Sex Education: True Faith

Christina Patterston offers a warning in The Independent today about the increasing encroachment of religion into British politics.
And how the relationship between Cameron's Conservative Coalition government and "faith groups" is becoming ever closer and cosier.
Patterson notes that eight of the 24 flagship "free schools" opening this week have a "faith ethos".
And of course how: "Nadine Dorries, the MP for Mid-Bedfordshire, is proposing an amendment to the Health Bill which will ensure that women planning abortions will get 'independent counselling. Since the Bill is designed to cut the abortion rate by a third, many people wonder just how "independent" that can be."
Perhaps most worrying of all, all seven of the "sex and education providers" asked to join the Sex And Relationships Council - a new government advisory group - are faith groups.
(Note to older readers "Sex And Relationships" is now the proper name for what we knew as "Sex Education lessons").
So this council advises the government on how sex and relationships is/are taught in schools.
Got that?
Shall we have a look who's on it?
Here are the seven founding members and what they stand for:
[All quotes taken direct from their websites]

Challenge Team UK - Legz Akimbo Theatre Company-types who tour schools promoting sexual abstinence before marriage through embarrassing plays. Covertly Christian. "Saving sex gives adolescents who may be confused about their sexuality time to mature before deciding whether they are 'gay' or 'straight'."

Evaluate - the educational outreach wing of CARE - "a well-established Christian charity providing resources and helping to bring Christian insight and experience to matters of public policy."
Pro-abstinence - Slightly obsessed with STDs.
Care evolved out of Mary Whitehouse's Festival Of Light who protested "the permissive society" eg TV filth and The Gays.

Family Education Trust - "supports the traditional family... It has no political or religious affiliations..."
Eh? They're a Conservative Christian fundamentalist group. Previously known as Family & Youth Concern; the FYC were a right-wing pressure group that played a key role in the homophobic scaremongering about schools that led to Section 28.

LIFE - the anti-abortion (and pro-abstinence) charity. Claims to be non-religious - actually Catholic.

Lovewise - "a charity which seeks to help schools and youth groups by providing presentations on the subjects of marriage, sex and relationships from a Christian perspective." "Wanting to warn young people to avoid the important medical consequences of sex outside marriage, they developed presentations that encourage them to consider the God-given design of marriage."

Right to Life - anti-abortion lobby group, also big on "defending the child’s right to a father." Catholic? Does the pope shit in the woods?

Silver Ring Thing - Ghastly American evangelical group that "promotes the message of abstinence until marriage centered in a relationship with Jesus Christ." Praise be!

So all are Christian "faith groups" (Explicit or not).
And all eight are pro-abstinence, anti-abortion and/or anti-gay.
Most claim to be politically unaffiliated, none are progressive, several belong on the right-wing lunatic fringe.
Must we fling this filth at our kids?

As Christine Patterson concludes; "Women have fought hard for the right not to have their bodies controlled by somebody else's God, and so have lesbians and gay men. It's beginning to look as though we might need to start fighting again."

TV Poofs News: 5? 6? 7? 8??!!!

Good evening! Here is the TV Poofs News!
Bong!
Louie Spence - world reknowned journalist and media mogul choreographer and television personality - has been given a regular spot on This Morning
He'll be handing out grooming and fashion [!] tips to students, "homeworkers", seniors and the rapidly-increasing massed ranks of the unemployed.
Hey! Anyone who annoys the fuck out of queer Uncle Tom Andrew Pierce is a friend o' Fagburn's.
Bong!
Don't forget to tune into the first of Jonathan Ross's ITV1 new chat show thing on Saturday.
It's gonna be a whole lot better than his BBC1 one.
That's right, he's given those cunts 4 Poofs & A Piano the push.
Ah, the Poofs - Margarita Pracatan to Wossy's Clive James.
ie Everyone thought they were absolute shit.
Bong!
And finally... Jedward are not gay!!!
I know this cause I read it in the papers.
'Jedward are not gay or autistic, their manager insists' Metro.
Actually their manager didn't say this, their tour manager did in an interview with New! Magazine.
And if someone says something a magazine then it must be true, innit?
New! asked this tour manager/roadie bloke why they seem so shy when talking about their "lovelives" on Celebrity Big Brother?
"They are really shy. I’m sure they do fancy girls but don’t like talking about sex as they’re probably aware that their granny is watching!"
Bless!
But Darryn - the boorish morbidly obese Australian one on Celebrity Big Brother - recently inferred the world reknowned journalists and media moguls lovable Irish singing twins - Jedward & Jedward were A PAIR OF MENTALIST GAYS!
"Darryn was just stirring s***. They’re not gay," insisted one Liam McKenna.
So why haven't they had girlfriends, yet?
Eh? EH!!!!
Is it a mad Christian "No sex til marriage" thing like their brainwashed idols The Jonas Brothers?
Or Sir Cliff Of Richard, for example.
"I don’t know if they’re overly religious, I think it’s just a conscious decision they made. The Jonas Brothers are their idols and they said they didn’t want sex before marriage. I think the boys live their life by these guys."
Of course.
I am literally rooting for them to win.*
Their actual manager, Louis Walsh, was unavailable for comment.
And anyway, Louis Walsh is also really shy and doesn’t like talking about sex in case his granny's watching.

