Neil Young: Harvest Moon

So beautiful...
Love listening to songs about going out when I'm staying in.

Nikolai Alexeyev: Oh Those Russians (Cont.)

Is Nikolai Alexeyev The Russian LGBT Community’s Greatest Asset, Biggest Liability — Or Both? Max Seddon on BuzzFeed on NA's rather odd recent Twitter outbursts.
The URL reads "Is-Nikolai-Alexeyev-the-Russian-LGBT-comunitys-greatest-ass".
It's certainly something to think about.
Niko speaks such sense about Western hypocrisy, hysteria and hegemony, but then he goes and spoils it all by saying something nutski!
But then his own Twitter handle describes him as; "unstable crazy mad controversial rich hard"
Uh-huh.
Though I can well understand if this sorry episode has made him crack up.
Don't follow leaders, watch the parking meters etc etc...
Update: Nikolai says he'll be making a big announcement about the propaganda law on his Facebook page on Monday.
I presume he'll be confirming he's organising a Sochi Pride, and has evidence that the new law will not be enforced.

Update2: NA appears to have gone into a full-blown Bobby Fischer anti-semitic meltdown on Twitter.
Awful, disgusting, sad.
(Though Zionist twat Michael Lucas's latest racist outbursts get printed in your leading US gay magazines with nary a word, of course!)
Maybe this is what happens when one man starts to believe that one country's gay movement is himself?
See also...

And finally... Post-latest crack-up interview with Niko here.

The Twilight World Of The Heterosexual: Shoes, Cufflinks, Ties

What's even more interesting, too, is that I know many straight men who readily admit eyeing up another man. Not because they fancy them (again, grow up), but because they admire them. A straw poll of men in the office and, after some pushing, they admit they do this. "Yeah, alright," one said, "I might check out what he's wearing to see if it's the sort of thing I'd like to buy." Another, more upfront colleague, said: "Hadn't really thought about it before, but yes, I suppose I do look at other men's shoes, cufflinks and ties on the Tube." 

Louisa Peacock in The Telegraph.

Sounds like there's some wild and crazy guys working for the Telegraph.

Russia: Today's Balls

Cause big businesses are moral agents and they're the only people who can save us, yes?
Do you seriously think there's any point in asking the bastards behind McDonald's and the corporate killers at ATOS to play nice?
What causes more misery in the world - McDonald's and ATOS or some silly law that threatens to fine people £100 (5,000 roubles) for "distributing information among minors... promoting non-traditional lifestyles"?
What's pouring Coca-Cola down the drain going to change, and why is this pointless gesture getting so much coverage?
While your own country gets ready to bomb the fuck out of Syria - how's that for a human rights violation?
And this is all you will protest about during a summit of the G20 world's richest countries?
My friends, the "gay movement" is now officially fucked to buggery by this apolitical delusional crap.
This outbreak of mass hysteria - surely the most embarrassing since Princess Diana died - just makes me despair for our future.

The Times: Letter Of The Week

Sir, I was present at the opening of the new headquarters of the Evangelical Alliance, at which Archbishop Welby spoke. He spoke about the ability of the Christian message to change lives and communities for the better and the power of prayer. Several great stories concerning fostering, overcoming racism and a long-term ex-prisoner becoming a new person through reading the Bible were told.
He only mentioned the gay issue when during a Q&A session a journalist from The Guardian immediately raised the question. The Archbishop sighed and replied, “I had hoped not to mention that issue today.” This, and your report (Aug 29) of the event, is further evidence to me that it is not the Church which is obsessed with sex, but the press.

Dr Derek Tidball
Leicester 

The Times.

Louis Walsh: Happy As Larry

I wonder about his sexuality. I ask him to tell me if he’s straight or gay. “I can’t,” he says. “Don’t go there. I can’t. I think your private life is your private life.”
It emerges that I am straight. “Really? Are you really straight? I thought you might be gay! I thought you might be.”
Of himself: “Don’t go there! I’m happy. Happy as Larry!”
I mention Kevin Spacey, who said he didn’t want to tell me if he is gay or straight, because to be mysterious, as an actor, is to have an advantage. Louis loves this: “Walking his dog at four in the morning!”
And: “I watched House of Cards. He’s great. Love him, love him, love him.” 

Profile In The Times.

Louis also talks about the toilet incident (“It’s the worst thing ever in my life. My greatest nightmare. I thought my life was over”), Jan Moir on Stephen Gateley (“I think that was her opinion and, you know, in a way, she’s entitled to her opinion. I think she’s a good journalist. I’ve met her since, and I like her"), and is Simon Cowell a gayer ("Not at all... he's theatrical... it's an English thing").
So now you know...

David Hockney: A Bigger Splash

 

AN aide to David Hockney was killed in a drugs and booze bender at the world-famous artist’s home — when he guzzled TOILET CLEANER.

Dominic Elliott, 23, downed Knock Out fluid as the painter, 76 — recovering from a mini-stroke — slept upstairs, a coroner heard yesterday. The studio assistant had spent 24 hours getting high with Hockney’s gay former partner on temazepam, pot, cocaine and ecstasy — washed down with whisky and lager...

The Sun.

The papers are loving this tale of gay sex and drugs and death and modern painting, natch.
Oh, the wages of sin etc etc.
The Sun have captioned their photo; "Bender - Dead aide Dominic Elliott".
(Edit see also the Mirror heading a story about Graham Norton's wine with the words "Cheeky little number with rampant fruit").
Stay classy!

Update: The Sunday Telegraph interview the dealer who "discovered" David Hockney. 
I think they may have fallen out...

Queer Nation: Another Country

Interesting to see the resurrection of Queer Nation New York after some 20 years away.
Though the new "Queer Nation" appears to be just one person.
So what is he protesting about?
Queerbashing in NYC?
Teen suicides?
American fundamentalists?
No.
All they want is for you to boycott (Latvian) vodka, and Coca-Cola - cause they're a sponsor of the Sochi Olympics.
Maybe he should rename it Queer Other Nation?
A once radical political legacy now proudly pissed on.

