Bradley Manning: Frontline

Hello!
You can watch the "controversial" PBS Frontline programme about Bradley and Wikileaks here.
Fagburn is about to watch it.
It'll probably suck, but I'll give a more consindered review in a bit.
Bradley's only 5'2" by the way - adorable!

Right!
I can't do a sustained critique, cause it's late and I've been drinking cider.
In TVLand terms Bradley came out okay, I guess... it's just that he fraternised with twats like Assange and Adrian Lamo.
Here's some transcripts from Greg Mitchell they cut out, which may explain things better...

Manning "i want people to see the truth... regardless of who they are... because without information, you cannot make informed decisions as a public
Manning: if i knew then, what i knew now... kind of thing... or maybe im just young, naive, and stupid...
Manning: i dont believe in good guys versus bad guys anymore... i only a plethora of states acting in self interest... with varying ethics and moral standards of course, but self-interest nonetheless...
Manning: i guess im too idealistic
Manning: i think the thing that got me the most... that made me rethink the world more than anything
Manning: was watching 15 detainees taken by the Iraqi Federal Police... for printing "anti-Iraqi literature"... the iraqi federal police wouldn't cooperate with US forces, so i was instructed to investigate the matter, find out who the "bad guys" were, and how significant this was for the FPs... it turned out, they had printed a scholarly critique against PM Maliki... i had an interpreter read it for me... and when i found out that it was a benign political critique titled "Where did the money go?" and following the corruption trail within the PM's cabinet... i immediately took that information and *ran* to the officer to explain what was going on... he didn't want to hear any of it... he told me to shut up and explain how we could assist the FPs in finding *MORE* detainees...
Manning: everything started slipping after that... i saw things differently
Manning: i had always questioned the things worked, and investigated to find the truth... but that was a point where i was a *part* of something... i was actively involved in something that i was completely against..."

Hero.

Church Of Scotland: Still Having A Row About Some Crap The Rest Of The World Settled 20 Years Ago JESUS CHRIST! EVERYONE KNOWS YOU'RE ALL GAY ANYWAY!!

Mere words can not begin to describe how monumentally uninterested I am in what the Church of Scotland thinks about "The Gays".

Queer Resistance: Emergency Operation

"We welcome the fact that the cuts have been reduced from 43% to 20%, but still question the idea of cutting HIV prevention services at a time when infections are rising. It is also a matter of concern that these cuts are happening before a comprehensive needs assessment and evaluation has been completed. Surely it would be sensible to complete this and reinvest cuts into services that have been proven effective.
“On Saturday 28th May as part of UK Uncut’s “Emergency Operation” against Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS, Queer Resistance and The London Sisters of Perpetual Indulgence closed down a branch of HSBC in Covent Garden for the day and turned it into an STI clinic. We were highlighting that there are alternative ways of tackling the financial situation, rather than cutting essential public services, cuts which will affect some of the most vulnerable in our society.
“Current cuts to the NHS amount to a £20bn ‘efficiency drive’, whilst taxpayers continue to subsidise the banking sector by up to £100bn/year - equivalent to the entire NHS budget.
"This HSBC branch and at least forty other bank branches in the UK closed today as a direct result of the campaign to save the NHS...
"Through this action, Queer Resistance highlighted the 43% cut in NHS Primary Care Trust funding for HIV prevention services in London, which particularly puts gay and bisexual men’s health at risk. This is its first specific action focusing on this cut with and there will be more in the future.
"Queer Resistance demands a stop to the slashing of funding for HIV prevention services, in addition to a complete rethink of these ideological cuts which are hitting the most vulnerable in our society. There are alternatives - leave the NHS alone and cut benefits to bankers.
"Current cuts to the NHS amount to a £20bn ‘efficiency drive’ whilst taxpayers continue to subsidise the banking sector by up to £100bn/year, which is equivalent to the entire NHS budget...."

Statement by Queer Resistance.

The Daily Mail: Headline Of The Week

'School Orders Pupils To Wear Baggy Clothes 'To Deter Paedophiles Who Like Boys In Tight Trousers'

The Daily Mail.

"Furious parents... bizarre letter... sex offenders may be taking pictures of schoolboys in tight trousers... dubbed 'paranoid in the extreme' by one parent... slammed by shocked parents... One blasted: 'There is no way an ugly uniform is going to deter a predator and determined sex offender..."

Fagburn has a bit of a problem with The Daily Mail at the moment - mainly as it has been proven it makes stories like this up.
And if we don't believe them now...

Flick Colby: 1946-2011

Punk fucking rock!

Thanks for Pan's People and Legs & Co and that.
I probably missed the point of them - on account of not being heterosexual.
Still, you was good at ruining whatever song came your way, with your often too literal dance routines.
Oh look - Legs & Co do another Jonathan Richman song!!
Is it cause they is Punk?
Here we go!

Britain's Got Fuck All Talent: Everybody Loves Ronan

Everyone's twittering about Ronan's appearance on Britain's Got Talent tonight.
It's not on YouTube yet, so here's her his audition in the meantime.
Top lad.
Somehow I get the feeling he'll never marry.
Unless he moves to Canada or the Netherlands or Sweden or somewhere like that.
Let's just hope no-one hacks into his Twitter account in the meantime...