* I am actually. This isn't ironic. I love those two to bits.

OutServe: Another Gay Magazine

Can you imagine a gay magazine that isn't full of endless pointless photos of the fugly vain dickwads that write for it?
Believe it or not there really is one.
OutServe Magazine has no photos of its staff - cause none of them can legally be out at work cause they're in the US Military.
Okay, some of them are retired or were "discharged" for being queer or were arrested for exposing American war crimes, but that kinda spoils the gag.
Anyway, that's all a'changing with their third issue.
It's being published on September 20th - the day that Don't Ask Don't Tell is repealed.
OutServe - The Association of Actively-serving LGBT US Military Personnel - claims over 4,000 members.
There are a mere 1.5 million active US armed forces personnel - and the same again in reserve.
The Repeal Issue - will profile "almost a hundred actively serving military members".
According to their news release;
"Additionally, OutServe Magazine has received approval to be distributed on Air Force and Army bases, and will be releasing the magazine in limited Air Force and Army base exchanges beginning next edition."
But what happens if you're... in the navy?

Foo Fighters: Hot Buns

Foo Fighters say;
"And a big hello to you all gay truckers out there."
No, it's not a Foo video, when you get to the music it's Body Language by Queen.
Hot Buns is a promo they made for their upcoming North American Tour.
Why?
Fuck knows.
Cause they'll be driving their equipment round in big trucks, or something.
Not the first time the Foos' Dave Grohl has gone gay on film.
Here's the very odd Low with Jack Black - apparently "banned by MTV", but I'm sure I saw it on there once.
And here he is camping it up in the skies in Learn To Fly.
Lovely.

Grayson Perry: Vote For Fagburn!

The unquestionably wonderful and beyond great Grayson Perry has curated a new exhibition at the British Museum, The Tomb Of The Unknown Craftsman.
"An installation of his new works alongside objects made by unknown men and women throughout history from the British Museum’s collection."
It'll be amazing, obviously.
And as it's at the British Museum, you can go and look at all the old statues of fellas in the nip!
But... if you go online there's a competition to find stunt doubles for Grayson's teddy bear, Alan Measles.
"The 12 finalists face the public vote to find the three winning teddies to ride on the back of Grayson's motorbike during his exhibition."
One of these teddies goes by the majestic-sounding name Fag Burn Blue.
I think you know what to do.

We Love Pop: ♥

Being ludicrously out of touch really busy recently, Fagburn was completely oblivious to the launch of a brand new pop magazine, We Love Pop.
Sorry, I can't be buggered to paste in that ♥.
"GOSSIP," it promises, "FASHION, BOYS UNCENSORED!"
Obviously with the likes of Rihanna, Justin and Glee in the first issue it will only be bought by teenage girls.
And pervy gay men.
There have been the inevitable comparisons with Smash Hits
- inevitable as that's the touchstone brought up whenever a new pop magazine launches.
Ver Hits key secret ingredients was a willingness to rip the piss out of pop stars' pretensions (and stupidity), and an ironic sense of humour that made it appeal to your actual grown-ups, too.
But these days The Gays and the grown-ups may be happy enough getting their fix of that from Popjustice.
Pleasingly we see We Love Pop is edited by Malcolm Mackenzie - a nicer man you couldn't hope to meet - so we wish it well.
And that's an official Fagburn POPFACT!

Richard Littlejohn: Bashing The Bishop BBC Again

Hurrah!
That permanently offended nutball Richard Littlejohn has entered the fray of the Torchwood gaysex scene "storm of controversy" in a "think" piece in the Mail bashing the BBC [Bolsheviks Broadcasting Buggery] once more;
"Take the latest episode of Torchwood, the Doctor Who spin-off. It began with a seven-minute gay sex scene, which outraged many viewers. Why?
[Cause they're the sort of boring prudes who read The Daily Mail? Oh, that's not what you mean. Sorry. Do carry on...]
"The BBC says: ‘We aim to depict relationships, whether heterosexual or homosexual, in an honest and realistic way.’ Fair enough. But what on earth has sex got to do with a science fiction show? Why does the lead character have to be a ‘pansexual’? They’ll be telling us next that the Daleks all wore bondage gear under their tinfoil armour.
"But this is what you get when you hire a proselytising homosexual like Russell T. Davies to write mainstream drama. Gifted writer he may be, but he comes with an agenda.
"There is a place for exploring gay themes on TV, but not at prime time on BBC1 in a programme watched by many children and their parents [It was shown after the watershed]."
"No doubt Davies and his producers will dismiss anyone who objects as a ‘homophobe’. But you don’t have to be a prude or a bigot to disapprove of a gratuitous seven-minute sex scene in a sci-fi series.
It would have been equally unnecessary if it had involved a man and a woman, instead of two men. Of course, there’s always the ‘off’ switch. And it’s not as if there aren’t hundreds of other channels out there. But we’re paying for this through our licence fees.
"BBC drama, like its news output, is always refracted through the prism of the metropolitan prejudices held by the people who work there and take their world view from the pages of the Guardian..."