PS And let's not forget Britain's own one-man band and vanity project masquerading as a group - the Peter Tatchell Foundation!

Noam Chomsky: The X Factor

Professor of linguistics and political campaigner Noam Chomsky has been confirmed as the new judge on TV talent show The X Factor. ‘Cheryl Cole was still recovering from malaria and we needed someone who could fill the intellectual void,’ said programme creator Simon Cowell, ‘Professor Chomsky is perfect and the audience just loves him.’
In his first outing as judge, Chomsky quickly made his mark. ‘Your act is part of a propaganda state promoting a culture-ideology of comforting illusion’, he told one hopeful young girl, before adding, ‘I’m saying yes.’
Chomsky then set about a teenage boy-band, describing them as ‘yet another example of pre-packaged ideological oppression whose lyrics systematically fail to demonstrate even a basic understanding of what happened to East Timor in 1975,’ he paused for effect, ‘But, I’m giving you a second chance…You’re through to the next round.’
Not satisfied with attacking the acts, Professor Chomsky then turned his critique on The X Factor audience. ‘You are all complicit in a hegemonic construct designed primarily to keep you from questioning what is really going on in the world,’ he told them, ‘You must learn to think critically and reject the pernicious cult of celebrity.’ It was at this point that the audience went wild, whooping, cheering and chanting his name. ‘We love you Chomsky!’ they screamed as the 81 year-old professor sat at the table with his head in his hands...

NewsBiscuit.

Hohoho!

PS Uncle Noam's 84, actually.

Here Noam explains why the chicken crossed the road and answers other pressing questions of the day.
And on a lighter note, here's a recent speech by Chomsky; The U.S. Behaves Nothing Like a Democracy, But You'll Never Hear About It in Our 'Free Press'.
Here's a video interview from last month about Syria.
A new (short) book of interviews, Nuclear War And Environmental Catastrophe, has finally appeard in British bookshops.
Keep on rocking in the free world etc etc.

Evan Davis: Offers Young Latvian A Helping Hand

Can anyone give this lovely guy I met at a bbq yesterday a job? Hospitality perhaps? Or he has to return to Latvia pic.twitter.com/MJhBRfmUu9
— Evan Davis (@EvanHD) August 25, 2013

Lovely.
Apparently, Latvia is unhappy at being besmirched by Tinsel Tits.

Update: I have been informed Constantin goes back to Latvia today - I also know whose house the "BBQ" was at, but can not divulge.

Boy George: Where Did It All Go Right?

The Daily Star has a positively gripping interview with Boy George today.
He talks about drugs, Rihanna, drugs, Justin Bieber, drugs, One Direction, drugs, Twitter, and... drugs.
Apparently George doesn't do drugs anymore.
The journalist deserves an award for interviewing this "stroppy queen, with a volatile tongue" and filing copy that's not very interesting.
I can't find one quote from the boy wonder to quote here.
(Edit: Though some gay media got predictably overexcited about George speculating over One Direction's sexualities).
Still at least the Star ran a photo of the hack with him - readers just love seeing photos of journalists, don't they?

Russell Tovey: Goes Gay!

Russell Tovey is joining the cast of Looking, HBO's upcoming half-hour dramedy about the lives of a group of gay men living in San Francisco, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.
Tovey, best known as werewolf George Sands on the hit BBC supernatural drama Being Human -- which later inspired a U.S. version on Syfy -- has been booked to play the recurring role of Kevin, an accomplished video game wunderkind who has achieved financial and critical success at a young age. Kevin, who is gay, works closely with Patrick, the show's lead, played by Jonathan Groff. 

The deal marks the first major U.S. role for 31-year-old Tovey, who is openly gay. The British actor has previously said that he veers away from playing gay roles, telling the Independent, "Every character I play is straight, which is unique, my agent says, because it’s not really been done before that someone who is completely out is able to play straight roles. So for me to play gay it has to be something special, because it might actually be more of a risk. So I’m waiting for that role -- I want it to be something that moves things forward."

Hollywood Reporter.

At last!
Can't wait.
Lovely Russell,
my lovely, lovely Russell.
Hope you flash your lovely bumbum
Again.

PS The pilot will be directed by Andrew Haigh, the dude who did Weekend. Jonathan Groff is some dude who does musicals, and used to do Zachary Quinto.

Paradise Factory: Paradise Lost

I tend to think of my youth as being of the misspent variety, having danced most of it awayin the nightclubs of Manchester's gay village. But looking back through a box of old photographs last week, I came across a folder of my very first newspaper cuttings and was reminded that I owe my career to the city's gay club scene...

By the mid-90s Manchester had gone from being Gunchester or Madchester to Gaychester, and so many straights were trying to get into Paradise that door staff would quiz unfamiliar faces claiming to be gay about the magazines they read. If they couldn't name a gay or lesbian title, they didn't get in...

Nice but rather gushing retro "I love the gays, me" piece on Manchester's Paradise Factory by Decca Aitkenhead in The Guardian.
Though she launches a bourgeois defence of it; "But in Paradise on Saturday night there were barristers, millionaire businessmen, TV executives, teachers and doctors."
So?
Oh, and Paradise wasn't that good, by the way.
Spent most of my time.there waiting on the stairs trying to buy drugs to stave off the boredom.

Stephen Fry: Some More Of Me Poetry

There was a young chaplain from King's, 
Who talked about God and such things, 
But his real desire, 
Was a boy in the choir, 
With a bottom like jelly on springs.

A limerick [Edit: recited] by "national treasure" Dame Stephen Fry on QI - the BBC's standards committee has decided that it did not breach their guidelines.
“The object of the humour was the hypocrisy of a chaplain, and not the act of paedophilia."
The BBC is thought to have received one (1) complaint.

PS Interesting to note Stephen "Let's boycott Sochi!" Fry's books are still available in Russia.