Update: Best Ronan Parke tweet so far; "Hate my mum for thinking that Ronan Parke may be gay" The bitch! Whatever gave her that idea? #bgt etc etc

Update: But is it all a fix so Syco and Simon Cowell can find the next Justin Bieber? Probably.

Summer Rites: Best Press Release EVER!!!

Worth reprinting this beautifully written press release in full, I think.
FUCKING HELL!
Words fail me - like they seem to have failed whoever wrote this gobbledygook.

From the people that bought you Summer Rites and Soho Pride, are pleased to announce London’s newest openly Gay park event of this summer! Summer Rites Remix will be held in an intimate park in London’s trendiest Shoreditch on Sunday July 10th 2011.
Summer Rites Remix is Wayne Shires and Kim Lucas’s “ One Off Openly Gay music & Clubbing festival”.
They probably hold the most genuine profile on the London Gay scene for the last 2 decades, with more than 25 years experience in created cultural brands, hosting bars & clubs and the 2 best London’s original gay boutique brand festival ( Summer Rites) and street-party (Soho Pride) London’s ever had with an overall captivated audience of over a million!…they are at it again!
SRR is to combine the best elements of what London has to offer from and for the Gay population, focusing on London best music scene and live performances spread across dance tents, stages and including food and drink stalls, to make it all the necessary elements for the a new Gay Boutique Festival in a park!
Only with a 10,000 short capacity, this will make it the London’s most exclusive public and cheapest live event and the luckiest will be able to get tickets which will go on sale late spring at a reasonable £15 for a short time only... this event will sell out, so go to our Facebook / twitter profile (LINK) now to sign up for your ticket alert notification, and pass it onto your friends!
The Gay community is by far the less affected by the double dip recession, but are very selective about their market offering and favourite brand association. SRR is aim to provide an excellent showcase for your brand via direct marketing and intensive local and national media campaign, viral marketing and branding / product sampling at the event itself...
Its time London had a new Openly Gay outdoor music event that reflects London as it is today. London is the most exiting and forward thinking, trend leading capital in Europe… And as they achieved for the last 2 decade, SRR team will do just that again !

=
Thanks to Howupsetting for the tip-off. x

Fagburn: I Read The News Today, Oh Boy...

I've just gone through all today's papers online.
It appears that if you work at a newspaper over the bank holiday weekend all you do is recycle stories from other papers.
Beats working!
Guess I'll see you on Tuesday...

Moscow Pride: Oh Those Russians!

18 gay rights activists were arrested at Moscow Pride yesterday.
As per usual there were counter-protests and attacks by Neo-Nazis and Orthodox Christians - with some say some collusion with the police.
Live blog, photos and video on UK Gay News.
The rally had - for the sixth time - been denied a permit by the Mayor of Moscow, despite Russia having been condemned and fined by the European Court of Human Rights last year for banning gay parades in Moscow.
Google News Search brings up 79 news stories about this from around the world.
Coverage in the UK papers today - zero.

Update: Brilliantly mad - and hilariously badly translated - anti-gay German Christian report here.
"Homo foreign criminals arrested. In Moscow on imported gay sex fiend organized provocation of brave Christians have been successfully defeated..."

Sesame Street: Fairies Take Over TV

"Sesame Street tried to tackle divorce, tackled 'peaceful conflict resolution' in the aftermath of 9/11 and had [gay actor] Neil Patrick Harris on the show playing the subtly-named 'fairy shoeperson'"

The Independent On Sunday gives the oxygen of publicity to American right-wing fruitloop, Ben Shapiro.
Mr Shapiro has a new book out, the brilliantly titled; Primetime Propaganda: The True Hollywood Story Of How The Left Took Over Your TV
Here is being nuts on Fox News.
In the US there are zillions of books written by evangelical Christians and/or right-wing nutters about how American itself is in mortal danger because of infiltration of the media and popular culture by pinko pervert liberal socialists, and their Islamic communist shape-changing lizard leader, President Obama.
They are often quite funny - the writing is usually primary school-level, and the "arguments" are so fantastically twisted, spurious and patently wrong.
Fagburn is positively baffled to see Ben Shapiro's book has got a proper publisher, Harper-Collins.

• You can watch [gay actor] Neil Patrick Harris singing about shoes on Sesame Street here. It's kinda catchy.

Take That: "Which One's Gay?"

"Opening night, opening night
Take That are back and everyone wants to know
Which one's fat
Which one's thin and
Which one's gay
I don't know but my money's on Jay
I just had some coke and slept with a whore
But hey, I'll be OK
That's what super injunctions are for"

Professional cheeky chappie Robbie Williams raps at the first night of Take That's big comeback/reunion tour - which is getting some rather over-the-top reviews.
"It felt like that almost mythical event: a once in a lifetime pop experience" panted Dave Simpson in The Guardian.
Yes dear.
The cheapest tickets for their upcoming dates at Wembley Stadium are a snip at £57.

Update: Just finished trawling through the Sunday papers, it appears there is fuck all news today. Sorry.

FT: When Stephen Went Gaga

"I do not write newspaper profile pieces for a living and Lady Gaga is currently the only person about whom I would do such a thing. With the exception that is, of Steve Jobs, whom I interviewed last year for Time magazine. I am not claiming that Lady Gaga and Steve Jobs are the most important figures in the world and that everyone else can go hang, it is just that … well, some people light your fire in a very special way and I am past the age of caring how good or bad that might look in the eyes of the world..."