It's classic Littlejohn, isn't it?
Well, when I say "classic" I mean it reads like a list of illiberal cliches that could have been churned out by the Versificator at The Ministry Of Truth in 1984.
How ironic that Mr Littlejohn accuses the BBC of "churning out some appalling dross".
Why oh why don't we just privatise the BBC and sell it to a fine upstanding gentleman like Richard Desmond?

George & Kenny: G.A.Y. D.I.V.O.R.C.E

Obviously not much happened over the Bank Holiday Weekend, apart from half the Middle East and the Maghreb being on fire, and Europe about to go bankrupt.
So today most of the tabloids went with '[GEORGE] MICHAEL OPENS UP ABOUT PAINFUL LOVE SPLIT'
Yog confirmed he'd split up with his lover of 15 years, Kennny Goss - or "Handsome Texan Kenny Goss" as the tabloids like to call him - onstage at the first night of his comeback tour in Prague last week.
How long ago they actually separated is a matter of much conjecture.
Over the weekend he offered a series of slightly odd, though emotional
tweets on Twitter*
I do get the feeling the the papers have an army of "work experience" interns who spend the whole day just trawling through celebrities' Twitter accounts looking for stories/tittle-tattle.
Fun!

"For the few of you that might care, I don't lie to you ever. When I called [Matthew] Wrights Show in March I told him 3 things. That Kenny had not left me, that he had never threatened to, and that i still loved him. All of those three things remain true.
"Love is not always enough when the past isn't finished with us. Kenny and I have learnt that the hard way, and it put us both, and unfortunately others, especially our loved ones, through great pain.
"I pray he is searching for peace of mind as hard as I am. In the meantime I have a huge family of friends in the people I sing for."
"Music, the great healer. More fun than time too. Time just means waiting to heal, music reminds you right now that there's a good fucking reason to, that one day you will wake up and count your blessings again."

Blub.
Heartache and divorce often lead to great music being made, so the new gaygaygay album could be a goodie.

* George's Twitter account currently appears blank, dunno if this means anything or it's just a temporary hitch.

Morrissey: Meat Is Finger

Heaven knows how I missed this story about Morrissey being bitten by a dog last month.
Well, apparently there's been complications and she's now having further treatment.
Diddums.
You know what they say, don't you?
"When a dog bites a man, that is not news.
Man bites a dog, that is news.
Dog bites Morrissey - that's hilarious."
I wonder he if he'll write a song about it?
The dog that is?

Miranda: Penis!

"As a cosy middle class sitcom Miranda is an unlikely programme to shake the upper echelons of the BBC. But the award-winning Miranda Hart comedy, about to switch from BBC2 to BBC1, prompted discussion by the corporation's most senior executives over a scene involving a penis-shaped chocolate lollipop.
"Keen to avoid further controversy in the wake of the "Sachsgate" affair, BBC management undertook a forensic analysis of the episode including whether the confectionery was too realistic and if Hart licked or sucked it..."

MediaGuardian.
Thankfully sanity prevailed and the scene was reshot with the chocolate penis less prominent - happy now The Daily Mail?!
Naughty Miranda.

Tim Cook: Apple Stretching

"The geek world is somewhere the socially excluded thrive. We're interested in how smart people are – not who they sleep with...
"It's both brilliant and irrelevant that Tim Cook has replaced Steve Jobs at Apple. His appointment will trigger plenty of vicious debate among the tech community on Twitter, but the battle lines will be the usual ones: Apple Rock vs Apple Suck. Tim's gay? Whatever. When's he gonna fix the screwed-up scrolling in Lion?"

Lindsay Fallow on Guardian Unlimited.
What an odd piece - If Tim Cook's sexuality is "irrelevant" then why write an article about it?
Oh, and one little problem; he's not actually out...

Absolutely Fabulous: No More Sweetie!

"Like a good bottle of champagne we hope that we have got better with time without losing any of our sparkle" - Jennifer Saunders.
No, like an old bottle of Champagne Ab Fab's gone flat, stale and rank.
For the love of God woman, let it die!

Vic & Bob's Afternoon Delights: Glassblowers

Currently on the internets pushing some pissy lager.
I found this a little bit childish, but most tittersome none the less.

David Cameron: The Changing Man

"Labour is developing a new strategy to paint David Cameron as an old-style, traditional Tory, according to confidential documents obtained by the Observer, as the parties prepare to do battle during the coming conference season. The opposition believes the prime minister has abandoned the centre ground in recent months to adopt a more orthodox conservative stance on issues such as law and order, immigration and welfare..."
"The two-and-half-page paper written by the MP Shaun Woodward, a former Tory frontbencher and now head of Labour's anti-Tory attack unit, and circulated among senior Labour officials, lays bare the areas where the opposition now believes Cameron is vulnerable..."
"[It reads]'Of course, in discussing how we frame out messages on the Conservatives it is important that anything we say is credible. We should not ignore there has been limited change on issues such as their attitude to gay rights and an attempt to embrace other aspects of a progressive social liberal agenda.
"But here is the paradox: whilst the Tories made changes before the election – intended to convince the public they were compassionate – since the election (and especially in the last few months) the Tories have taken major strides back towards their ideological roots. Buffeted by events, there is a growing incoherence between 'liberal conservatism' and the increasingly shrill language the Tories are using as they vacate the centre ground."