Syria: My Two Cents

America - the moral high ground taken by the people who brought you agent orange, carpet bombing, depleted uranium, drones, white phosphorous, and, not forgetting its greatest hits, the atom bomb.

"I am strongly in favour of using poisoned gas against uncivilised tribes" - Winston Churchill, 1919.

Let's bomb Wiltshire?

Gays In The News: Cigarettes & Alcohol

Objectives Information about the health behaviours of minority groups is essential for addressing health inequalities. We evaluated the association among lesbian, gay or bisexual (LGB) sexual orientation identity and smoking and alcohol use in young people in England...

Results LGB identity was reported by 3.1% of participants (55 gay, 33 lesbian, 35 bisexual male, 111 bisexual female), 3.5% when adjusting for the survey design. Adjusting for a range of covariates, identification as lesbian/gay was found to be associated with smoking (OR=2.23, 95% CI 1.42 to 3.51), alcohol drinking >2 days/week (OR=1.99, 95% CI 1.25 to 3.17) and RSOD (OR=1.80, 95% CI 1.13 to 2.86) more than weekly. Bisexual identity was associated with smoking history (OR=1.84, 95% CI 1.30 to 2.61) but not alcohol drinking >2 days/week (OR=1.20, 95% CI 0.79 to 1.81) or RSOD (OR=1.04, 95% CI 0.71 to 2.86).

Conclusions In a sample of more than 7600 young people aged 18/19 years in England, lesbian/gay identity is associated with cigarette smoking, drinking alcohol frequency and RSOD [binge drinking]. Bisexual identity is associated with smoking but not RSOD or frequent alcohol drinking. 

British Medical Journal.

Some young gay men like to smoke.
Some young gay men like to drink.
Thanks for that!

Gay Marriage: The First Time

There is much to be said for a gay wedding. Watching two people have their love endorsed by a State that until quite recently would have locked them away still feels like witnessing history.
I attended my first in Brighton last weekend and I have no right to draw sweeping conclusions. But compared to countless straight weddings there was an extra emotional dimension. A heady delight filled grooms, mothers-of and guests alike and seemed to say: “We never thought we’d see this day.”
Also what fun, what freedom, to take the rites of marriage and pillage whatever conventions you fancy and abandon the rest. Gays have broken the love mould, so who cares if someone is “given away” or you have a best man. I eloped to New York to escape such palaver.
So my friends gave speeches in tandem, like an adorable double act. Then anyone with a story or blessing was welcome, Quaker-style, to pitch in.
A new rite of passage is a blank page upon which to write new traditions. So my friend D — his nose so sensitive it recoils if someone eats KFC three train carriages away — tasked a friend to rush into the register office and spritz it with lavender and rose essential oils. Every wedding needs a “chief ambiencer”. 

Times' columnist Janice Turner.

Err, the first gay marriages in England and Wales are expected to take place next summer.
Also, why can't you even say "your friend's" name?
For shame?

And in other news, American gay married couples can now file joint tax returns. Oh, sweet freedom!

Bill Murray: Mr Lee!

Apropos of nothing but it amused me greatly.
The place where Bill Murray meets Liberace is the place where Fagburn wants to be.

Christianity: Wicked

The Church of England’s stance on homosexuality is regarded by most people aged under 35 as “wicked” and equivalent to racism and other prejudices, the Archbishop of Canterbury said yesterday. 

Even young evangelical Christians, a group that would be the most likely to adopt a conservative, biblical line against active gay relationships, are now pro-gay, the Archbishop added.
The Most Rev Justin Welby, speaking at the opening near Kings Cross in London of the new headquarters of the Evangelical Alliance, said: “We have to face the fact that the vast majority of people under 35 not only think that what we’re saying is incomprehensible but also think that we’re plain wrong and wicked and equate it to racism and other forms of gross and atrocious injustice.” 

Although he tempered his words by standing by his decision to vote against same-sex marriage in the House of Lords, his criticism of the Church he leads is a clear indication that change is possible....

The Times.

Thanks for that - nice hat!

Fox News: For Fox Sake!

FFS!

Newsflash: Obama Mentions Gays!

An actual headline from Gay Star News.

Easily pleased, toi?

"I have a dream that one day America should bomb another third world country while getting drunk on my soaring rhetoric etc etc." 

Cartoon by Martin Rowson.

PS And in other news, a fatal blow was struck against homophobia in Russia after someone poured some Coca-Cola down a drain. Wow!

Update: Mark Steel on the political neutering of Martin Luther King.

Bayard Rustin: Dream

Like so many gay New Yorkers of his era, a 27-year-old Walter Naegle went to Times Square one afternoon in 1977 and met a man. The tall man with the shock of white in his Afro introduced himself as Bayard Rustin. Black and 37 years Naegle’s senior, Rustin was — to a well-informed circle of activists, historians, and politicos — one of the giants of the 20th-century political organizing. The chance encounter was the beginning of a revolutionary love story, a decade-long relationship that, in many ways, epitomizes our country’s journey from Selma to Stonewall.

Rustin, who died in 1987, is best known as the chief organizer of the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom. His legacy has had a renaissance in the past few weeks, as the White House announced he will posthumously receive the Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in November, just two months after the march celebrates its 50th anniversary. Walter Naegle will accept the honor on behalf of the love of his life.

“We were very much an ordinary couple. He was an extraordinary person, but our everyday lives were quite ordinary,” Naegle maintains. 

In the 2003 documentary about Rustin, Brother Outsider, Naegle jokes that he had to come out to his mother by saying, “I’m gay, he’s black, and he’s older than you.” 

Steven Thrasher, Buzzfeed.

Bayard Rustin was a communist.

Interesting to note how often the words "for jobs and freedom" have been airbrushed out of the historical record.
Dream on?

PS Baynard reads "the ten demands of this revolution" - with thanks to Paul Canning who's written a new essay about Rustin here.

