First Dates: Everybody's Doing It

First Dates contestant Daniel May became mildly famous after claiming his appearance on the show lead to him being beaten up in a homophobic attack and receiving death threats.

He's now saying that none of this happened. And what was his excuse? "People had convinced me these kind of stories get you noticed and was told that all celebrities do it."

Popbitch.

Yet another great victory for 'Cry homophobia!' and making out you're a victim when you're not.

Edit: He fesses up to Guys Like U.

'Yes, it was a lie, well the first attack was anyway. Unfortunately after my appearance on First Dates two things happened. One, I started to get loads of attention and I had lots of agents and management companies offering me large sums of money and stupidly I got sucked in fast. Before I knew it, people had convinced me these kind of stories get you noticed and was told that all celebrities do it. The next thing I was in OK mag, Cosmopolitan, Heat, Daily Mirror and so on……. There was no going back and I was deep in a very slippery road.'

He also talks about MY CHEMSEX HELL!

And who'd doubt anything he says now?

A star of smash-hit TV show First Dates has told how he has started a new life in Birmingham after being the victim of a brutal homophobic attack in London.

Daniel May, 26, was set upon by two men who shouted that he was the “f****t from TV” before punching him in the face.

He tried to fend them off with his bag but was left with a bloodied nose following the attack by two thugs.

Daniel said he decided not to report the night-time assault to police as the two men wore hoodies and he could not give a description, reports the Birmingham Mail.

Mirror, 12th February 2016 with video.

Mr May also claimed to be getting death threats after saying on the TV show he didn't like camp gay man.

NUS: Setting The Record Straight

Imagine my surprise when I opened a newspaper and loaded up Twitter to find my campaign – the NUS LGBT+ campaign – being called out by our community for saying that gay men no longer face oppression.

I can assure you that being punched on that bus was a reminder that we certainly do. But we also have to look past the headlines and I want to set the record straight.

Week after week there are endless stories criticising the National Union of Students. We seem to be an easy punching bag. Maybe it’s because we make mistakes.

Maybe it’s because we’re often younger activists who are still developing the confidence and the thicker skin that past generations had.

Or maybe it’s because we often go against the grain, are early to identify issues within society that need fixing and more eager and ready to challenge it than other, more establishment, organisations in the UK, and in fact, the world.

So when it came to our conference just a few weeks ago, the biggest gathering of LGBT+ people in Europe, there was lots of ground-breaking campaigns and ideas to discuss.

We’re fighting to open up sport to LGBT people, we’re talking about how to make education better and stamp out bullying in colleges and universities and how we ensure Trans people are heard. These are issues that LGBT+ people are facing every day – and yet what does the media pick up on?

One line, in one motion that is actually an incredibly detailed (and quite boring if I say so myself) constitutional change to the way we elect people to sit on committees.

What this motion was about was not ‘chucking gay men’ out of the LGBT+ campaign but instead looking at whether we are truly representative of all LGBT+ people.

The motion isn’t worded very well I’ll grant you that – but what it is trying to argue is looking at LGBT campaigns and communities across the country there is trend that they have been dominated historically by cis (ie, non-trans), gay white men.

In order to eo ensure minority voices are not excluded, specific roles on committees have been created for women, bi people, black people, Trans people and so on.

Other places were designated ‘open’ (available to anyone), and very often these were taken up by gay men, but crucially were not restricted to them. That’s about it.

Hardly that controversial and as a gay man, I’m proud to have represented campaigns, for all LGBT+ people, for many years and I know that will continue.

But what we’re talking about is recognising the vast diversity of our movement and that there are people who are worse off, more marginalised and less supported than others – even within our own community... 

Rob Young, Pink News. 

Pink News headline to the earlier story on this said in inverted commas; 'NUS tells LGBT societies to abolish gay men’s reps because ‘they don’t face oppression’'

The article contained the full quote from the motion; 'The reps system exists to ensure that societies committees can always have a reserved place for groups which disproportionately face oppression within the LGBT+ community.

'Gay men do not face oppression as gay men within the LGBT+ community and do not need a reserved place on society committees.'

