prosecuted under and the facts of his case. And by looking at the wrong done to Turing it becomes stark that many others suffered the same wrong and that a pardon just for Turing will not address this...

Good piece by David Allen Green in the New Statesman on the elitist pointless gesture politics of the Alan Turing pardon.
As I've said before - although lacking the powers of clairvoyance - I'm sure Alan Turing would have found all this rather embarrassing and a waste of all our time.
If you want to honour Alan Turing, then continue his work; fight fascism and try to advance human understanding.
Stuff like that and shit, yeah?

Pope Francis: Frank Talking

His Holiness The Pope has said something marginally less stupid and offensive about The Gays than popes usually do, Fagburn can exclusively reveal.
“If someone is gay and is looking for the Lord, who am I to judge him? You should not discriminate against or marginalise these people, and the Catechism says this as well," he said.
Bless.
But he's a religious nutter who believes in the resurrection, exorcism, talking to his invisible friend and miracles and all kinds of bat crazy shit like that.
So who cares what he says about anything, really?
Think we're still all going to burn in hell's eternal fire, though - while his paedo priests go straight to heaven.
That's showbiz!

PS Apparently today is the Catholic church's World Youth Day. Bit awkward...

Update: My wonderful atheist mum has just made me aware of this - how can you live without one?

 

For more LOLZ see The Onion's take on this.

Co-op: Modesty Blaze

The Co-operative has given so-called lads' mags six weeks to cover up their front pages with sealed "modesty bags" or be taken off sale in its stores.

The 4,000-outlet retailer said it was responding to concerns by its members, customers and colleagues about images of scantily-clad women on covers.

Titles such as Front, Loaded, Nuts and Zoo have been given a deadline of 9 September to act by the Co-op.

One campaign group called for Co-op to stop selling such titles altogether...

But campaign group Lose the Lads' Mags said the Co-op was not going far enough.

Spokeswoman Sophie Bennett said: "The so-called 'modesty bags' they are demanding from publishers are designed to allow the Co-operative to continue profiting from sexist, harmful lads' mags - but just a bit more discreetly."

BBC News.

Sometimes you wake up and read the news and just despair and wonder if the world's gone fucking mental while you were sleeping.
Maybe the Co-op - our benighted overpriced moral overlords - should put bananas, courgettes and their good-looking staff in "modesty bags" - lest we become overcome with disgusting carnal thoughts while shopping for pasta sauce.
Perhaps all customers - male and female - should be made to wear burkas?
Not sure I'll post again today - think I'll just smash my head in with a frying pan.
Bye.

PS You could have guessed the "spokeswoman" would be called something like Sophie.
Why is it only women who sound like ex-Roedean schoolgirls think this is an issue?
Cause you were taught you have some God-given right to tell people what to do?
Oh matron! etc etc.
Time for a new class war.

Update: A quite sensible piece by Andrew Creagh, editor of DNA, about how this new puritanism threatens gay mags in Gay Star News. As far as I'm aware this is the first time the mainstream gay media has addressed an issue which threatens to bag and ban them out of business.

Update2: Tesco announce they will only allow lads' mags titles to be visible, and will now only sell them to over-18s. Another victory for the new puritans.

Tom Daley: The Ascent Of Man

Tom Daley came sixth in the Barcelona diving thing today.
But plucky Tom had torn a tricep (something in your arm, apparently), so well done for valiantly battling on.
This photo shows our Tom diving before that unfinished Gaudi cathedral in Barc.
Two of my favourite works of your actual art, and perhaps - it might be said - two of the pinnacles of mans' endless struggle to create beauty in an ugly world.

PS Apropos of nothing current top results if you search for images of Tom Daley on Bing: Tom Daley Naked, Tom Daley Gay, Tom Daley Nude, Tom Daley Penis, Tom Daley And Boyfriend...

Mick Farren: 1943-2013

Music writer, novelist, The Deviants, The Pink Fairies, White Panther, Elvis fan, anarchist...

• Funtopia.