Religious News: Special Rings

'They want to get people': Pat Robertson says gay men viciously spreading HIV while wearing special rings.

Daily Mail.

I usually ignore anti-gay Christian loons, cause they love the oxygen of publicity - and I don't think it's newsworthy if a professional homophobe says something homophobic - but put this in cause it reminded me of Gemma Aldridge - the lousiest journalist in the world - and her lies about bug-chasing.
Yes, she's even worse than Patrick Smugtwit.

Fagburn: First They Came For...

First they came for the bobsleighers, 
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a bobsleigher
Then they came for the men's and women's ice dancers
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a men's or women's ice dancer.
Then they came for the ski jumpers, 
and I did not speak out
Because I was not a ski jumper.
Then they came for the sentimental cliches 
-  and there was no one left to speak for me.

 Squish squish boo-hoo etc...

Russia: Hardly Art

A picture of Vladimir Putin and Dmitry Medvedev in women's underwear has been confiscated from an art gallery in St Petersburg ahead of the G20 summit.

Russian officials seized the satirical painting, which shows the Russian President lovingly combing the Prime Minister's hair, on Tuesday, ahead of a meeting of world leaders in the city next week.
They also confiscated paintings poking fun at politicians Vitaly Milonov and Yelena Mizulina, who pioneered Russia’s anti-gay laws, as well as one of Russian Orthodox Patriarch Kirill showing him with prison skull tattoos. The church leader recently declared that equal marriage was a symptom of the apocalypse.

Officials said the pictures “violated existing legislation,” but no more specifics were given and according to reports the gallery's owner, Alexander Donskoy, said he had seen no formal warrant for the removal of the paintings....

The Independent.

Fagburn can not verify this story, but it's about Russia, so meh!

History Lesson 3: Ban this Gay Filth!!

Adam: Another Gay History Lesson

GT: Wrong On So Many Levels...

China: Show Trials - Theirs And Ours

Photographs released by the courthouse also seemed meticulously crafted to convey the message that while Bo has been has been stripped of his political agency, he has also been treated with respect.
In the first public images of Bo since his detention a year-and-a-half ago, he appeared in a white dress shirt and black trousers, a stark contrast to the orange jumpsuit that many political prisoners are forced to don in public hearings.
But although Bo stands at 1.86 metres , the images show him flanked by two police officers whose size dwarfs his own. "That was clearly staged to make him look small," said Steve Tsang, an expert on Chinese politics at the University of Nottingham.

The Guardian. 

Like anyone would fall for that.
Wow, those Chinese people must be stupid.
Can't happen here etc etc...

Russia: Can't Happen Here (Cont.)

Russia's legislation banning "gay propaganda", which has already cast a cloud over the 2014 Sochi Olympics, has now reportedly prompted local filmmakers to self-censor their portrayal of the composer, Pyotr Tchaikovsky, who is widely believed to have been gay... 

The Guardian, August 25th 2013.

A film about homosexual wartime codebreaker and father of modern computing Alan Turing has been attacked by his biographer.
Enigma hero Turing played a key role in breaking the German Enigma code during the Second World War while working at Bletchley Park. He is credited with saving thousands of lives during the conflict.
But a new American funded film about his life has been lambasted for exaggerating a love affair with a woman, played by Keira Knightley, and making a fictional connection to a notorious spy. Turing was a well known homosexual...

Daily Mail, June 2013.

Do you seriously want a list of all the gay men that Hollywood said were straight?
Only thing is, I'm not sure I have enough time to list them all.

Good day.

Oh, those Russians...

Record-breakingly piss-poor journalism from The Guardian.
Hardly a word of it is allegedly, reportedly, Geoff said to my mate Dave, etc etc true.

Still it's a good job we haven't reached that stage where you can say any old bollocks about Russia and get away with it...

Let's Bomb Syria!: From The People Who Brought You 'Let's Boycott Russia!'

“There has never been a just war, never an honorable one - on the part of the instigator of the war. I can see a million years ahead, and this rule will never change in so many as half a dozen instances. The loud little handful - as usual - will shout for the war. The pulpit will - warily and cautiously - object - at first; the great, big, dull bulk of the nation will rub its sleepy eyes and try to make out why there should be a war, and will say, earnestly and indignantly, 'It is unjust and dishonorable, and there is no necessity for it.' Then the handful will shout louder. 

"A few fair men on the other side will argue and reason against the war with speech and pen, and at first will have a hearing and be applauded; but it will not last long; those others will outshout them, and presently the anti-war audiences will thin out and lose popularity. Before long you will see this curious thing: the speakers stoned from the platform, and free speech strangled by hordes of furious men who in their secret hearts are still at one with those stoned speakers - as earlier - but do not dare say so.

"And now the whole nation - pulpit and all - will take up the war-cry, and shout itself hoarse, and mob any honest man who ventures to open his mouth; and presently such mouths will cease to open. Next the statesmen will invent cheap lies, putting the blame upon the nation that is attacked, and every man will be glad of those conscience-soothing falsities, and will diligently study them, and refuse to examine any refutations of them; and thus he will by and by convince himself the war is just, and will thank God for the better sleep he enjoys after this process of grotesque self-deception.” 

Mark Twain, The Mysterious Stranger.

Bomb Damascus!
Boycott Sochi!
Our bombs good.
Your bombs bad.
Same stupid mob mentality serving only power.

• For regular updates on the latest lies told about Syria please follow MediaLens on Twitter.

BBC: Defending The Indefensible

Appropriately for the man who used to present BBC Radio 5 Live show Fighting Talk, Colin Murray is in combative mood. Since transferred to 5 Live's commercial rival TalkSport, where he presents a three-hour weekday show, Murray says his new employer is a place where he can "be myself without every so often spasmodically having to deal with the shit of the outraged few".

This is a barely-veiled reference to his final episode of Fighting Talk, on 1 June this year, when the panel show was accused of "homophobic bullying" after a contestant was invited to advance reasons why if given "20 minutes with her, I'm pretty sure I could turn around Clare Balding".