The article now has over 2,700 reader comments (a record?)

Most seemed to be talking about the silly headline.

Gay Media: So White

A five point plan from Queerty.

No reader comments yet, but I guess a few might say something about people who work in glass offices etc.

#gaymediasowhite is now 'a thing' on Twitter.
 

2) #gaymediasowhite makes it seem like being featured in these tired vapid glossies is a/the goal. Like they aren't worthy of me.

— Blaqueer (@Blaqueer) March 29, 2016

Incidentally here's the latest issue of Attitude.

And The Advocate.

So everything is alright now.

Telegraph: Why Oh Why?

This seems a strange choice of photo for the Telegraph, but the writer asks; 'Why are men so reluctant to experiment' compared to women.

Still strange, the Telegraph normally loves an excuse to run a picture of two good-looking young fillies getting it on.

Cuba: A Revolution

Blimey!

Two (kinda) positive, non-barking or jingositic articles about Cuba in The Advocate.

Truly, the times they a something something something.

Though the subtext to both is basically; 'Here's your new bordello, boys!'

Ho hum.

Poppers Ban: A Massive Cock Up

The 'unworkable' Psychoactive Substances Act is mired in new confusion just days after Tory ministers admitted it wouldn't include poppers.

Tory ministers have been forced to delay their legal highs crackdown - after apparently admitting they're not ready to enforce it.

Critics blasted the move as a "shambolic U-turn" today as it plunged the Psychoactive Substances Act into new confusion.

A letter from a police force showed the original April 6 date to enforce the law has now been pushed back until at least May 1.

It is another blow just days after Tory ministers admitted the Act could not cover poppers - despite previously insisting the sex aids would be banned.

Campaigners say there is still confusion around exactly what the far-reaching Act will prohibit.

It outlaws all substances that "directly stimulate or depress the central nervous system", so is having to specifically exclude caffiene.

But as the row over poppers showed, experts are split on how some drugs affect the nervous system.

Today the Lib Dems called on Home Secretary Theresa May to ditch the law - despite the Queen approving it just two months ago.

Home Affairs spokesman Alistair Carmichael said: "While better late than never this shambolic U-turn will have caused untold confusion particularly amongst the police.

"The Psychoactive Substances Act is unworkable and lacks a clear evidence-base, something the Liberal Democrats have been saying from the start.

"Finally the Home Office is catching up but rather than postponing its implementation the Home Secretary should just admit she got it wrong and bin the legislation...

Mirror.

Don't say I didn't warn you...

David Coburn Watch: Pranked

Michael Stipe: The Man Who Sold The World

Stipe's homage to The Dame for The Jimmy Fallon Show.

Not sure about the Kropotkin beard or the piercing, and - oddly - Lulu's version was peerless.

Brighton: Much More Likely To Be Unmarried

The Office For National Statistics have an online thingy where you can find what the census tells you about people who live in your neighbourhood by entering your postcod - via the Mirror.

This is what it says for the area around St James's Street, in Kemptown, Brighton.

The census doesn't ask about sexual orientation, thankfully - it's none of their business.

Elton John: The Bodyguard

SIR Elton John is being sued by a former security guard who claims the singer groped him while saying: “Get your todger out.”

Jeffrey Wenninger, 49, says Elton forced himself on him during car journeys and grabbed his genitals and buttocks.

Court papers also allege the Rocket Man singer said “Say hello to Uncle Elton” while molesting Mr Wenninger.

He allegedly twisted his nipples and told him he had “gay genes”. The papers, filed in LA on Monday, give three graphic accounts of claims Sir Elton groped Mr Wenninger inside and over his clothes in 2014.

The bodyguard, also a Los Angeles cop, says he was abused by the star over several years dating back to 2002 when he started work for him.

Suing Elton for sexual harassment and battery, Mr Wenninger says he continues to suffer “extreme pain and mental anguish to his mind and body”.

He is also claiming compensation for damage to his reputation, health expenses and loss of income from Elton — who has two sons Zachary, five, and Elijah, three, with husband David Furnish.