Brighton Pride: Police Crackdown On Fun

“Pride is a fantastic community event and is great for the City, attracting around 160,000 people [sic] who come to enjoy a weekend of festivities.
“Sussex Police works closely with the Pride organisers in order to make sure the event remains as safe as possible for everyone.
“However, as with many large scale events, there is always a minority who will look to exploit the situation by making money dealing in illegal substances. In order to tackle this we will always increase drug enforcement activity leading up to an event like Pride.
“Drug warrants are intelligence led and I would encourage anyone who suspects there may be drug activity going on in their area to please get in touch. You can call 101 or do it anonymously via the independent charity Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.
“Both plain clothed and uniform officers will be working on the day of Pride alongside pride event security.”

Detective Chief Inspector Paul Betts, quoted in GScene.

GScene reports that three men have been arrested on suspicion of possession with intent to supply, and have been bailed until August 15th.
They also quote a spokesbot for Brighton Pride who calls drug taking "substance abuse".
Astounding.
This Pride prize idiot also says; "This year should be a huge celebration of the fact that, in law we are now equal. A true diverse community!”
Unless you like taking naughty drugs, of course.
Homosexuality was once illegal - would this servant of power have told anyone who'd heard someone had gay sex to grass them up to the police too?

PS Last year Sussex Police and Pride stewards colluded to harass a group of people who dared to walk with a banner about squatting and queer homelessness.
Well done all!
Happy Pride!

Update: Almost unbelieveable piece of Sussex Police PR masquerading as journalism in the Argus about how the Robocop Fun Police want to stamp out fun. Do you want a list of Brighton police officers and Pride organisers who take drugs? Oh, the hypocrisy.

Obviously, if the police in Brighton want to find gay men selling drugs maybe it's best to start looking closer to home - like in your police station.

Porn Wars: On Stupid Gestures

Microsoft's Bing search engine has become the first to introduce pop-up warnings for people in the UK who seek out online images of child abuse.

The notification will tell them the content is illegal and provide details of a counselling service.
It comes after the prime minister said internet companies needed to do more to block access to such images.

BBC News.

Well that's sexual abuse of children sorted out once and for all then.
This silly season has got so stupid - tis the age of the pointless apolitical gesture.
A bit cross about Russian homophobia?
Don't drink some (Latvian) vodka you weren't drinking anyway!
Angry about sexism on Twitter?
Don't go on Twitter for a whole day!*
That'll learn 'em.
It's a sign of how depoliticised our culture has become that NOT doing something can be seen as "campaigning".
Anyway I've started an online petition about this and hope you'll take two seconds to click on it.

PS Tomorrow I will be showing how I don't like stuff I don't like by not extracting sunbeams from cucumbers. Please join me - OR DON'T YOU CARE!!?

Update: Dana Garavelli on the flaws and fuck-ups in Cameron's anti-porn "crusade".

* A report button will not solve Twitter's misogyny problem - Jennie Rigg.

Thought For The Day: Archbishop Desmond Tutu

I would refuse to go to a homophobic heaven.
No, I would say sorry, I mean I would much rather go to the other place.
I would not worship a God who is homophobic and that is how deeply I feel about this.

Archbishop Desmond Tutu.

Hi Des,

Have you heard the good news?
God and heaven and hell do not exist.
So don't worry.

cheers

Fagburn
x

Guardian: A Letter To My Great-Uncle Richard

I never met you, and no one ever talked about you, except Mum from time to time, late at night, when we were alone together, and we had drunk a few glasses too many. She never talked about you with Dad or my sisters. Yet I have always been aware of you, and this weekend I will think of you again.

You lived in the wrong place, Berlin, at the wrong time – the 1930s – with the wrong sexual orientation, although they didn't call it "gay" in those days. You were way ahead of your time in believing that this shouldn't be a barrier to enjoying a full and happy life.

Like me, you became a lawyer and used your skills to work for gay equality. You were remarkably brave to get involved with Magnus Hirschfeld's Institute for Sexual Research and to campaign for the decriminalisation of gay sex in Germany, although you didn't see it that way at the time.