Mr Fry is positively gushing away in the FT today.
Bless.
It's a funny place to place an interview with Lady Gaga - Fagburn suspects Stephen Fry offered it to the Financial Times as it's the only British newspaper that didn't delight in giving him a good kicking over his "women and sex" line last year.
It's a very long piece.
"We talk about masks and Oscar Wilde and the nature of performance and the need of artists to pursue their vocations. She quotes to me the line of Rilke that she had famously tattooed on to her left arm: “In the deepest hour of the night, confess to yourself that you would die if you were forbidden to write. And look deep into your heart where it spreads its roots, the answer, and ask yourself, must I write?” It’s quite a big tattoo…’ she confesses..."
Sadly, we still do not know how Lady Gaga feels about The Gays.
An opportunity missed, Mr Fry!

Thought For The Day: John Waters (Again)

"I think it helps to be neurotic. Neurotic people always end up being in the arts. If your kid fits in while in high school they’re going to be a dull adult. I still see a few people I went to high school with, but the other ones, when they come up to me I say: “I’m sorry, I took LSD, I don’t remember you.” It works, because then they aren’t offended personally. It’s really just manners."

John Waters - the British weekend papers' favourite art fag by far - in The Daily Telegraph on 10 Things Every Role Model Needs.
Mr Waters is talking at the Hay Festival this evening.

Bradley Manning: "Guardian Exclusive" - Who Knew?

Saturday's Guardian has gone big with an "Exclusive";
'WikiLeaks accused Bradley Manning 'should never have been sent to Iraq''
'Guardian exclusive: Soldier held over US intelligence leak was known to be mentally fragile and unsuited to army life'
This is accompanied by a 20 minute "investigative film" on the Guardian website;
'The Madness Of Bradley Manning?'
Ann Clwyd MP writes in response to the above;
'The British government has a duty to Bradley Manning and his family'
And there's a profile: 'Bradley Manning: the bullied outsider who knew US military's inner secrets'
'Exclusive: Having been on the brink of discharge from the US army, Bradley Manning was posted to a desolate Iraq base where secret intelligence was the TV entertainment.'
Much too late here to properly digest all this now - will comment in the morning.
Hope it's good...

• A few brief thoughts. I guess a lot of people will pick up on the summary The Guardian give in the headline on the frontpage; 'Bradley Manning 'was mentally unfit' to serve in Iraq' and say "Well, the guy's nuts - told ya so" and leave it at that.
The headline online - US military knew Bradley Manning 'was mentally unfit' to serve in Iraq - explains the point of the piece.
"Bradley Manning, who was detained a year ago on Sunday in connection with the biggest security leak in US military history, was a "mess of a child" who should never have been put through a tour of duty in Iraq, according to an [anonymous] officer from the Fort Leonard Wood military base in Missouri, where Manning trained in 2007.
"The officer's words reinforce a leaked confidential military report that reveals that other senior officers thought he was unfit to go to Iraq..."

What's not really explained - and what is more important - is what may have pushed Bradley Manning over the edge; life in the US military and then US foreign policy.

One sign of Mannning being "mental fragile" mentioned several times is allegedly "he wet himself."
It's only in the longer profile of "the bullied outsider" that the reader learns he did this when some other soldiers were bullying him ("There were three guys that had him cornered...")
The profile shows that Manning's discharge (and subsequent leak) was preceded - by several months - by his break-up with his boyfriend Tyler Watkins *.
Fagburn thinks this is worth noting, but homophobes will almost certainly overplay it - as if Bradley's (alleged!) whistleblowing to Wikileaks was no more than some heartbroken drama queen on the rebound, as opposed to an heroic moral act.
Even just mentioning the fact that Bradley is gay - something The Guardian shied away from doing for six months - is fraught.
But same as it ever was, same as it ever was...
Bradley Manning Support Network tweeted today; "Will the press be able to get past childhood stories and focus on the real issues behind Bradley's detainment? Remains to be seen."
But what does this mean?
It's not worth mentioning that an out and proud gay man is gay when you're writing a 2000 word profile about him?
I'd guesstimate the gay stuff is around 5% of what The Guardian published today. Get over yourself!

The Guardian's other "exclusive" is that security at Manning's station in Iraq "was so lax that many of the 300 soldiers on the base had access to the computer room where Manning worked, and passwords to access the intelligence computers were stuck on "sticky notes" on the laptop screens...
"For entertainment, soldiers would download porn to workstations or access footage from Apache attack helicopters showing civilians being shot at, often through SIPRNet, the classified intelligence network used by the state department and department of defence."
Hundreds of soldiers appear to have enjoyed watching this "war porn", as it was called.
Bradley Manning's supposed crime is passing this evidence of US war crimes onto Wikileaks.
As Ann Clwyd MP asks in The Guardian today; "Why are Bradley's military bosses not on trial? Why instead is a vulnerable young man being made an example of?"

* This was known before, but The Guardian backs it up with new quotes from personal messages on Manning's Facebook account - various other parts of this have been made public this week.

Jeff Conaway: 1950-2011

Rydell forever! Bon voyage.