The bodyguard is suing the chart-topper and 50 unnamed people who work for him.

While no figure has been mentioned, Mr Wenninger wants a sum decided at a trial where he says he will provide proof of his claims...

I bet The Sun had to think very carefully about covering this story.

Though they miss an important detail pointed out in The Guardian; 'Marla Brown, a lawyer acting for the officer, refused to address why her client would be seeking work after the alleged incidents occurred.' 

PS In a later Sun story, Sharon Osbourne says Wennninger is a 'nutter';"Really, you're not his type dear. Have looked in the mirror? He could get much better than you... heinous face." 

And note this more cautious wording... 

Facebook Post Of The Day: Wentworth Miller

Today I found myself the subject of an Internet meme. Not for the first time.

This one, however, stands out from the rest.

In 2010, semi-retired from acting, I was keeping a low-profile for a number of reasons.

First and foremost, I was suicidal.

This is a subject I've since written about, spoken about, shared about.

But at the time I suffered in silence. As so many do. The extent of my struggle known to very, very few.

Ashamed and in pain, I considered myself damaged goods. And the voices in my head urged me down the path to self-destruction. Not for the first time.

I've struggled with depression since childhood. It's a battle that's cost me time, opportunities, relationships, and a thousand sleepless nights.

In 2010, at the lowest point in my adult life, I was looking everywhere for relief/comfort/distraction. And I turned to food. It could have been anything. Drugs. Alcohol. Sex. But eating became the one thing I could look forward to. Count on to get me through. There were stretches when the highlight of my week was a favorite meal and a new episode of TOP CHEF. Sometimes that was enough. Had to be.

And I put on weight. Big f--king deal.

One day, out for a hike in Los Angeles with a friend, we crossed paths with a film crew shooting a reality show. Unbeknownst to me, paparazzi were circling. They took my picture, and the photos were published alongside images of me from another time in my career. "Hunk To Chunk." "Fit To Flab." Etc.

My mother has one of those "friends" who's always the first to bring you bad news. They clipped one of these articles from a popular national magazine and mailed it to her. She called me, concerned.

In 2010, fighting for my mental health, it was the last thing I needed.

Long story short, I survived.

So do those pictures.

I'm glad.

Now, when I see that image of me in my red t-shirt, a rare smile on my face, I am reminded of my struggle. My endurance and my perseverance in the face of all kinds of demons. Some within. Some without.

Like a dandelion up through the pavement, I persist...

Facebook. 

The LAD Bible have said 'soz'.

Harvey Proctor: Morning

Watch on the Good Morning Britain website.

Matthew Parris Watch: Scandal

I will never forget Sunday morning, March 22, 1987. That was the day I was outed in the News of the World. I have the yellowing edition before me as I write.

There had been no advance warning. Preparing for the midday current affairs TV programme I presented, Weekend World, I was leafing idly through the newspaper’s scandal-packed pages with many an amused squawk. A drunk Liberal MP had been dragged by his friends from a brothel. Recently married Sarah Ferguson, desperate to conceive, was taking fertility drugs likely to lead to quadruplets. And a TV personality was worried about spending too much time on the TV sofa with his “TV wife”, Anne Diamond.

I had earlier been giggling, too, about the same paper’s revelation that the prominent and respected Labour MP Roy Hattersley, now Lord Hattersley, had left his wife for another woman, now his wife.

Leafing on I turned to page 18 and, in mid-turn, froze. Hadn’t I just seen my photograph? I paged back. The story, adorned with my picture, was spread across pages 16 and 17. My blood ran cold. The headline? “I am gay, says TV Tory.”

I had said no such thing, of course: as an MP I had learnt never to talk about my private life to avoid lying, but it was true that I was gay and to quibble would be idle. My television production team, fiercely supportive, were outraged that a newspaper would print such stuff and wanted to make a complaint but, though dismayed, I was not outraged. Facts are facts and I’d always argued (and still do) that the papers should publish and be damned, and let readers judge what did or didn’t matter. I couldn’t now complain just because this time the target was me.