It was intended as satire, a "mockery of idiot views" as Murray put it, in a round called Defend The Indefensible. But the punchline fell flat, prompting jeers in the Liverpool Echo Arena from where the show was broadcast live as part of a 5 Live Big Day Out, and 19 complaints to the BBC. The "outraged few", presumably...

He responded to a couple of complaints on Twitter before he was told to stop by the BBC which, after initially defending the programme, offered a full apology.

Murray insists it was not a "debate" about Balding's sexuality – "What neanderthal would have a debate on Clare Balding's sexuality?" – although some critics might struggle to detect a difference.

"The BBC has a policy, and they can stick to it if they want, of apologise to kill the story. What about the truth?" says Murray.

Media Guardian. 

This sorry episode became somewhat overblown.
It was part of a segment called 'Defending The Indefensible' FFS, so maybe it might end up insulting those joyless bores who get off on being insulted.

Though the BBC's unreserved apology may just possibly also have had much to do with Auntie not wanting to upset Clare Balding - the ratings-winning "national treasure" etc etc - who works for the corporation on a freelance basis and can bugger off to Channel 4 whenever she wants.

Although, admirably, Clare Balding is said to have been unbothered by the silly bloke-ish "ironic" banter.

Daftness.

Britain: Worse Than Nazi Germany - Official

Many lesbian, gay and bisexual people continue to live in fear of prejudice, despite the significant progress in recent years to improve equality.

Gay in Britain, a report by the campaign group Stonewall, suggests that large numbers of Britain's 3.7 million* gay people fear they will be discriminated against if they stand for political office, seek to foster a child or look to become a magistrate.

Three in five of those questioned in the YouGov poll of just over 2,000 gay people said they expected their child would be bullied in primary school if it were known they had gay parents; more than four in five expected the same if they had a child in secondary school. Seven in 10 people expected to face barriers because of their sexual orientation if they applied to become a school governor...

Its survey found more than six in 10 gay and bisexual men and four in 10 lesbians and bisexual women expect to experience homophobia if they take part in a team sport and are open about their sexuality. And almost half think that television's portrayal of lesbian, gay and bisexual people is unrealistic.

The Observer. 

I know I've said this before, but I really can't say it enough - and heaven forfend I sound like a monumental loon with no idea how the world works - but this shows once again that Britain today is to homophobia what Nazi Germany was to antisemitism.
This is just one train stop away from Auschwitz, dudes.

This is exactly what apartheid South Africa was like.
Exactly!
And I, for one, refuse to be hysterical and exagerate.
Good day, sir.

* In-no-way is this figure made-up! See also the thing about how much The Gays contribute to the economy. LOLZ etc...

Update: The Stage on The Gays on The Tellybox. 

Oh and finally... here's a PDF of the Stonewall survey.

Brighton College: Head Boy

A 17-YEAR-OLD is to become the first openly gay head boy of a top British public school.

Will Emery, the son of a banker, was “overwhelmingly” voted in by more than 1,000 pupils and staff at Brighton College, where boarding fees start from £27,000 a year.

This weekend Emery used his new position, which begins next term, to criticise state schools and academies that have been accused of implementing policies that forbid teachers to “promote” or discuss homosexuality.

Richard Cairns, the headmaster of Brighton College, said those aged between 13 and 18 regarded sexuality as a “so-what” issue, although he conceded it was “very unusual” for a private school to appoint a gay head boy. “When I announced that Will would be the next head of school, there was a huge round of applause,” he said.

“He was a very popular choice — the rugby players voted for him along with many others — but I bet if I wrote to the old boys and said our head boy was openly gay, some of them would think it was very strange indeed.”

Emery, who came out to his friends and family when he was 14, said: “I don’t think my sexuality had any impact on my being chosen, but in other periods, when people had to hide their sexuality, it could have been a different story.”

The Sunday Times.

A lovely story and, as Prince would say, a real sign... of the times.
Obviously Fagburn thinks all private schools should be closed down forthwith, but Brighton College is kinda okay, and it's as gay as my bumbum already; it's literally round the corner from Fagburn Mansions, it's most famous former pupil is one of my heroes, the libertarian socialist Edward Carpenter, and the school was last in the news a few years back when the headteacher offered Tom Daley a hand job free place when he was being bullied. 

Bless.

Sadly our Tom didn't take up the offer, but imagine bumping into young master Daley when he's buying his "tuck" at the Kemptown Co-op...

Liam Fox: Holiday Bromance Rekindled

So why HAS Liam Fox been on holiday with male friend who cost him his job? In return to frontline politics, scandal-hit ex-Minister argues it's because they did nothing wrong in the first place

• Dr Fox's friendship with businessman Adam Werritty proved costly
• 
  
• It led to spectacular tumble from Cabinet Minister to backbench MP
• 
  
• Dr Fox and his wife took holiday this year with Mr Werritty and his girlfriend
• 
  
• ‘You don’t abandon your friends just because it is convenient' said Dr Fox

Mail On Sunday.

Typical. 

Liam Fox has got a book out about globalisation and important shit like that, and all the Mail goes on about is some silly old tittle-tattle about how Foxy has been on holiday with his BFF Adam Werrity again.

Grow up!

The Holy State: Heroes & Villains

The Independent On Sunday.

Heroes And Villains: Whistleblowers are vilified or intimidated while the wrongs and the wrongdoers that they expose go uninvestigated - Paul Valley.

Rot in jail you traitor - the Daily Star's thoughtful and balanced piece on Chelsea Manning.

Back later...

Notes on language: Interesting that most media call David Glenn's "partner". Though the hilarously stupid Gay Star News called David his "gay partner". Just in case you didn't know these two men who are partners are gay...

PS Slow news day? Let's just say Cheryl Cole getting her bum tattooed is The Sun's front page story...

Thought For The Day: Chief Rabbi Lord Sacks

“I have fully understood the fear that gays have of prejudice and persecution.