• And to Gil Scott-Heron - poet-activist and father of Rap - and to Rob Daley - much loved father of Tom. xxx

Fagburn: David Sedaris, Oscar Wilde & Me

Fagburn is off to that London today to see David Sedaris sitting in a chair reading from his books in his annoying whiney faggy voice.
David's talking at Cadogan Hall in Chelsea, so beforehand Fagburn is going to do a little pilgrimage to another century's funniest gayer, Oscar Wilde.
I guess the Cadogan Hotel must have a bar - if so I'm going to go in and have a weak hock and seltzer for Oscar while making a very sad face.

Srebrenica Massacre: "Gays In The Military To Blame"

With the capture of Ratko Mladic yesterday, I hope people don't forget the real reason the massacre at Srebrenica happened - Teh Gays In Teh Military!!!
General John Sheehan helpfully explained this at a US Senate hearing last March when he argued against lifting the ban on allowing lesbians and gay men to serve openly in the US military.

"The European militaries today are a product of the collapse of the Soviet Union - nations like Belgium, Luxembourg, the Dutch etc. They firmly believed there was no longer a need for an active combat capability in their militaries.
"As a result they declared a peace dividend and made a conscious effort to socialise their miltary. That included the unionisation of their militaries, it included open homosexuality, demonstrated in a series of activities with a focus on peacekeeping operations, because they did not believe the Germans were going to attack again or the Soviets were coming back.
"That led to a force that was ill-equipped to go to war.
"The case in point that I'm referring to is when the Dutch were required to defend Srebrenica against the Serbs.
"The battalion was understrength, poorly led, and the Serbs came into town, handcuffed the soldiers to the telephone poles, marched the Muslims off and executed them.
"That was the largest massacre in Europe since World War Two."
The chair asks Sheehan; "Did the Dutch leaders tell you it was because there were gay soldiers there?"
"Yes. They included that as part of the problem."

Thanks for clearing that up, John.
I wonder if the defence will bring this up at the Hague?

[Video here]

Bette Bourne: The Movie!

Bette Bourne & Mark Ravenhill talk about their new documentary from Jeremy Jeffs on Vimeo.

It's Bette's 70s, basically,
The Gay Liberation Front, radical drag, The Brixton Fairies commune, The Bloolips, Quentin Crisp...
Sounds amazing, doesn't it?
But you can't watch it.
Nothing personal, but they need to raise a bit more money to finish the thing.
Maybe you could help them out?

BBC: Eastbenders And Friends

The BBC has made a short film featuring many of your favourite stars from Eastenders to mark the publication of its box-ticking wafflethon Everyone Has A Story: Diversity Strategy 2011-2015.
You can watch the video here.
Perhaps someone could be kind enough to tell me if it's meant to be funny?
I'm trying to summon up the enthusiasm to look at the report...

• Here's another video, Seeing, Seen, Scene about (the research on) the BBC's portrayal of LGBT people.

Hated By The Daily Mail: Alan Bennett

"Alan Bennett has been accused of ‘madness’ for claiming that closing libraries was akin to ‘child abuse’," puffs the Daily Mail.
"The playwright condemned the closure of hundreds of libraries, saying that many children do not have computers and books at home.
"Mr Bennett is supporting a campaign to save Kensal Rise library, one of six earmarked for closure by Labour-run Brent Council in north London—half the libraries in the borough..."
"The 77-year-old Yorkshire-born humourist told a 400-strong public meeting: ‘Closing libraries is child abuse... Libraries have to be local. They have to be handy. They shouldn’t need an expedition. But that early period in a child’s reading life is vital. Interfere with that, hinder a child’s access to books in whatever form and you damage that child, probably for life.'"
You have to read on quite a bit to find out who the Mail could find to accuse Mr Bennett of "madness"...
Mark Littlewood, director general of the Institute of Economic Affairs - a scarily right wing "free market" thinktank.
"What an unbelievably extreme thing for an extremely intelligent man to say," Littlewood said.
"To equate an analysis that libraries are an increasingly anachronistic way of getting reading matter into the hands of children with paedophilia is madness."
But he didn't equate it with paedpohilia, he said it was "child abuse... hinder a child’s access to books in whatever form and you damage that child, probably for life."
Madness!

Queer Resistance: Uncut

This Saturday, in response to the 43 per cent cut in NHS Primary Care Trust funding for HIV prevention services in London, which particularly puts gay and bisexual men’s health at risk, Queer Resistance is going to transform a bank into a "mock" sexual health clinic.
Queer Resistance is joining UK Uncut’s “Emergency Operation” against Health Secretary Andrew Lansley’s plans for the NHS with a fun creative action highlighting some serious cuts affecting the LGBTQI communities.
QR invites you, whether as an individual, group or organisation to join in raising awareness of these devastating cuts, which threaten much needed services that the LGBTQI communities have fought so hard to establish, as well as other cuts that threaten LGBTQI communities and wider society.

Meeting point is Soho Square at 12 midday - look out for the Queer Resistance banner. Bring doctors and nurse uniforms, scrubs, condoms, lube, dental dams and fun toys. Be creative and have fun ;)

• More info on the cuts and full statement from Queer Resistance here.