Anyway I’d had it coming. What the News of the World did not mention — because nobody knew — was that while I was an MP I’d been beaten up on Clapham Common where I had been “cruising” in search of other men. Looking back now on those years I marvel at what a charmed life I’d led as a politician, and the terrible risks I’d taken...

Matthew Parris, The Times.

Lovely photo of you, Matthew.

I thought she came out in the House of Commons, the first, but nobody noticed - at least that's what she told me - awaiting confirmation.

Cuba: Fuck Your Empire

Obama made a speech in which he uses the most sweetened words to express: “It is time, now, to forget the past, leave the past behind, let us look to the future together, a future of hope. And it won’t be easy, there will be challenges and we must give it time; but my stay here gives me more hope in what we can do together as friends, as family, as neighbors, together.”

I suppose all of us were at risk of a heart attack upon hearing these words from the President of the United States. After a ruthless blockade that has lasted almost 60 years, and what about those who have died in the mercenary attacks on Cuban ships and ports, an airliner full of passengers blown up in midair, mercenary invasions, multiple acts of violence and coercion?

Nobody should be under the illusion that the people of this dignified and selfless country will renounce the glory, the rights, or the spiritual wealth they have gained with the development of education, science and culture.

I also warn that we are capable of producing the food and material riches we need with the efforts and intelligence of our people. We do not need the empire to give us anything. Our efforts will be legal and peaceful, as this is our commitment to peace and fraternity among all human beings who live on this planet.

Gramma.

Gary Pulsifer: 1957-2019

Gary Pulsifer - publisher, publicist and writer - has died aged 59.

Waiting for full obituaries, an overview of his long and varied career in the book trade is here.

xxx

Headline Of The Day: Mail On Sunday

Mail On Sunday.

Lance Price: Madness

A controversial writer who worked as a spin doctor for Tony Blair was paid taxpayers’ money to give media training in Armenia.

Lance Price picked up more than £8,000 from the Foreign Office for a week of sessions with local journalists in the capital, Yerevan.

On his return to London in October 2013, Mr Price tweeted: ‘Back in London after great week in Yerevan with @UKinArmenia supporting British Days and talking media, politics and minorities.’

The British embassy in Yerevan tweeted a picture of one of Mr Price’s training sessions.

Mr Price, 57, started his career with the BBC but was appointed Alistair Campbell’s deputy at No 10 in 1998.

After leaving Labour, he found himself in the limelight after giving the first inside account of Blair’sregime in a book called The Spin Doctor’s Diary'

The Mail.

Who are just a teensy bit obsessed with foreign aid (and homosexualists and Tony Blair).

Note the two examples of this 'madness' they highlight...

Chomsky, Greenwald & Snowden: On Privacy

The balance between national security and government intrusion on the rights of private citizens was the topic of a panel discussion featuring renowned linguist and MIT professor Noam Chomsky, NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden, and Intercept co-founding editor Glenn Greenwald. Nuala O’Connor, president and CEO of the Center for Democracy and Technology, acted as moderator.

Gwen Stefani: 'I Would Not Kill My Kid If He Turns Out Gay'

Gwen Stefani has said she would not kill any of her children if they turn out to be gay.

The No Doubt singer, 47, made the shock revelation in an interview with the webberzine, PopTits.

'I love the gays,' she said, 'We could go shopping and that.'

Recently Miley Cyrus, Katy Perry and Taylor Swift have all said they would abort a gay foetus.

Matthew Parris: How Did We Get Here?

Parody is now extinct. Boris Johnson has killed the distinction between reality and satire. Remember the Tory who as a wannabe MP called Labour’s repeal of Section 28 “appalling”, who joked about “tank-topped bum-boys”, who sneakily rowed back from homophobia by asking “what’s not to like?” about gays who leave the field of available women clear for straight men? He is now urging gay men to vote Leave because, he says, some Eastern European countries have legislation that represses them.

“It was us,” he burbles on a new Out & Proud video, “the British people, that created [an] environment of happiness and contentment for LGBT people.” It may well have been us. It ruddy well wasn’t him. But now, even into gay saunas creeps the smell of his damp tweed.