But it meant that the Nazis could find out about you when they shut the institute in May 1933 and seized the names and addresses of supporters. You were unlucky to have a brother-in-law – Mum's adored father – who was a loyal Nazi party member, and who had become rich by means no one talked about either. He was involved with supplying the Wehrmacht and had to be above suspicion. You had become an embarrassment, maybe even a liability, to the family.

Mum heard that you "disappeared" at some stage in 1934 or 35. You were arrested, but she was only a girl at the time and nobody told her why...

From The Guardian series, The Letter You Always Wanted To Write.

Blimey.

PS Photo Magnus Hirschfeld and friends.

Breaking: World To End Friday!

As you can see the big news story today is that a young man has been photographed spitting.
Whatever next - a lady has a baby?

PS Top non-story in today's Sun; Gay kingdom has I Am What I Am as its national anthem. About The Gay and Lesbian Kingdom of the Coral Sea Islands - which was a joke made ten years ago by some Australian gay activists.

Peter Tatchell: Towards Beatification

When Downing Street hosted its annual reception for gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender luminaries this week, the only real surprise of the night was one conspicuous absence. In a congratulatory speech to more than 150 activists, campaigners and celebrities, the prime minister paid tribute to many of the guests, and in particular thanked Peter Tatchell for his 21-year campaign for gay marriage. But Tatchell wasn't there to hear him, because he wasn't invited...

Yet another glowing, gushing tribute to the publicity-shy Peter Tatchell, this time in The Guardian.
He's a saint and a national treasure etc etc.
It's hard to think of any other political figure who gets such uncritical coverage - stranger still when we're always being told he's "controversial" and "radical".
I once asked Peter why he's adored by wet liberals and the likes of the Daily Mail, and yet gay men on the left tend to think he's a a bit of a joke.
His reply; "You're just jealous!"
Incredible.

Update: How I Became A National Treasure by Peter Tatchell. Thanks to Peter Tatchell Watch for spotting this.

Independent: Stop The Press!

Two gay men have got engaged!!!
And they know Nick Clegg!
OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Only The Independent could think this is newsworthy.

World: Activism As Imperialism

The Folly Of International Gay Activism

So why are Iraqis, Sub-Saharans and Russians so homophobic? If only it were that easy to demonize cultures that we don’t really understand. The second (and more important) common factor among these people is their desire to be free of us. Anti-LGBT violence in these countries is usually related to increasing religious conservatism among their leadership, which is itself a response to increased pressure by the United States for them to conform to our beliefs. A severe lack of respect by the U.S. government, combined with a cultural arrogance about our “superior” way of life, makes negotiations with these countries difficult because they view our presence as a threat to their cultural uniqueness...

Supporting the global fight for LGBT rights is neither simple nor short-term. When Western governments bring their self-aggrandizing views into the discussion, they alienate their allies and hurt those allies’ LGBT constituents. An effective strategy to protect sexual and gender minorities around the world is one written in terms that the locals can understand. It must reflect local values and respect local beliefs. Without such compassion, homophobia and Americaphobia will continue to grow.

Richard Furstein, The Triangle.

Update: Posh gayist Hugo Rifkind defends neo-colonial homophile attitudes in The Times. Apparently Section 28 could have been defeated if we had Twitter back then! A quite remarkably silly piece.

Hunx And His Punx: Street Punk

Fagburn finally has a copy of this.
HUZZAH!
Back in a bit, punx and hunx...
x

Russia: Putin! See Our Tacky Ad And Despair!!!

Ku Bar, a gay bar in Soho London, has joined the battle against the controversial anti-gay “propaganda” laws in Russia with an advertisement echoing Dan Savage’s message to “dump russian vodka”...

Pink News.