Update: Live video here! (Intermittently). Twitter updates #queeruncut

Matthew Parris: I Saw A Male Stripper In A Go-Go Bar

"Last Wednesday night, on my way home from Harrow, I called in late at the White Swan in Limehouse in the East End of London. A group of friends had texted me to say they’d dropped in for Mr Amateur Strip Night — and would I join them?
"It was exactly 15 years since I was last there and things have changed in the world of strip-shows at gay pubs...
"But how diminished an audience! And how much less thrilling the atmosphere today.
"It’s all legal now. The sense of an underground culture has gone, the sense of danger, and with it some sense of community . . .
“Spare us,” I hear you say. “He’s turning into one of those ghastly old gays who claim to miss the days of illicit gropings with guardsmen in St James’s Park, and get nostalgic about the ghetto.” I’m not and I don’t.
"Almost everything has been gained and I wouldn’t have it otherwise. But something, however slight, however evanescent, some sense of the intimacy of shared disgrace, has been lost. And, no, those Wednesdays at the White Swan must never return. And, yes, I do miss them."

Mr Matthew Parris in his Times' column.
I bet he does miss groping guardsmen - just a bit...

Bruce Forsyth: Nice To See You...

"Lads at school would often call me a pansy. I used to love football but I used to sling my boots in the corner when I got home from school and put my tap shoes on.
"One day a kid did have a go at me and said, 'Oh are you going to your dancing lessons? You don't want to be late'. I pulled him off his bike and gave him a right handful.
"That's the side of me nobody knows about it...
"When I first started at the Palladium, for the first couple of years, people thought I was a homosexual because of the way I walked.
"But my reputation caught up with me and they found out that wasn't true. I love life and ladies. Especially ladies, in that order."

Brucie telling it like it is to Rob Brydon, according to The Sun.
Bruce Forsyth is 109.

Mikey Walsh: Fighting Man

Wonderful interview with Mikey Walsh on The Choice today.
Awwww.
And great to hear he has another book - Gypsy Boy On The Run - out in July.

The Sun: Over The Moon

The Sun, like all the tabloids, is very happy today.
They think they should be able to write whatever they like about anyone's sex life, and want to scrap the Human Rights Act.
Great news!

Queerty: Noty!

Fagburn has deleted Queerty from his blogroll - on account of it having turned from a very witty and waspish and wise website into an unimaginable pile of shit.
Well done "The Man"!

All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace: Stupid Is As Stupid Gets

I don't understand why people who I respect love the stupid programmes made by Adam Curtis.
Perhaps they are stupid?
Here is Mr Curtis's new stupid programme All Watched Over by Machines of Loving Grace.
Can anyone tell me what he is arguing - or were you just dazzled by the funky graphics and nice soundtrack?
It's hard to even know if he likes or hates Ayn Rand and General Suharto FFS!
How ironic that people turn off their brains for this stupid pointless pretentious idiotic pseudo-radical conspiracy theorist MTV mush.
Another victory for the stupid people!

Thought For The Day: Rich Benjamin

I PICKED up my jangling cellphone one recent Saturday to hear the elated voice of Zachary, my longtime buddy and college classmate. “I just proposed to Caroline,” Zach announced, inviting me to the wedding and angling to plot logistics. “So when are you flying in?”
“Oh, I’m not coming to your wedding,” I said.
It’s true. I’m boycotting all heterosexual weddings.
How utterly absurd to celebrate an institution that I am banned from in most of the country. It puzzles me, truth be told, that wedding invitations deluge me. Does a vegan frequent summer pig roasts? Do devout evangelicals crash couple-swapping parties? Do undocumented immigrants march in Minuteman rallies?
Heterosexual ladies and gentlemen, please. Don’t mail me that wedding invitation. It’s going straight to the bin...

Rich Benjamin in the New York Times.
Here's Rich's website - Fagburn thinks he's supercool.

Ad Of The Week: Coulrophobia

Not the clowns!!!!

Phonehacking: 2 Out of 4.

"Four men who believe the News of the World hacked their phones have won their latest bid to mount legal action over police handling of the case.
"They are former Deputy Prime Minister Lord Prescott, Labour MP Chris Bryant, ex-Scotland Yard boss Brian Paddick and journalist Brendan Montague.
"The men, who believe their human rights were breached, have been seeking a judicial review at the High Court.
"Judge Mr Justice Foskett ruled their cases could now go to a full hearing..."

BBC News.

As 50% of the hacked suing so far are gay, this could mean a) the News Of The World are especially interested in the private lives of gay men and/or b) you should never cross a queen.

Westboro Baptist Church: Even Christians Hate You

"The notorious protests against homosexuals by the Westboro Baptist Church have backfired after a prominent comedian felt inspired to donate to a gay charity on their behalf.
"Crass comedian Lisa Lampanelli has pledged to make a $50,000 donation to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis charity after Westboro Baptist church protesters turned up to picket one of her shows.
"Lampanelli promised to donate $1,000 in the name of every Westboro member who protested outside her show last Friday night in Topeka, Kansas, also home to the Westboro Baptist Church.
"Although 48 Westboro members turned up, Lampanelli decided to round it up. Now a $50,000 donation will be made to the Gay Men’s Health Crisis “in their name.”
"Critics of Westboro are quipping that the fundamentalist church has inadvertently made a positive contribution to gay causes."

From The Christian Post.

I keep saying this but the total mentalists at WBC are our own best enemy.
Here's Lisa's website.
Fagburn salutes you, Lisa!