Look, this is a joke but this is not a joke. Somebody has to call a halt to the gathering pretence that if only you’re sufficiently comical in politics you can laugh everything off. Somebody has to remind us that it’s not enough for those who seek to govern us simply to be: they have to do. Incompetence is not funny. Policy vacuum is not funny. Administrative sloth is not funny. Breaking promises is not funny. A careless disregard for the truth is not funny. Advising old mates planning to beat somebody up is not funny. Abortions and gagging orders are not funny. Creeping ambition in a jester’s cap is not funny. Vacuity posing as merriment, cynicism posing as savviness, a wink and smile covering for betrayal . . . these things are not funny.

So I present you with a mystery. How did we get here, with Boris Johnson? ...

Matthew Parris' Times column.

LOL! etc.

MI6: Decorated

A spy has been exposed by his wife over a gay sex scandal, The Telegraph can disclose.

The case was raised in a military divorce heard in court recently, involving an intelligence officer in an Army unit that targets al-Qaeda and Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (Isil).

The scandal emerged after the officer’s wife discovered he was having one-off sexual liaisons with men he met near his Army base and close to the headquarters of MI6 in south London.

The woman is divorcing him but reported his activities to military commanders as she feared he had broken his security clearance and would be vulnerable to blackmail by hostile intelligence services...

Telegraph.
 
They weren't actually bumming in full view of everyone, btw, nor was he really a 'spy'.

I presume 'decorated' means 'like a builder's radio' but am awaiting confirmation.

Garth Greenwell: The Fine Art Of Cruising

For him, this is related to being asked repeatedly whether he would consider himself to be a “gay writer”. This, he understands, is a fraught question for many writers, who for decades have been told “if you write books centred on queer lives, where the gay guy isn’t just one strand, or a friend, then there are straight people for mainstream readers to identify with – but if a book really is centred on gay lives, you’ll be in this gay ghetto”.

But, he says, he has never accepted that – in fact, he thinks quite the reverse. “Absolutely I am a gay writer. And not only that, I want to tell gay stories about gay communities for gay readers, because I think that this incredible progress that queer people have made in things such as marriage equality have come at the cost of a mainstreaming narrative that has homogenised queer lives in a way that has sacrificed far too much and, tragically, has further marginalised the most vulnerable members of the queer community.”

He talks further about marriage equality as “really a marketing battle: it was about packaging queer lives in a way that allowed the value of those lives to be seen by people who are disgusted by queer lives” – although his point is also that this is probably an inevitable and necessary stage that any minority rights movements has to go through. Where that becomes problematic, he insists, is when those at the edge of the movement become further distanced, as when human rights campaigners “at their rallies in front of the supreme court in support of marriage equality, said, Oh trans person get off the stage.”

Ultimately, he says, “any project of liberation has to have as its goal the multiplication of legitimate models of life”. Pulsing through What Belongs to You is Greenwell’s suggestion that there is something substantial and significant in the relationship between Mitko and the narrator. The fact that they first meet in a bathroom – rather than a shop, or a cafe, or even in a club – is hardly accidental; what Greenwell is trying to show is that in places such as these, “people like my narrator and Mitko can meet in a face-to-face way that is unstructured by authority. Those spaces scramble the categories by which we organise our life, categories such as class and race, and they allow for human connection across that space.” That belief is supported, he argues, by the fact that cruising spaces persist even where “relative queer privilege is most pronounced” – places such as Hell’s Kitchen in Manhattan, for example – and that they have not disappeared even where oppression is in retreat...

Garth Greenwell interview, author unknown, The Guardian, who seem rather keen on his book, What Belongs To You. See also I've Been Cruising Since I Was 14, and Topography Of A Novel: Garth Greenwell on how he wrote What Belongs to You - 'Garth Greenwell reflects on the summer he spent in Madrid revising what has been dubbed the ‘great gay novel of our times' ! The OTT quote comes from The New Republic.

Any journalist who asks 'Are you a gay writer?' or 'How does being gay influence your work?' needs their fingers broken.