The Observer.
It doesn't seem Cameron is personally homophobic, but he was quite happy to talk crap about Section 28 when he was standing for election.
A disgraceful amoral opportunist.
The paper's author Shaun Woodward conversely quit the Conservative Party in 2000 because of the opposition front benches opposition to repealing the odious Section 28.
If this Tory-led goverment can seriously consider reactionary and insane changes to the abortion laws, they're probably more than capable of anti-gay stuff, too.
Witness their recently amplified chatter about single parents, that blamed the riots on "family breakdown".
But on the plus side how about that half-price entry to Legoland offer!?

Peregrine Worsthorne: Vs Philip Hensher

"Novelist Philip Hensher will provoke a backlash against homosexuals if he keeps writing such graphic gay sex scenes, says the ex-Sunday Telegraph editor Peregrine Worsthorne. A heated exchange between the writers has been running in the letters page of The Spectator since Worsthorne slammed Hensher's latest novel for its "unseemly anatomical accounts" of provincial orgies.
To those who remember Worsthorne's stance on homosexuality in the Eighties, this may come as no surprise. But he insists he is not homophobic, simply that he finds Hensher's sex scenes "hard to believe" and "depressingly impersonal".
"Philip Hensher and Alan Hollinghurst are two of our greatest contemporary writers," he tells me, "and of course I believe in free speech. But reading Hensher's latest novel I was shocked by all the grisly detail. It's completely unnecessary."
Worsthorne adds that far from being anti-gay, he has "spent much of my time in the gay world", and was recently named a gay icon by a magazine. Hensher, meanwhile, doesn't seem to be taking Worsthorne too seriously: "I really don't give a toss," he says.

Via The Independent On Sunday
Here's Worsthorne's Spectator piece that started it all;
"...at a time when we are trying to accept homosexuality as ordinary and even cosy, such efforts to stuff filth up our noses are in danger of awaking prejudices that we hoped had been put to sleep for ever."
Crikey! It's like the Torchwood wars for poshos.
Oh, by the way here's Mrs Worst Horn giving a fairly graphic account of gay sexing at his public school;
"A lot of buggery went on..."
Won't somebody please think of the children?????

Torchwood: Ban This Filth!

'It's supposed to be sci-fi, not sex-fi: Hundreds of viewers complain to BBC over 'pointless' gay scenes in Torchwood.'

The Mail On Sunday


Dear The BBC,

I would like to complain in the strongest possible terms about the gay sex scenes in this week's Torchwood.
You couldn't see any cock.
I was watching it with my young grandson and he's mad for cock.
"Show us some cock!" he kept shouting, "COCK!"
He was so angry he hardly touched his Spaghetti Hoops on toast.
I have now cancelled my TV licence fee direct debit and will be making a donation to my favourite charity, the Bel Ami Home For Out Of Work Czech Farmhands.

yours

Edna Welthorpe (Mrs)

I shall let you know the BBC's reply...

500 Complaints - sounds like a co-ordinated campaign by Christian nutters to me.

Leiber & Stoller: Oscar! The Musical

"As the rock world mourned lyricist Jerry Leiber last week, it fondly remembered classic hits such as Jailhouse Rock and Stand By Me, for which Leiber wrote the words and Mike Stoller the music. Now Stoller has revealed that the best may be yet to come.
"The 78-year-old Stoller has revealed that, in collaboration with writer Michael Bywater, the pair had recently written 11 new songs for a musical about Oscar Wilde that was nearing completion...
The production will be set in a music hall, as "a sort of Christmas Carol", in which Wilde is "brought to see his life as it actually was". Believing that Wilde has often been misrepresented, Bywater said: "He was a fragmented man. Therefore people could choose the Oscar that they wanted. Some people think [of] 'the aesthete', some think 'the family man', some think 'the gay activist', when he was nothing of the sort. There are so many Oscars..."

The Observer.

What a great note to go out on.
Apart from the Rorschach Test cliches.
Let's hope it's a goodie.
Scheduled to open In London next spring.
Does anyone remember Mike Read's 2004 musical Oscar Wilde?
It closed after one night - setting a record.

America: Pants

Matt Lucas: Harry's Game

"

"The blond bloke looks like what you have left after you have made a man.”

Matt Lucas, on The Only Way Is Essex's Harry Derbidge quoted in the Star On Sunday.
He also said; “Essex people are really common and when they talk it makes your ears bleed. Essex is vermin. The accent is a blemish on this great nation.”
Apparently this was a joke, but on the previous form of this millionaire snobby ex-public school boy I'm not so sure.

Gadaffi: At Last A Gay Angle!

'Libya: Colonel Gaddafi's son locked up his best pal for rejecting his gay advances'

Sunday Mirror


'Inside Gaddafi Compound: Gay Porn, Spinning Teacups, Golden Mermaid Sofa…Condoleezza Rice'

The Blaze.

"Jalloud said he thought Qaddafi was either hiding in a modest house in Tripoli, on the Algerian border or in his hometown of Sirte, heading eventually for the desert, possibly dressed as a woman."