Bradley Manning: Hero

There is a public meeting about Bradley, held at the Houses of Parliament tomorrow evening - 'Hero, enemy of the state, information champion, victim?'
As a crazed anarchist Fagburn thinks Bradley is all of the above, and sees no contradiction in that.
But thanks for asking.
The meeting coincides with a visit to London by Barack Obama, the first African-American-Irish President of the USA.
Here's the leader of the free world declaring Bradley guilty.
Here is a piece explaining why Obama saying that was unlawful.
Can someone please shove his Nobel Peace Prize up his arse?

Sherlock: "The Gayest Story In The History Of Television" - Official!!

"[It's about the relationship] and how it develops and how it changes and the things that wind each other up, the things that they genuinely sort of love about each other as well. It's the gayest story in the history of television... People certainly run with that which I'm quite happy with! But we all saw it as a love story. Not just a love story, but those two people who do love each other - a slightly dysfunctional relationship sometimes, but a relationship that works. They get results."

Martin Freeman at the Baftas last night.

For Dominic Crouch: His Dad Speaks

Dominic Crouch, a 15 year-old kid from Cheltenham, committed suicide after being bullied and teased at school cause people thought he was gay.
Here's the eulogy his dad, Roger, gave at his funeral.
More tributes here.

x

• This video was made by Manchester's LGFoundation, here's a link to their Enough Is Enough! campaign.

Joely Redgrave: Bisexual Father And Marxist Mother

"Freedom of the press, and it being used responsibly, are very hot topics at present given the phone hacking investigation," writes Joely Richardson, in The Daily Telegraph.
"Last week a national newspaper published excerpts from an unauthorised biography titled The House of Redgrave — The Secret Lives of the Theatrical Dynasty...
"The newspaper pulled out a truncated version of a sentence that stated “the day Vanessa Redgrave walked in to find her husband in bed with her father”. It repeatedly ran this statement as its headline. If one were to have read the whole piece, it did mention right at the very end — small print as it were — that “someone (now dead) supposedly said it to someone”.
"If we are to enter a phase of journalism where “rumour has it” is printable, then no one is safe. It’s vastly irresponsible and as my favourite Chinese whisper joke goes “send reinforcements we’re going to advance” whisper, whisper down the line, “what did he say?” — “He said send three and fourpence we’re going to a dance!”.
"The argument of “today’s news, tomorrow’s fish and chips” no longer holds, with information stored on the internet. This should heighten the bar of responsibility, not lower it.
"The articles reduced my parents to the labels of “Bisexual Father and Marxist Mother”. Myopic to say the least. My mother, for the last 20 years anyway, would not call herself a Marxist but a human rights activist. In fact she has not been a member of any political party for decades. In the last two general elections she has voted Liberal Democrat. For the past 16 years she has been a Unicef Global Goodwill Ambassador.
"My father’s bisexuality is a footnote if anything, not a headline of what defined his great contribution to the arts. Are Tennessee Williams or Terence Rattigan known as “gay playwrights”?" [Err, yes - Fagburn].

The Daily Mail - for it was they - have now doctored the headline and the article which read; "Revealed: The day Vanessa Redgrave found her husband in bed with her father" so it now reads "The cursed legacy that still haunts Vanessa Redgrave"
Here's the original version.
Thankfully Fagburn's favourite extract from this rather silly-sounding book "Vanessa Redgrave and the red sex slaves: How her bid to start Marxist revolution plunged her into bizarre scandal" is still available untouched.
Fagburn does love Vanessa - but she is almost as ridiculously litigious as Elton John.

Brokeback Mountain: Bad Romance

"Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger’s rodeo romance in Brokeback Mountain has been voted film fans’ top on-screen love affair.
"The gay cowboys beat the bunny-boiling fling ­between Michael Douglas and Glenn Close in Fatal Attraction into second place.
Controversial romp Lolita – about a man’s obsession with a schoolgirl – was third, with Julia Roberts’ hooker date with Richard Gere in Pretty Woman fourth.
"Star-crossed lovers Romeo & Juliet’s doomed crush made it to number five in the poll by DVD rental service Lovefilm.
"Steamy flicks Notes On A Scandal, Disclosure, The Graduate, Match Point and Unfaithful made up the rest of the top 10 in the love flick stakes.
"Fliss White, of Lovefilm, said: “From under-age encounters to love triangles, we are definitely a nation which loves a scandal.”"

The Daily Mirror.
Dutifully cut and pasted by Jonny Payne at The Pink Paper.

Actually Lovefilm's poll was of "The top ten film affairs in need of a super injunction."

Here they are:

1.Brokeback Mountain (22 per cent)
2.Fatal Attraction (18 per cent)
3.Lolita (13 per cent)
4.Pretty Woman (12 per cent)
5.Romeo & Juliet (nine per cent)
6.Notes on a Scandal (six per cent)
7.Disclosure (five per cent)
8.The Graduate (four per cent)
9.Match Point (three per cent)
10.Unfaithful (two per cent)

Kathy Kirby: 1938-2011

No - thank you!
What a wonderful woman you were.
Wow!

Superinjunctions: Ever Got The Feeling You Missed The Point?

As of today you have no right to privacy.
I don't know about you, but I don't want anyone to have "the right to know" who I shagged last week.
Well done the world of stupid!

Lady Gaga: Questions And Answers

"Her outlandish fashion sense has helped make Lady Gaga the pop phenomenon of the digital age – but does the 25-year-old New Yorker have the musical talent to lift her to the ranks of all-time greatness?" The Daily Telegraph.