“I fully understood, and I mention this pretty much every year, that gays, not just Jews, were sent to the concentration camps, and I did not want to become a voice that would be caught up in a very polarised debate and be seen to be heartless towards the gays in our own community. I am not heartless towards them, I really seek to understand them and they seek to understand where I am coming from.”

Interviewed in the Sunday Telegraph on his retirement. 

Sacks was explaining why, even though he thinks gay marriage is against Talmudic principle (Whatever that is), he stayed relatively quiet on the issue, as opposed to other religious leaders like say - ooh, let's pluck a name from the ether here... Cardinal O'Brien, who kept shouting from his church rooftop how very, very wrong it all was, until that is we found out he secretly digs dudes and kept hitting on young priests.

Oops!

In May Sacks told David Frost; “We have strongly defined sexual ethics in Judaism more than 3,000 years old. But I think religions should never seek to impose their view on society as a whole."
Which is fair enough, really.

Apart from that bit about taking something from the Iron Age as your moral compass.
Have to confess I have no idea what the chief has said about The Gays in the past - or indeed what he's said about anything, like Israel/Palestine and that - so apologies in advance if he thinks we'll all burn in the fires that consumed Sodom or something.

Nikolai Alekseyev: Fight The Gay Fight In Russia

A Sochi Olympics boycott will only serve those who do not understand that their goal will only further isolate the LGBT community in Russia and make the lives of its representatives living in the country (and not in New York or London) even harder. Or, is this boycott nothing more than cold war nostalgia lead by some who today regret that they ran away from the Soviet Union or Russia? After all, who will the ordinary Russians (who might not be as homophobic as they are portrayed), blame for the disruption of this event? I think you know the answer. Will it make lives better for the millions who will stay? Will it lead to the repeal of the federal law banning gay propaganda? In both cases, definitely not!

From an important essay, Fighting The Gay Fight In Russia by Nikolai Alekseyev.
Still what would Russia's leading gay rights campaigner know about any of this, eh?
Obviously, I don't think Nikolai speaks for all LGBT Russians - nor does he claim to - or that he has all the answers or some magic fix, but far better listen to him than some know-nothing knee-jerk idiot in the West.
Please also read this hilarious piss-take of that publicity-seeking right-wing gay cunt, James Kirchick.
And, if you haven't read it already, What If Chelsea Manning Were Russian? - an excellent piece by Michael Arria on the double standards and hypocrisy of those power-serving patriotic all-American gay boys, James Kirchick and Dan Savage.
Right, think that's probably enough about Russia for today...

солидарность!

Gays In The News: Mad Cow Disease

A vegetarian has just months to live after developing the human form of Mad Cow Disease.

Ritchii Kara, 28, gave up meat five years ago but doctors believe the illness – which can lie dormant for years – came from beef he ate before safety laws changed.

His condition, known as variant Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, is linked to consuming products from cattle infected with BSE in the 1990s.

It is now attacking his brain, causing hallucinations, temporary blindness and memory loss.

Doctors say he may have just a few months to live.

Brave Ritchii, from Saltdean, East Sussex, said: “My memory is bad and so is my coordination and sometimes I can’t see.”

He gave up his bar job and drag queen act when he began feeling ill four years ago.

Daily Mirror.

You may be surprised to learn Ritchii (sic) is a gay. 

Winter Olympics: None More Gay!

Back in 1976 when I edited the magazine Sportsworld, then the official publication of the British Olympic Association, I received a telephone call from a Melbourne radio station in the middle of the night following the British figure skater John Curry’s breathtakingly artistic gold medal-winning performance in the Innsbruck Winter games.

“Hi,” said an Aussie voice. “We’ve all been watching your guy John Curry win the Olympics. Isn’t he something? Understand you know him quite well.” I concurred that indeed I did.

“Great. Look, mate, would you mind telling us a bit more about him – we’re all keen to know. Can we go live with an interview now?” “No problem,” I replied.

“OK... We’ve got Alan Hubbard, editor of Sportsworld magazine live from London, who knows this Pommie skater John Curry we’re all talking about... Tell me Alan, is he a poofter?”

I recall I quickly mumbled something about his sexual orientation being his own business. “Well,” came the response, “he sure looks a poofter from here!”

Thankfully, things have moved on since then – even in Australia. But not, apparently, in Russia and, significantly, certain other discriminatory outposts, including Qatar, which follows Russia as World Cup hosts in 2022, and where being gay, as the late Curry eventually revealed he was, is still tantamount to being a pariah...

Alan Hubbard writing in The Independent leading into talking about you-know-what.
Illustrated with the above photo of the "flamboyant" American figure skater, Johnny Weir.

The article is quite accurately titled; For Sochi the future is gay, whether Vladimir Putin likes it or not One certainty is there will be no boycott neither will the games be shifted

Got that?

Regardless of how daft and counter-productive these "demands" were in the first place, they were objectively not going to happen.

It would make a nice change if, just for once, one person calling for people to "do something" about homophobia in Russia had stopped for four seconds and thought things through.

Not that I'm suggesting for one moment that this "debate" has been dominated by a load of idiotic gay hysterics waving their pink pitchforks, you understand.*
It's encouraging that some sane and rational voices are starting to be heard in this thoroughly depressing episode - here's Alice Arnold; Britain's homophobia needs to be tackled before we turn to Russia's.
Quite.

*Check out the usual avalanche of stupidity on Huff Post Gay, and remind yourself why the LGBT movement's fucked.
They've even run an article that asks; Imagine if they'd say that about race.
AARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHH!!!
Such sophisticated, original and radical political debate, HuffPo!

Russell Tovey: Can't Be Arsed

"You've got to remember that of the millions who watch TV, most people don't give a fuck about your private life or know who you are...