Fox News.

Please rememember that anything you read about Libya and the Gadaffis at the current time may be nonsense.
I could be wrong but there doesn't appear to be a gay porn DVD with the title given, Boyz Tracks...

Anyway, here's a piece by the great Robert Fisk in The Independent.

Tom Daley: Nice Cook

A friend's come round to cook me dinner tonight.

Marcus Bachmann: Pray The Anti-Gay Away

Flashmob thing outside the Bachmann's queer-killing "counselling service".
Sublime.
Venceremos!
[Old Spanish civil war saying - "We shall win!" Also big in Chile in the early 70s.]

Noam Chomsky: Life On Mars

"If there was an observer on Mars, they would probably be amazed that we have survived this long. There are two problems for our species' survival - nuclear war and environmental catastrophe - and we're hurtling towards them. Knowingly. This hypothetical Martian would probably conclude that human beings were an evolutionary error."

The NS Interview.
Everything is stupid.

Justin Bieber: Comes Early

"So it's true... been in the studio doing something special for christmas. We are going to try and raise a lot of money this year for charity!
"Trying to figure out the name of this christmas album. It is special. We are going to raise alot for charity with it. What is a good name?"

Via Twitter.

A list of great Pop things:
1. Justin Bieber.
2. Christmas records.

Thus - this will be amazeballs.
My suggested album title?
'Justin Bieber Wishes You An Amazeballs Christmas.'
I hope he's left that SLUT of a girlfriend by then.

Tom Daley: "Secret Heartache"

"HE’S still a baby-faced youngster, but diving sensation Tom Daley has been forced to mature rapidly over the past few months.
"The tragic death of his beloved father in May devastated the 17-year-old star – and he has quickly stepped up to become the man of the house..."

The Daily Mirror.
He's doing something to do with cars, apparently.
He's taking his driving lessons at Goodwood. *STALKER ALERT*

Will Young: Well Thick

"My sexuality wouldn't have stayed as quiet as it did if I was auditioning now.
"There's far more of an appetite to know about contestants' private lives.
"It was still madness around Pop Idol because it was growing so quickly, but much less than now."

Will Young, The Sun.

Will Young was outed by The Sun's sister paper The News Of The World
Why the fuck is he talking to these cunts?

EDL: I'm Against Fascism

The freedom of speech and the right of assembly means you let even these Nazi cunts march.
I hope they all fucking die - ideally drowning in a pool of gay Asian spunk - but freedom is indivisible.
So let them march.
The rest is paste.
Good day.

Wittgenstein: Never Understand

"I was sorry not to have seen you at Christmas. It struck me as rather funny that you should want to hide from me, for the following reason: I have been morally dead for more than a year! From that you can judge for yourself whether I am fine or not: I am one of those cases which perhaps are not all that rare today: I had a task, did not do it, and now the failure is wrecking my life. I ought to have done something positive with my life, to have become a star in the sky. Instead of which I am stuck on earth, and now I am gradually fading out. My life has really become meaningless and so it consists only of futile episodes. The people around me do not notice this and would not understand; but I know that I have a fundamental deficiency. Be glad of it, if you don't understand what I am writing here."

Ludwig Wittgenstein, letter to Paul Engelmann, January 1921.
Ludwig to Bertrand Russell on Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus, 1921; "Don’t worry, I know you’ll never understand it.”
Never understand.
You'll never understand me, yeah.
"The world is all that is the case..."
"And whatever a man knows, whatever is not mere rumbling and roaring that he has heard, can be said in three words." (Kürnberger, dedication in Tractatus Logico-Philosophicus)
I. Love. You.

Homophobia: LOL

More amazeballs placards on happyplace.com

Alan Turing: Like Socrates

A Centenary Celebration of the Life and Work of Alan Turing.

Strange now to think of you gone
One of the few people who is one of your actual geniuses.
If it wasn't for you and Tito we might have lost WW2.
Or not had computers and the internet.
Imagine a world without instant gay porn!
Bertrand Russell taught Ludwig Wittgenstein who taught Alan Turing...
They didn't get on; "You seem to be saying that if one uses a little common sense, one will not get into trouble."
Ah well, they say great things come in threes.
Like Socrates taught Plato who taught Aristotle.
Killed by The Man - maybes - for being a queer.
Like Socrates.
That's England's way of saying "Thank you".
The apple on your Apple maybes a tribute to the apple that killed him.
How strange Apple is now run by a fag.
Dat's progress!
I guess.

The Daily Mirror: Problem Of The Week

Dear Coleen,

I’m a straight man but I’ve been having feelings for a male cleaner at the hotel where I work. I think he feels the same but we’ve never spoken about it.
There’s a connection when we speak and I think I’m falling in love with him. We were left alone together in a room and all I wanted to do was kiss him.
But there is one big problem – he’s married with two children and has a third on the way.
Do I keep this bottled up or follow my heart?

Here's Colleen's fascinating answer.

The Sun: Sex-swap Falklands Hero Saved By Ferrets

Despite its headline, a surprisingly sympathetic piece in The Sun.
Though note it seems someone being trans is considered newsorthy in itself, and there is a suspicion that the point of the piece may be to elicit laughter.
Not quite sure why this is newsworthy, but let's have more of this and less of this.
Also good to see Ben Summerskill Tweeting about Sebastian Coe "on his voting record, esp on trans stuff".
So when did Stonewall start standing by trans people?