No.

Christian Nutter Watch: "Homosexuals! Islam! Nazis!"

Bryan Fischer, The American Family Association from Rightwingwatch.org
Kind of makes you wish the Rapture had come...

The Observer: Letter To The Editor

Criticising George Michael for his concern for "the poor gay children", Barbara Ellen says: "It's not as if we ever think of straight children – they are just children" ("Crashing into Snappy Snaps doesn't encourage homophobia, George", Comment). That is because the assumption prevails that all children are heading for heterosexuality. The education they get, the socialising facilitated by schools (how many schools would smile on a gay couple attending the school prom as a couple?) and the widespread reluctance to tackle homophobic bullying all reflect this.

Paul Brownsey

Glasgow

Here's Barbara Ellen's stupid piece from last week; George Michael crashing into Snappy Snaps doesn't encourage homophobia
Barbara is one of Fagburn's favourite writers, but what a very silly piece that was.

Headline Of The Week: The Mail On Sunday

Bulgarian killer's gay ex-lover claims beheading maniac's mind was poisoned by drugs in Britain
Gay! Drugs! Foreign! Murder!
It's got it all going on!!!

Azerbaijan: Hello Azerbaijan!!!

Azerbaijan now has a gay website!!! www.gay.az.
Well done gay Azerbaijan!

Tom Daley: Happy Birthday To You

You get me almost as many random hits as Lady Gaga.

Glee Watch: Awwww!!!! etc etc

"It's kind of awesome."

Stephen Sondheim: The Boy From...

Almost certainly the greatest and funniest and gayest - and least known Stephen Sondheim - song ever written.
Brava!

Jerusalem: And Did Those Gay Feet?

'Jerusalem 'at risk of being reserved for gay weddings’ as vicars dismiss it as a song not a hymn' - The Daily Mail reports, quite bafflingly.
Let us rock!

For Bradley

Kenneth Clarke: Live At The Witch Trials

"I cannot remember a day of such exaggerated political hysteria since the last one. Anyone would have thought that Ken Clarke had declared that he was soft on rapists and the causes of rape. He did not make such a declaration and nor did he come close to doing so. Instead, he made a single error. Although acutely aware that reforming law and order tends to generate emotive debate, he agreed to go on a national phone-in to discuss his reforms, during which, inevitably, victims of crime, including rape, would call..."

Steve Richards, The Independent, asks 'Anyone hear what Clarke really said on rape sentencing?'
Clearly not.
What a shoddy shameful episode this has been.
Another victory for the stupid people.
Well done stupid people - it's your world.
We just live in it.

Fagburn Say: More Of This Sort Of Thing!

Mr Gingrich and his wife Callista were attending a book-signing in Minneapolis when they had the box of sparkling confetti emptied over their heads.
Protester Nick Espinosa, a well-known political prankster, approached the couple and said: "Feel the rainbow, Newt. Stop the hate. Stop anti-gay politics. It's dividing our country and it's not fixing our economy."
Mr Espinosa, 24, said he was protesting against a proposal to ban gay marriage in Minnesota.
He later explained: "I don't think a free will adulterer like Newt has any ground to stand up while telling others who they can and can't love."

From Fagburn's favourite news source, Sky News.
Video footage, model's own.

David Laws: The Vortex

David Laws is interviewed in The Times today.
Windswept hair, unironed Indian cotton shirt, but that's not the main thing...
David Laws breaks his silence on being gay and why he kept it secret.

“Certainly becoming a public figure, if you are also a very private individual, doesn’t make it a more obvious time to be open about your sexuality. In fact you become even more sensitive about it.”

At the risk of repeating myself yet again, I abhor Laws' politics, but feel much sympathy about how he ended up in a crazed vortex of denial about his sexuality.
And I hate hearing gay men - whose circumstances have been very different or more fortunate - gloating over his closetry and downfall.
The interview is behind the Murdoch paywall, but may be posted below...

Thought For The Day: On Lady Gaga

Lady Gaga is one of the great performers of the 21st century. Who else dares to wear a dress made of meat, develops prosthetic face horns or appears before a screaming Carlisle audience in a rubber catsuit that looks as if it were designed with men with a pregnancy fetish in mind? She has taken the nightclub staple of doing a “look” and thrown it out to the general public on a level nobody has achieved since David Bowie, all the while singing and dancing with rigid professionalism and discipline.
So why does her music have to be so bad?

Will Hodgkinson asks the obvious question in The Times.

"Born This Way is the album equivalent of a finely cooked meal with a load of tomato ketchup splurged all over it. It’s full of nice ideas, but they are inevitably subsumed under the all-powering but bland ingredient of Nineties Euro dance. Something original and interesting will start up but, before you know it, a familiar thud-thud beat bludgeons it into non-existence...
"The title track of Born This Way is the big anthem. With lines such as “don’t be a drag, just be a queen” it’s so squarely aimed at Lady Gaga’s gay audience that you suspect she would have roped in John Inman to trill “I’m free” somewhere around the second verse."

Couldn't agree more.
Fagburn's problem with the Gaga is that the music sounds like the sort of music I've been running away from in gay clubs for the last 100 years.
Oh, and I find her ever so slightly patronising.

Weekending

I had the greatest time
when you came down to Brighton
just last weekend.

Though it feels like
ABBA's Our Last Summer
all spent in 48 hours.