G-A-Y group has become the latest to vow to boycott Russian vodkas in solidarity with LGBT people living in Russia, where gay “propaganda”, and the adoption of children by foreign gay couples were recently made illegal.
G-A-Y which owns the brand, its bars, and Heaven nightclub, will not be serving Russian vodka from now on, confirmed its founder and owner.
Founder and owner of G-A-Y group Jeremy Joseph tweeted to say: “Just in the middle of discussing with our wholesalers, but G-A-Y will not be selling Russian Vodka”.

Pink News.

Wow! They must really care.
I bet Putin's quaking in his boots.
Because meaningless PR stunts make the world go round...

PS Fagburn would be fascinated to hear from any viewers who've actually been sold Russian vodka in these venues. If memory serves it was just some Smirnoff and whatever was on offer in the cash and carry...

Update: Russian gay activists: There is ‘no point’ boycotting vodka - Joe Morgan, Gay Star News.
Golly, someone's bothered to ask a gay campaigner in Russia what they think, unlike Dan Savage, Jeremy Joseph et al.
Could it be that GSN has a proper journalist at last?

Update2: For regular news on how this silly gesture politics has gone mental in the US, read blogger Joe My God - who's posting updates on the hysteria without a shred of irony.

Cock: In The Absence Of News

A giant cock has been spotted in Trafalgar Square, Fagburn can exclusively reveal.
Good to see most papers, like the Daily Mail, calling this giant cock - which is actually called Cock - a cockerel.
Keep it classy.
Here's some more cock-related news via The Sun.
And in other news Kylie Minogue has a bottom.
Exciting times!

Porn Wars: A Tidal Wave Of Filth

Hilariously hysterical article in the Daily Mail by Jan Moir.

Why DO the Left sneer at Cameron's bid to block porn?
Well, I am on Cameron's side. As he said himself, it is not going to be easy. Mistakes will be made, problems abound - but we have got to start somewhere.
How on earth did it happen that a river of pornography merrily flows into every house in the country via a laptop? When did hard core become so . . . normalised? I didn't sign up to a national porn programme. Did you? 
Yet porn seepage has crept up on all of us - a rising flood water of vile and violent imagery that seemed unstoppable, until now....

Sadly, I can't think of one commentator from the left who's spoken out about this nonsense.
The Guardian - the supposed voice of the liberal left - has printed endless boring joyless prudish articles against "pornification".
Including this classic where readers who were concerned about "sexualised images in the high street" were asked to take photos and send them in - so The Guardian could reprint them.
You really could not make it up.
Ban wanking!
BAN EVERYTHING!!!

Update: Adults shouldn't be lectured about private enjoyment of porn, says Tory minister, Nicholas Boles, Telegraph.

Richard Littlejohn: Gay Times

Nice ad for Gay Times here (even though it's not called that anymore).
Courtesy of Richard Littlejohn's column in the Daily Mail.

Call Me Dave has announced he's on a mission to export gay marriage around the world. Why? At a Downing Street reception to celebrate the passage of the Bill legalising same-sex weddings, he said Britain is 'the best place to be gay, lesbian or transgender anywhere in Europe'.
"Well, hooray for that. Now can we change the subject?"
Apparently not. Rather than dismantle the team that piloted the Bill through Parliament, the Prime Minister plans to send them on some kind of global outreach expedition to spread the word in less enlightened countries.
'There's still a lot more work to be done talking to our Commonwealth partners about decriminalising homosexuality.'
I have visions of civil servants in pink pith helmets combing remote regions of Africa in search of converts, rather like the missionaries who brought Christianity to the savages in the 19th century.
Smiling children flock round rainbow-painted Land Rovers while representatives of HMG distribute souvenir copies of Gay Times and autographed photos of Clare Balding...
etc etc.

Stunningly, the general gist of Littlejohn's argument about how this shows a patronising neo-colonialist Orientalist attitude to "unenlightened" countries is correct.
Obviously he doesn't use the phrase "neo-colonialist Orientalist attitude".
But then he goes and spoils it all by saying something stupid about cutting foreign aid.
An argument often advanced by neo-colonialist Orientalist gay campaigners and journalists, coincidentally.