Bradley Manning: Passion

New book coming up!
The Passion Of Bradley Manning - Chase Madar.
Pre-order it here.
Chase Madar wrote this great piece; 'Why Bradley Manning Is An American Hero'.
Respec'!

Gadaffi: Tony Blair's Ex-BFF

"One of his former aides tells the Times that he may have dressed as a woman to disappear over the border into Algeria or Chad."

Reuters.
He had to go cause he reneged on his arms and oil deals made with Tony Blair.
Keep it to youself.
We'll be fucked if this gets out.
A bit like Lockerbie.
Which was done by a Syrian and had nothing to do with Libya.
It's a wonderful world!

The Independent: Why Bother?

Why does The Independent only publish stuff from reactionary right-wing gay posh twats, please?

Thought For The Day: Sir Ian McKellen

On going to talk to kids in schools...
"I've met kids who think they're anti-gay and you talk to them and it turns out they don't know much about it, it's not a subject that is talked about. But [to see] a young gay person who, at 14 knows, and comes out successfully to his parents and family, teachers and friends, it's astonishing. When you hear people saying, 'You shouldn't be talking about homosexuality in schools,' well, if you don't there is going to be another generation of people who are confused, bewildered, suspicious, threatened. These kids aren't threatened by it."

The Guardian.
Aww, bless.
Hats off to you, sir.

The Daily Mail: NOT GAY!!!

'Anti-gay marriage lawmaker admits paying $80 to meet MALE teen - but INSISTS he's not gay' The Daily Mail.

'Bisexual men are not 'closet gays', they really do like men AND women, say scientists' The Daily Mail.

Will Young: Well Done

"Pop Idol made people look at what their prejudices might be.
"So if they voted for this guy all along? They liked him, felt passionate about him, got caught up in the TV show - then suddenly, do they have to think, 'Oh, well I'm not gonna buy his music because he's gay?'.
"That show, rather than me, was very important for gay rights. And sexual equality."

Radio Times.

Is this a joke?
You were in the closet all during Pop Idol, and you only came out after because the News of The World were going to out you.
How exactly is that "very important for gay rights"?
You posh tit.

Nietzsche: Right Said Fred

This time however I come as the victorious Dionysus, who will turn the world into a holiday... Not that I have much time.

From his last letter.

He died today, but in 1900.

Fred is dead - and we have killed him.

Jedward: Even Gayer Than Steve Pafford

And that's saying something.

Jedward's just an exercise in camp, isn't it?
Bless!

Fagburn: Back In A Bit

Portsmouth Symphonia: Classical Mudley

I blame Brian Eno.

Guy Marks: Loving You Has Made Me Bananas

My favourite song when I was a kid.
No wonder I turned out queer.

Peter Tatchell: A Few Questions

'Dear Pride London,

East London LGBT Pride – Saturday 1 October 2011

Earlier this year stickers were plastered around East London declaring it a ‘Gay Free Zone’, warning that Allah’s punishment for homosexuality is severe.

[About seven were, but anyway. You should see the graffiti in (non-Muslim) toilets...]

Previously, there had been a series of horrific homophobic attacks outside the local George and Dragon gay pub.

[So why wasn't this reported to the police at the time - or reported in the gay media? Everyone knows there's an EDL racist involved with the George & Dragon]

In one assault, a 21 year old gay man, Oliver Hemsley, was battered over the head with a glass bottle and stabbed seven times, leaving him permanently paralysed and disabled: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-9183.html/

[There is no evidence it was a homophobic attack - if your source is Pink News, we are fucked]

These gay-bashing attacks coincide with a dramatic decline in the number of gay venues in East London and some LGBT people moving out of the area because they feel it is no longer safe to live there.

[Evidence, please. If anything there's been a dramatic rise in gay venues in East London. Hello Hoxton!]

The response of the LGBT community to this homophobia has been feeble. There has been no visible protest and no public affirmation that East London is not, and will never be, a gay-free zone.

{Maybe cause this is all nonsense on a stick]

Many LGBT people want to protest against homophobia in East London. They feel frustrated, angry and let down that no effective protest has taken place. They want a non-racist, unifying event that does not demonise particular communities, but which challenges homophobia and all hatred. I share their feelings.

[Woope-do!]

The suggestion that LGBT people have to tolerate homophobia for the sake of preserving good community relations and not upsetting certain communities, is totally unacceptable. It is a shabby capitulation to prejudice and a shameful betrayal of the generations of LGBT people who have fought for our equality and human rights.

Every victimised community has a moral right – and a civic duty – to fight back against their bigoted oppressors.

[Fine]

People who oppose an LGBT Pride march in East London would never dare tell the Black, Asian or Jewish communities that they should not protest against discrimination and violence. Why are LGBT people expected to forego their right to protest while other victimised communities are not?

[You tell me]

I therefore urge you to organise an East London LGBT Pride march and rally, working in cooperation with local LGBT groups.

[Keep an open mind or else!]