Gay Churnalism (Continued): I Am 21 (Going on 101)

"Abercrombie and Fitch is set to open its first location in France next week and to help celebrate the grand opening, the clothing store has decided to introduce Parisians to one of their favorite traditions - shirtless male models posing outside of the store.
"Watch 101 of them promote the store on the Champs Élysées. AFTER THE JUMP." Towleroad

"Abercrombie Unleashes 101 Shirtless Models Onto Paris Streets (VIDEO)" - Huffington Post

"Watch: 101 Shirtless Models Invade Paris" - gay.com

"101 Shirtless A&F Men Take Over Paris" - The Advocate

Also reported in endless gay blogs - just Google it.

Erm, I can count 21 shirtless men - tops.
Perhaps the other 80 are hiding behind that tree?
When in doubt ignore your own eyes, and just cut-and-paste the press release.
You do the math/s!

David Cameron: "No Call For Gay Kiss Ban"

David Cameron has indicated he will not support any calls to ban gay kissing on TV before 9pm.
It follows newspaper claims that the prime minister didn't want images of same sex kissing shown before the watershed.
Last year the government asked the chief executive of the Mothers' Union, Reg Bailey, to carry out a review into the way children were 'sexualised' by things like TV shows, music videos, clothing and adverts.
The review is due to be published later this month.
Some newspaper reports claimed it could call for a ban on same sex kissing on TV in the early evening, leading to criticism from soap stars.
Coronation street actor Anthony Cotton, who plays gay father Sean Tully, said David Cameron was "not in touch with people" after reports he would support the review's recommendations.
But a spokesman for the prime minister has told Newsbeat: "Those suggesting that the PM is looking at a ban are both wrong and being irresponsible."
He said the review's remit "doesn't include making recommendations as to what should or shouldn't be shown on TV".
However the Department for Education's website says Reg Bailey's review will be looking into how parents can tell broadcasters about the "things they are unhappy about".
Earlier this month, Mr Bailey tweeted: "Don't believe everything you read in the press. Brookside kiss has never been mentioned in anything the review has looked at."

Newsbeat, BBC Radio 1.
Please let this be the end of this ridiculous Daily Mail-invented fairy tale.
Oy vey!

The Arab Spring: Open Season?

"Arab lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) suffered like all citizens of the Arab countries from many decades of oppression by despotic rulers, whether they be “secular” or religious monarchies. Is the Arab spring about to change this? Is it time for LGBT Arabs to come out of the closet and demand rights?"

Asks Gay Middle East - in a guest blog hosted by the UK Foreign Office website for IDAHO.
The Gay Middle East website is an amazing resource, and those questions will be more likely to be answered there than in that rather dry state-sanctioned piece.

Dossier: Confusing Erections

American bookstore chains Barnes & Noble and Borders have covered up the cover of the new issue of fash mag Dossier because it features androgynous model Andrej Pejic topless - in case it gives their customers confusing erections.
Skye Parrott, co-founder of Dossier and creative director told Huffington Post the stores have asked for the magazine to be placed in "opaque poly bags because even though they knew Andrej was a man, he looked too much like a woman, basically."
Parrott told the Huff; "It's a naked man on the cover of a magazine, which is done all of the time without being covered up, so I definitely don't think it merits this, but I understand what it is. It's not a coincidence that it's only the giant U.S. chain stores that are asking us to do this....It's only the American copies that are being censored. It seems that it probably made people uncomfortable. But that's part of what's interesting about the cover, I think, is that it's playing with those ideas of gender roles. He's topless, you can see that he's a man, but if you look at his face, he looks like a woman and he's so beautiful, he's both in that picture, in a way. I think that's what's interesting about it."
Both the Times and The Daily Mail covered this story today.
The Times cropped out those troubling titties (you have to click a button if you want to see the full cover online) - the Mail didn't.
This is not the first time Andrej's androgynous good looks have been causing a commotion.

Andy Warhol: Famous For $15 Million

“What is a cynic? A man who knows the price of everything and the value of nothing” - Oscar Wilde.

"Yet it was still Warhol’s week. Altogether, some $179 million (£110 million) was paid for 54 Warhols – an exceptionally high 25 per cent of the week’s takings. At Sotheby’s, 16 small portraits of Jackie just reached its estimate to sell for $20 million, thanks to supportive bidding from the biggest Warhol dealer, Jose Mugrabi. It was a big week for him, too. He bid again on a late painting of shadows by Warhol until it sold for five times its estimate to a private collector for $4.8 million.
"At Christie’s, two other bidders competed for a four-part Warhol self-portrait which went for $38.4 million – a record for a Warhol portrait and the highest price of the week. Californian collectors Norman and Norah Stone were asking $30 million for a large “fright wig” self-portrait, which was mopped up by Mugrabi for $27.5 million. Mugrabi was also a seller: a Sixties self-portrait that he bought in 1998 for $370,000 sold for $6.8 million..."

The Daily Telegraph reports from the "four-day marathon" contemporary art sales in New York at Sotheby’s, Christie’s and Phillips de Pury & Co.
Andy would of course be more than happy that he is now mainly discussed in terms of how much his art makes at auction; “Making money is art and working is art and good business is the best art.”
In March a 10 foot statue of Andy Warhol was unveiled in New York - the statue depicts Warhol going shopping.