"I love my personal life and having a social life. And I didn't ever want to have to compromise. I could imagine being at this stage now and having skeletons in the closet, and you sitting here going, 'So have you got a girlfriend?' and me saying, 'I've not got a girlfriend at the moment, I've not met the right girl, there's a few people around.' And in my head going, I'm going back home to my boyfriend in five minutes.
"D'you know what I mean? I just can't be arsed with that."

Guardian Weekend magazine.
Highly imaginative cover lines; Acting Out - Russell Tovey playing it straight.

Barely a month seems to go by without another glowing profile of Russell Tovey in the weekend supplements.
Everybody loves Russell!
And why not?
He's adorable; good-looking, talented, very busy work-wise*, and seems utterly charming.
I would.
But how about just for once not talking about his ears, being a big gayer who's a birrova lad, The History Boys, Him N Her, coming out, the acting closet, and ye olde, 'Can gay men act the straights?''
Zzzz...

* What Remains? his latest TV thing, starts tomorrow.

Alan Cumming: Oh The Guilt!

Cumming is promoting a film called Any Day Now, which has already earned a glut of film festival awards. It tells the story of a gay couple in late Seventies LA — a recently out of the closet lawyer and a drag artist — and their struggle to legally adopt a boy with Down’s syndrome. “To begin with I was anxious about the tone of it,” he admits. “I thought, ‘Oh, here we go, I’m playing a drag queen — because every gay man is a drag queen in the movies’ but I thought the result was genuinely moving without being schlocky or schmaltzy. Which is kind of miraculous when you think of all the elements.”
Any Day Now is, on one level, a message film, “hopefully not in a knock-you-over-the-head-with-it way,” he says. “But like any phobia — and you could include homophobia in that — as soon as you’re exposed to it you see it’s not that scary.” He says that he’s incredibly proud of the end result. “And there are very few things I would say that about. I can count, probably on one hand, films I am very proud of.”
This is not, incidentally, the sort of thing that actors tend to say to journalists. But he keeps talking.
“A lot of the films I do I wouldn’t go and see if I wasn’t in them. I mean, I can sometimes watch a film like The Smurfs,” he says, frowning at the ceiling. “But it’s just that it doesn’t take up much of my life, being a Smurf.”

The Times.

Alan seems a nice-enough chap, but I don't think I've ever seen any film that Mr Cumming's been in.
And I've never got the feeling I've missed out.
Looking forward to his book though, May The Foreskin Be With You.
It is, as they say in the trade, forthcoming...

Tom Daley: Badly Drawn Boy

At last... our Tom's got her own comic book!

Yes, that's right, there's bum-all going on that's worth commenting on today, really.
But Fagburn's got some more smokin' hot shirtless pics of dishy Dave Cameron on the beach that we're just dying to share with you, plus our exclusive interview with the eminently sane Lauren Harries from CBB is, as they say, in the bag!
Plus we hear ITV have commissioned a second series of that Springtime for Hitler of sitcoms, Vicious!
Sometimes life's just too good, eh boys?
So we'll be right back quicker than you can say; "Let's bomb Russia!"

Chelsea Manning: Free Chelsea Manning!

The Next Stage of My Life

I want to thank everybody who has supported me over the last three years. Throughout this long ordeal, your letters of support and encouragement have helped keep me strong. I am forever indebted to those who wrote to me, made a donation to my defense fund, or came to watch a portion of the trial. I would especially like to thank Courage to Resist and the Bradley Manning Support Network for their tireless efforts in raising awareness for my case and providing for my legal representation.

As I transition into this next phase of my life, I want everyone to know the real me. I am Chelsea Manning. I am a female. Given the way that I feel, and have felt since childhood, I want to begin hormone therapy as soon as possible. I hope that you will support me in this transition. I also request that, starting today, you refer to me by my new name and use the feminine pronoun (except in official mail to the confinement facility). I look forward to receiving letters from supporters and having the opportunity to write back.

Thank you,

Chelsea E. Manning

Chelsea’s mailing address remains:
Commander, HHC USAG
Attn: PFC Bradley Manning
239 Sheridan Ave, Bldg 417
JBM-HH, VA 22211

Via a statement Chelsea gave to her lawyer, David Coombs. 

As ever and always, thinking of you, Chelsea, with thanks, solidarity, respect and much love.
x

• What If Chelsea Manning Were Russian? An excellent piece by Michael Arria on the double standards and hypocrisy of those all-American gay boys, James Kirchick and Dan Savage.

Update: Trans Media Watch respond to Chelsea Manning coming out. Daily Mail and Independent good, others not so...

Update2: And a list of which media are using Chelsea's preferred pronoun, and who isn't...

Update3: Send Chelsea Manning a book!

Hot Dude From Prison Break: Out! (GEDDIT!!?)

Wentworth Miller, that hot dude from Prison Break, has come out as a gay man who is openly gay, Fagburn can exclusively reveal.
This is exciting as he's proper famous*.
And he's come out in protest at Russia and how it's the only country in the world where bad things happen to The Gays.
Take that, Putin!
"I cannot in good conscience participate in a celebratory occasion hosted by a country where people like myself are being systematically denied their basic right to live and love openly," commented the American star who's lived 41 years in the closet.

* As opposed to the usual American "celebrities" you've never heard of that the UK gay media pretends to be excited about.
eg this "Nickleodeon star" who came out the other day.
Sorry!!? Lucas who?!!

PS Today's lamest press release about a rubbish PR stunt masquerading as political campaigning; 'Kristof Buntinx, a Belgian fashion designer, has created a line of boxer shorts as a sartorial protest of Russia's antigay laws....' FFS!

Marriage: Redefined

The online dictionary Macmillandictionary.com has become the first UK dictionary to revise its definition of marriage to reflect the change in the law allowing same sex couples to marry.

The definition of "marriage" now reads: "The relationship between two people who are husband and wife, or a similar relationship between people of the same sex," with the second clause newly added.

The revision follows the marriage (same sex couples) bill through its crucial reading in the House of Lords on 15 July and accompanies other changes in a significant update to the dictionary. One that is likely to offend grammar purists is the inclusion of "of" as a preposition for use with "bored", as in "bored of".