Given the mostly unchallenged homophobia and the declaration that the area is a gay-free zone, we have to protest and show that East London is not a gay-free zone. This requires LGBT visibility and the reclaiming of East London as safe and queer-friendly.

Pride London is a suitably respected and neutral body to host the event, with the necessary experience and resources.

[BZZT! - Not neutral, at least one of them's a racist]

East London Pride does not have to be big or complicated - just a simple march, with some music and a few speeches afterwards.

[By you?]

All you need to do is agree the date, time, assembly area, route and finishing point – and organise a small stage and sound system for the post-march rally.

If you agree in principle by early September, the event can be organised and publicised to take place a month later.

My suggestion for East London LGBT Pride is:

Date: Saturday 1 October 1pm for 1.30pm start

Start point: Commercial Street E1 (by Aldgate East tube)

Route: Whitechapel Road, Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green Road, Shoreditch High Street, Hackney Road, Austin Street.

End point: The churchyard or roadway opposite the gay pub, The George and Dragon, in Austin Street E2. A road closure could be agreed with the police. A small stage and sound system could be erected on the back of flat-top lorry, for speeches and music until 6pm.

I suggest that the East London Pride theme is: "Unite against all hate" or “East London United” or "Gays & Muslims united against hate".

We want to the event to be inclusive and unifying. Black, Asian, Muslim and Jewish organisations should be invited to participate and to provide speakers for the post-march rally.

This rally should explicitly oppose all prejudice and hate, including racism, homophobia, anti-Semitism, misogyny, transphobia and the victimisation of Muslim people.

[Joke?]

We should specifically advise that the EDL and BNP are not welcome and should not attend. If they turn up, we should liaise with the police to remove them. We want nothing to do with their politics of bigotry and division.

[Like this isn't a magnet for racists].

Moreover, no racist, nationalist or far right symbols should be permitted. For example: no Union Jacks or St George's flags.

[See photo above]

Please give me your feedback.

Best wishes,

Peter Tatchell
Director
Peter Tatchell Foundation

[Peter, I know you have good intentions, but this is mainly junk]

Nick Ashford: 1942-2011

Of "& Simpson" fame.
Bad day for great songwriting...

Jerry Leiber: 1933-2011

Of and Stoller fame.
Songwriter, communist, first man to write hit singles about bummery, for Elvis!, Red Bird Records - Home of The Shangri-las, Is That All There Is?

"But when I kissed a cop down on 34th and Vine,
he broke my little bottle of Love Potion Number Nine."

"Number 47 said to number 3;
'You're the cutest jailbird I ever did see
I sure would be delighted with your company
Come on and do the Jailhouse Rock with me.'"

This is my favourite Leiber & Stoller song.
Like many of Jerry's songs it was probably written as a piss-take of love song clichés, but what the hey.

Hunx and his Punx: Too Toung To Be In Love

Not sure if this is the worst album ever made, or the best.

I Think About You

Marc Almond: Edinburgh Man

Ten Plagues has got some rave reviews - ain't seen it yet, but I'm overjoyed for you two boys.
Sounds like it'll be a little bit amazing.
Wow.

• They are doing it in Edinburgh.

Glee: Kissing Boys

“Mommy, they are just like me.”

My oldest son is six years old and in love for the first time. He is in love with Blaine from Glee.

For those who don’t know Blaine is a boy… a gay boy, the boyfriend of one of the main characters, Kurt.

This isn’t a ‘he thinks Blaine is really cool’ kind of love. It is a mooning at a picture of Blaine’s face for a half hour followed by a wistful “He’s so pretty” kind of love.

He loves the episode where two boys kiss. My son will call people in from other parts of the house to make sure they don’t miss his ‘favorite part.’ He’s been known to rewind it and watch it over again…and force other to, as well, if he doesn’t think people have been paying enough attention.

This infatuation doesn’t bother me or his father. We live in a very hip-liberal neighborhood, many of our friends are gay, and idea of having a gay son isn’t something that bothers either of us. Our son is going to be who he is, and it is our job to love him. End of story.

He is also six. Six year olds get obsessed with all kinds of things. This might not mean anything at all. We always joke that he’s either gay, or we have the best blackmail material in the history of mankind when he’s a 16 year old straight boy. (Take that naked bath time pictures!)

Then the other day we were traveling across the state listening to the Warblers album (of course), and in the middle of Candles, my son pipes up from the back seat.

“Mommy, Kurt and Blaine are boyfriends.”

“Yes, they are,” I affirm.

“They don’t like kissing girls. They just kiss boys.”

“That’s true.”

“Mommy, they are just like me.”

“That’s great, baby. You know I love you no matter what?”

“I know…” I could hear him rolling his eyes at me.

When we got home I recapped this conversation to his Dad, and we stood simply looking into each other’s eyes for a moment. Then we smiled.

“So if at 16 he wants to make a big announcement at the dinner table, we can say ‘You told us when you were six. Pass the carrots’ and he’ll be disappointed we stole his big dramatic moment,” my husband says with a laugh and hugs me.

Only time will tell if my son is gay, but if he is I am glad he’s mine. I am glad he has been born into our family. A family full of people who will love and accept him. People who will never want him to change. With parents who will look forward to dancing at his wedding.