John Barrowman: Put A Ring On It

John Barrowman - star of stage, screen and trampoline - gets gaymarried!
Full gushing story and pics in the Daily Mirror.
Exciting times, dudes, exciting times...

Bradley Manning: Stand!

Bradley Manning is a 'gleeful, grinning' traitor, says prosecutor

Bradley Manning, the intelligence analyst posted by the US Army to Baghdad in 2009, chose to transmit hundreds of thousands of classified military reports and diplomatic cables to WikiLeaks because he wanted attention and notoriety, the prosecution at his trial said in closing arguments today.
With the judge in the case, Colonel Denise Lind, due to issue verdicts within days, both sides used the closing arguments phase to present starkly different portraits of the defendant. For its part, the prosecution sought to bolt down a central charge of ‘aiding the enemy’ telling the court at Fort Meade, Maryland, that Manning knew full well that the materials he gave to WikiLeaks would be seen by al-Qa’ida.

“The only human Pfc Manning ever cared about was himself,” asserted Major Ashden Fein, the lead prosecuting attorney, before displaying a smiling photo of Manning taken in 2010. He said it showed a “gleeful, grinning Pfc Manning” who had sent materials to WikiLeaks with the greeting “Have a good day”. After saying Manning had broken his country’s trust, he added: “The flag meant nothing to him.”

Independent.

The kid doesn't stand a chance.
Fuck your stupid flag.
No, bring it over here - I'll piss on it.

Stand
In the end you'll still be you
One that's done all the things you set out to do
Stand
There's a cross for you to bear
Things to go through if you're going anywhere
Stand
For the things you know are right
It's the truth that the truth makes them so uptight
Stand
All the things you want are real
You have you to complete and there is no deal
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
You've been sitting much too long
There's a permanent crease in your right and wrong
Stand
There's a midget standing tall
And the giant beside him about to fall
Stand. stand, stand
Stand. stand, stand
Stand
They will try to make you crawl
And they know what you're saying makes sense and all
Stand
Don't you know that you are free
Well at least in your mind if you want to be

Everybody
Stand, stand, stand!

Sly & The Family Stone - Stand!

• The kangaroo court is expected to announce its guilty verdict early next week.

Vodka: Pointless Campaigns

“Do not drink Russian vodka. Do not buy Russian vodka. Ask your bartender at your favorite bar—gay or otherwise—to DUMP STOLI and DUMP RUSSIAN VODKA.”

Media slapper Dan Savage.

Stolichnaya is made in Latvia, not Russia, and owned by a company based in Cyprus. [Edit Luxembourg now, apparently]
Still, I doubt President Putin gives a flying fuck either way what vodka you drink.

PS Queerty are having fun covering this - they've published an open letter from the CEO of Stoli Premium - their current media partners. Oops!

Lord Browne: Your Oil Blood Money Not At Work

The Daily Telegraph does it best to bring about a new class war with a Hello!-style guided tour of Lord Browne's palatial riverside Chelsea home - one of many, we learn.
You earned it, dude!

Marriage: Call Me Old-Fashioned

Of course there is still work to be done. I am a firm believer that attitudes change laws and laws change attitudes. There is no doubt that as the debates raged in the Commons and the Lords those who were against Equal Marriage were slowly and painfully drowning. They could appear as nothing less than mean spirited and old- fashioned.

Alice Arnold writing in... The Daily Telegraph!
Whose coverage of the equal marriage debate has been relentlessly mean spirited and old-fashioned.
Much of the rest of it reads like a love letter to President Kim Jong-un David Cameron.
Illustrated, but of, course with the cake toppers above - gee, I'm gonna miss you guys...

PS A heck of a lot of readers' comments have been removed, the mind boggles at what they might have said that even a Telegraph moderator would deem offensive.

News: Some Exclusive Bollocks

Did Carlos The Jackal gaymarry Freddie Mercury and Princess Diana during a drug-crazed bug-chasing sex binge? Penelope Gymkhana-Intern reports.