Macmillandictionary.com editor-in-chief Michael Rundell said the change to the definition of "marriage" might suggest a future redefining of the terms "husband" and "wife". "In a same sex relationship two men are probably not going to refer to themselves as 'wife', but if it's two women, they might, so we need to keep an eye on that."

The Guardian et al.

No newspaper is ever going to review a new edition of a dictionary, so to try and get some publicity every year they send out a press release about some "controversial" words they only added or altered so they'd get pointless coverage like this.
Never fails.

news (noun) information about something that has happened recently
information about recent events that is reported in newspapers, or on television or radio

press release (noun) an official statement or report that an organization [sic] gives to journalists, for example about a new product

Macmillandictionary.com

See also; Twerking, selfie, sick etc etc..

Charlie Condou: Scoop Of The Century!

Oh god, my secret is out!! great journalism @daily_star RT @jamesrbuk: Er, what, Daily Star? pic.twitter.com/PEIdR46XvR
— Charlie Condou (@Charliecondou) August 21, 2013

The actor, 40, who plays midwife Marcus Dent, agreed with actress friend Catherine Kanter they would have a child if she did not find love by the time she was 40.

Catherine stayed single but Charlie hooked up with partner Cameron Laux, 49.

But the soap star honoured the deal, fathering Catherine’s daughter Georgia, four, and two-year-old son Hal, by IVF.

Charlie, Cameron and Catherine, 45, all share the responsibility for raising the youngsters in Islington, north London.

Charlie said: “I always wanted to be a daddy. Catherine and I had the conversation thousands of women have with gay friends, a Plan B pact, to have a child together should Mr Right not appear.”

And, err, that's the full extent of the Daily Star's front page story today!

The quote - singular - is taken uncredited from yesterday's Daily Mail, which came from an interview Charlie gave to Red magazine.
Eagle-eyed viewers may have spotted Mr Condou is one of the best-known gay dads - and most prominent advocates for gay parenting - in the country, and used to write a weekly Guardian column about it.
Heaven forfend that the Star should ever find out about Elton John and David Furnish's secret love children.

GLAAD: The Price Of Everything And The Value Of Nothing

In its first ever study of LGBT representation on film, GLAAD finds the major studios are really slipping on their gay pimpin’. According to their Studio Responsibility Index, only 14 of the 101 releases from major studios contained lesbian, gay or bisexual characters, with nary a transgender representation in sight...

Additional findings from the study include:

- More than half of those inclusive films (55.6%) featured gay male characters, while another 33% featured lesbian characters and 11% contained bisexual characters. Male characters represented 63% of LGBT images on screen, while female characters made up just 37%

- Of the 31 different characters counted (some of whom were onscreen for no more than a few seconds), 26 were white (83.9%), four were Black/African-American (12.9%) and one was Latino (3.2%). There were no Asian-Pacific Islander or recognizably multi-racial LGBT characters counted.

- The most common place to find LGBT characters in the major studios’ 2012 releases was in comedies, where nine of the 24 comedies released (37.5%) were inclusive. By comparison, 34 genre films (action, sci-fi, fantasy, etc.) made up the majority of the 2012 releases, though only three (8.8%) of those included any LGBT characters. Additionally, only one of 21 dramas (4.7%) and one of four documentaries (25%) were inclusive, while there were no LGBT characters in any animated or family-oriented films from the ‘Big Six.’

Queerty.

Fagburn would be fascinated to learn what anyone is supposed to learn from this, or indeed from any of GLAAD's endless queer headcounting "surveys" on LGBT representation in the media.
Apart from that the well-funded group is obsessed with quantity over quality.

Weekend gif shamelessly borrowed from Queerty - if only the fillum had been that short it might have been bearable.
GLAAD review of Weekend; "Drama. Contains two white gay men - onscreen for one and a half-hours each (approx.). Lesbian, trans, Asian-Pacific-Islander, and Black/African-American characters completely absent. Rating 3/10."

The Gay Right: Whose Side Are You On?

This video has - as they say - gone "viral".
Unfeasibly right-wing gay Neocon Jamie Kirchick goes on Russia Today to talk about Bradley Manning's sentencing; "I'm not really interested in talking about Bradley Manning..."
Who knew? *
So what does our little Homocon want to talk about?
He launches into a hysterical, poorly informed - or rather willfully misinformed - rant about; "The horrific environment of homophobia in Russia right now...."
Zzzzz...
Much of the gay media are declaring him a "hero" - Kirchick that is, not Manning, obviously.
What? For wearing a pair of rainbow braces on TV!
Again, ask yourself why this issue is so animating the gay right - who here literally ignore what a great injustice their own beloved country has done to a gay man like Bradley Manning, to rant about Uncle Sam's mortal enemy, Russia?
Only the deeply indoctrinated could see this right-wing hijack as something to celebrate.
Ladies and gentlemen, I give you thought control in a democratic society in action!

Funny! American journalist tried to disrupt @RT_comhttps://twitter.com/RT_com">@RT_com

> saying they lie about USA. And @cnnhttps://twitter.com/CNN">@cnn> does not lie about Russia?!— Nikolai Alexeyev (@n_alexeyev) August">https://twitter.com/n_alexeyev/statuses/370375714690039808">August 22, 2013

* Here Kerching argues the "traitor" Manning should fry in an electric chair. Which is nice.
Here's a panel debate on the boycott from Russia Today.
(Kirchick, laughably, claims RT has ignored this topic).
Against? A man from the Russian LGBT Sports Federation, a British gay journalist who lives in Russia, and two other Russian people who actually know what's happening in, err, Russia.
And for a boycott? Reactionary British lesbigot, Julie Bindel!
You really couldn't make it up.

Update: And finally... Eddie Mair takes on the architect of much of Russia's recent anti-gay laws, Vitaly Milonov. That's the way to do it etc etc. Listen here.