And I have to admit, Blaine would be a really cute son-in-law.

From the Tumblr, Getstooobsessed.
Which swiftly went viral...
(And, yes, it appears to be genuine).

Peter Mandelson Vs The Daily Mail: Continued...

Oh.
There you go.
Never could stick him myself.
But - look! - here's a photospread thing featuring "Mandy" and "his partner Ronaldo".

And their little dog, too!
WON'T SOMEBODY PLEASE THINK OF THE CHILDREN???
Still, always good to see The Mail On Sunday taking sides in the class war, methinks...

Louis Walsh: Partners In Crime

'He cites Elton John as someone who commands respect. “He’s my hero in music. Absolutely. He called me recently when I had a big problem, and he didn’t have to do that. But he lifted up the phone and helped.”
'The “problem” is the allegation made in June by a 24-year-old man that Walsh groped him in a Dublin nightclub toilet. The man is said to have later admitted that he was lying, and it was soon evident that Walsh had no case to answer. Nevertheless, he says the fact that what he considers a libel was even published — and on the front page of The Sun — has damaged him psychologically. “It was the biggest nightmare in my life and I will never get over it. I’m still emotional, even talking about it now,” he says. You can tell that he is genuinely upset, so it is unfortunate that his expression — drawn, pained — is instantly familiar as the one that you’ll see when he has to decide whether to vote off some plucky kid on The X Factor. “I’m stressed out. I’m taking sleeping tablets and I’m really wary ... wary of everybody that approaches me now. I am scared. I am suing The Sun. I will never recover from what has happened to me. Never. But I’m trying to block it out and just get on with The X Factor,” he says. “That’s me being absolutely honest, and you can quote me on that.”

Louis Walsh is given a glowing profile in The Times.
The Sun's original story on the "gay sex assault allegations" appears to have disappeared into the ether.
Fagburn really hopes Louis does sue.
But why is he talking to The Sun's big sister paper, The Times?

The current Private Eye claims Queen drummer Roger Taylor recently ordered the cancellation of a Sunday Times serialisation of the book 40 Years Of Queen.
He still hasn't forgiven Rupert Murdoch's News International for The Sun publishing long-lens photos of Freddie Mercury when he was dying 20 years ago.
Fuck the lot of 'em.

Thought For The Day: Ass Kapital

"In a work setting, and in a whole lot of other social settings, someone who is lively is attractive without necessarily being sexually attractive. Someone who dances well is attractive to look at, even if you don't particularly want to have sex with them. I'm saying that there are six elements of which only one is purely sexual, and the second one, sex appeal, is only partly to do with sex. Four of them have nothing to do with sexual attraction. There are several theorists whom I note and mention who think the only thing that matters is sexual capital, the only thing that matters is sexual attractiveness. They happen to be gay. In the gay community, this is absolutely the case. The gay community is not interested in talk, not interested in getting to know you. It's interested in sex in a much more straightforward and simple way."

Catherine Hakim - author of Honey Money - struggles to explain the difference between "erotic capital" and "sexual capital" to Zoe Williams in The Guardian.
"Erotic capital... divides into six categories," Williams summarises, "beauty; sexual attractiveness; social skills like grace, charm and discreet flirtation; liveliness, which is a mixture of physical fitness, social energy and good humour; social presentation, including dress, jewellery and other adornments; and finally, sexuality itself, competence, energy, imagination."
Williams calls the above quote "a homophobic rant" - I'm not so sure, and really don't think it's that contentious a statement.
You don't agree?
How do you explain this then?
The book looks like a load of pseudo-scientific nonsense on a stick, though.
Social pseudo-science books seem to be selling very well these days, I notice.
Will Self reviews Hakim's book here.
If anyone can figure out what Mr Self makes of it, please let me know.
Thanks.

George Michael: Doing It For The Kids

"The other project is a dance album. I hope it will be universal in its appeal but it will be very directly gay in its lyrical content because as a gay man who has been living out – in public – for about 15 years, I feel it’s about time I put my life into my work the way that I’ve always said that I do. And I do – I’ve just tended to write about my relationships, but gay relationships are really not that different – falling in love is falling in love, being heartbroken is being heartbroken...
"It’s about dance, sex, fun – that’s what a lot of being gay is now – but the gay community has become so apolitical, it’s so not sexy to be an activist. It’s considered ‘spoiling the party.’ We’ve become this a-politicised community, which has so much to complain about still. The album is not about ‘Stop the homophobia’ – it’s about making people understand how damaging stereotyping can be. Stereotyping is not necessarily homophobic, it just stuff that doesn’t occur to straight people. It’s the same kind of stuff that wouldn’t occur to me about straight people’s life because I don’t have children. I’m addressing gay people in gay terms, and a lot of people will be shocked and won’t like it. A lot of gay kids will love it, I hope. But it’s all honest and I have the best intentions. I have to make these statements in gay terminology, to gay people, with lots of club remixes and sex and, hopefully, some humour."

George Michael, interviewed by Canada's Metro.
15 years after Older, George gives us Grindr - The Album.
Can't wait.
Let's hope this isn't yet another of George's projects he's too stoned to actually finish.