Shocking article this, about the disgusting gays and their sordid lifestyles - it's in a newspaper so it must be true.
Please READ - and always believe everything you read.
If you start questioning things there'll be anarchy - and then where would we be?!!

• This is part of a regular series on Fagburn, I Tell Lies For A Living.

Drugs: Boo!

Party drugs linked to alarming rise in HIV amongst gay men

London sees 20 per cent rise in infections as charities call for better sexual health services...

 

The Independent continues its woeful coverage of gay issues.

 

Key sentence; "Although some of this year’s increase was attributed to more widespread HIV testing, with the number of tests in London up 17 per cent since 2011, Public Health England said there was “anecdotal evidence from drug and alcohol clinics in London that recreational drug use amongst gay men is a growing issue.”

There's no such thing as "anecdotal evidence" - that's why it's anecdotal, not evidence.
Recently, reportage of gay issues in the media has become more responsible - but clearly you can still get away with writing any old hysterical crap about drugs - like the newspapers' elderly editors actually know what's going on and won't say this is a load of bullshit.

Anyway, we're all going to die if these gravy train HIV charities don't get even more money.

PS Thankfully the pope has also just spoken out about the evil drugs menace. He also thinks people take them cause they're miserable, and not cause they're fun.
Just say no, kids!

Update: The Guardian covers this - again an article with absolutely no evidence, presumably written by another silly posh intern who knows as much about gay culture as Fagburn knows about Chinese opera. Unbelievable.

Fire Island Modernist: Architecture & Morality

Lovely short BBC fillum about Horace Gifford - the architect of Fire Island's most beautiful beach houses.
There is also a lavishly-tooled coffee table book, Fire Island Modernist: Horace Gifford and the Architecture of Seduction.
And while we're on the subject, here's Village People's great paean to the isle of 70s gayness, Fire Island.
Enjoy!

David Cameron: Isn't It Lovely?

“Well, isn’t it lovely to be back here in this sunny garden, a year on from the last time we had this party? Now, some things haven’t changed over that year. Last year, we were looking forward to an amazing summer of sport at the Olympics, where we won all those gold medals and cast the world before us. And this year: Andy Murray, the Ashes, Justin Rose. There have been some amazing sporting successes.
“But something really important has changed in our country, and that is at the end of a long, tortuous parliamentary process, the Queen has signed the equal marriage bill, and that is something we can all be very proud of..."

Our great leader and eternal president David Cameron.
Via Pink News.
Thanks for everything Dave!
Meanwhile the new class war against the poor continues apace.
I'm so happy to live in a country where I can get gaymarried while I starve.

Update: The Daily Telegraph reports; "In his speech he told guests four times how proud he was to have been Prime Minister when same sex marriage was legalised in Britain, describing the process of legalising gay marriage as "a long, tortuous parliamentary process.
“I’m personally proud of this. I think I’m probably the only Conservative Prime Minister who’s taken this step..."
Eh?

Update2: Comment: David Cameron’s principled and courageous support for equal marriage made me become a Tory. Pink News. I GIVE FUCKING UP!

Peter Tatchell: Ah-Ha!

Peter Tatchell has sent out another press release about himself, Fagburn can exclusively reveal.
"I am not monumentally vain and boring," he said.
"Rumours of me killing OutRage! by turning it into my personal fiefdom are unfounded."
More when we hear it...

Tom Daley: Barcelona 2013

Our Tom's doing some important diving thing today.
Godspeed you our mighty gay diving emperor!

Ireland: Terrible Gayness

ONE of the foremost financial magazines in the US has been forced to withdraw a claim our President is gay – with the author making an abject apology.
The happily married President Michael D Higgins was described as an "acknowledged homosexual" in an article in 'Forbes' magazine, the influential US business bible.
'Forbes' prides itself on providing information for the world's business leaders and is internationally famous for its rich lists of the wealthy.
However, within hours of the publication, the author of the piece acknowledged his "terrible" error and apologised to President Higgins.
The writer said it was the worst mistake of his career and apologised to the Higgins family.
The apology came after the article was published on the prestigious magazine's widely read website.
It took a number of hours for the internationally acclaimed magazine 'Forbes' to realise the mistake and it was subsequently taken down from its online edition. The Irish-based American author of the article has said his claim about President Higgins was "the worst mistake I have ever made"...

Irish Independent.

Because saying someone is gay is "terrible", apparently.
Maybe he meant the president of Iceland.
Anyway, he looks pretty gay to me.
Just sayin'!

Emile Griffith: 1938-2013

Part of a proud tradition of gay boxers.

Wittgenstein: Philosophy Explained

Duck
Rabbit
Duck duck duck rabbit.

Duck
Rabbit!
Duck
Rabbit.
Rabbit rabbit
Duck.

Marriage: Europe Endless...

Less than 25 years ago, the Conservative MP Sir Nicholas Winterton insisted that he didn't need to worry about the damage done to his party by the notorious section 28 – because he'd "never met a homosexual in Macclesfield". Just 15 years ago, the late Baroness Blatch sniffed to a pal at the arrival of the openly gay peer Waheed Alli in the House of Lords: "He's as queer as the ace of spades, you know."
Six days have now passed since Britain's new marriage bill received royal assent – a "tricky subject", as the Queen admitted in conversation on Friday. Curiously, however, no one has yet fulfilled Lord Tebbit's recent prediction that, within days of the bill's passage, people might be demanding to marry their pets.
Not a single lollipop lady has turned up at a registry office in the company of a llama. Not one regimental sergeant major has popped into a town hall to plan his nuptials with a guinea pig. Not a single architect is reported to have proposed – yet – to an anaconda.
But something has happened in the last decade which has helped accelerate positive public attitudes towards gay people in Britain, one of the biggest swings in Europe according to the new European Social Survey, based at City University London. In 2005, we saw the introduction in this country of civil partnership. Bemoaned by some as "equality lite", it turned out to be a critical stepping stone towards equal marriage...

Ben Summerskill in The Guardian.

All sounds a bit chicken and egg to me, Bendybum.
And what does asking people something as inane as whether they agree with the statement: "Gay men and lesbians should be free to live their own lives as they wish" tell us about anything?
Basically.
Anyway here's the meaningless interactive map.
Almost as silly as this balls from Stonewall about... the royal baby!
Yeah!

Royal Baby: Condolences

Thanks to HeadGardener. x

Porn Wars: Ban Stuff!

Because the world isn't boring enough already...

Paul Gambaccini: Gaywatch

Veteran broadcaster Paul Gambaccini has shed light on a sinister practice early in in his career at the BBC in which he was marked out in the Corporation's personnel files because he was gay.

Speaking exclusively to the Telegraph, 64-year-old Gambaccini declared himself to be "one of the last of the Christmas trees".

He explained: "I am of the generation whose BBC personnel files had Christmas trees on them. It meant you were 'as camp as Christmas' and thus a potential security risk.

"The country was still obsessed with the Cambridge spies. To some people, a gay man was a potential security threat and might betray his country to the Soviet Union. Utter balderdash!"

Gambaccini who is about to celebrate 40 years at the BBC is openly gay and, last year, married his partner Christopher Sherwood. He has never denied his sexuality. "I was never 'in'," he said.

Daily Telegraph.

The Cambridge Spies was 1951, Gambaccini joined the BBC in 1973, but whatever you say Gambo...
Here's the full interview - he's always struck Fagburn as quite a decent chap.
The Gambaccini Years starts on BBC Radio 4 on Thursday August 8th.

Royal Baby: The Excitement Mounts...

As Gay Star News - the right-wing gay moron's friend gets ever worse.

One Direction: Best Song Ever

Awesomeness!
This was secretly written by Lawrence from Felt, you know...

PS How old is this non-story about 1D gay fan fiction in The Sun? I know you've got to give the interns something to do, but please...

Update: Harry Styles takes on the Westboro Baptish Church. Top lad. Well done. x