Television: Bring Out Your Dead

Three weeks ago, the unexpected death of The 100′s lesbian Commander Lexa prompted a swift fan revolt. Tired of so many of our beloved queer female characters getting hit by cars, slaughtered by stray bullets and eaten by alien-possessed-aliens, the LGBT Fans Deserve Better campaign rose from the ashes to raise awareness about the Bury Your Gays trope, particularly as it applies to female characters. Over at my website, Autostraddle, I published a list of every lesbian, bisexual or queer female character who’d been killed on television (with the exclusion of one-episode victims-of-the-week from criminal or medical procedurals or otherwise fleeting one-episode characters) and, with input from readers, saw that list grow quickly from 65 to over 150. Not all these deaths were absurd or senseless, of course. Often these deaths made perfect sense within the show and weren’t motivated by anti-gay bias, unconsciously or consciously.

Similarly, many of these deaths are less painful and controversial on shows where Anyone Can Die (e.g., American Horror Story, The Wire, True Blood, Game of Thrones) or on shows with all-gay casts (e.g., Queer as Folk, The L Word). But every death adds to a body count that weighs down our souls. Two more queer female characters have died since #LGBTFansDeserveBetter campaign began merely two weeks ago, and the story has attracted unprecedented mainstream media attention, including The Hollywood Reporter, Variety and Entertainment Weekly.

I was curious what the numbers would look like for gay and bisexual male characters, too, because the Bury Your Gays trope isn’t limited to women. That is why I am here with you boys today! I’ll say straight away that I’m not as confident with this material as I am with the women’s shows, but a lot of research and collaboration happened and I’m sure you’ll let me know what’s missing and what I got wrong...

Blah blah blah shopping list follows...

Riese, Queerty.

To be fair dough, the body count in TV land for everyone is pretty high.

David Sedaris: Small In Japan

There are three Kapital stores in Ebisu, and their interior design is as off-putting as their merchandise. Most clothing hangs from the ceiling, though there are a few beaten-up racks and horizontal surfaces that items are strewn across. At one of the shops, the window display consisted of three carved penises arranged from small to large. The most modest was on a par with a Coleman thermos, while the king-size one was as long and thick as a wrestler’s forearm. Amy’s eyes popped out of her head, and before I could stop her she hoisted the middle one out of the window, crying, “Oh, my goodness, it’s teak! I thought from out on the sidewalk that it was mahogany!” As if she were a wood expert, and saw nothing beyond the grain.

The salesman blinked as Amy turned the dildo upside down. Then she positioned her right hand at the base of the testicles, and pretended she was a waitress: “Would anyone care for some freshly ground pepper?”

There are three other branches of Kapital in Tokyo, and we visited them all, staying in each one until our fingerprints were on everything. “My God,” Gretchen said, trying on a hat that seemed to have been modelled on a used toilet brush, before adding it to her pile. “This place is amazing. I had no idea!” ...

My sisters and I refuse to feel bad about shopping. And why should we? Obviously we have some hole we’re trying to fill, but doesn’t everyone? And isn’t filling it with berets the size of toilet-seat covers, if not more practical, then at least healthier than filling it with frosting or heroin or unsafe sex with strangers?

The Perfect Fit: Shopping in Tokyo, David Sedaris, The New Yorker.

Easter: Parade

An actor who has played Jesus in traditional Spanish Easter parades for 30 years claims he has been banned from the role because he is gay.

Ramón Fossati was told he could not take part in this Sunday’s parade or any others until 2019 because he exposed a naked shoulder last year and waved his arms in an “ostentatious” manner.

The Junta Mayor de la Semana Santa Marinera, which governs the brotherhoods that stage the parades in Valencia, accused Mr Fossati of “ostentation and parody” because he appeared to bless the crowd. He denied this, insisting he was just raising his arms to acknowledge bystanders.

Easter processions in Spain are governed by strict rules which prevent too much flesh being exposed or any inappropriate religious gestures. Women have been fined for showing their cleavage or wearing dresses above the knee and are generally asked to wear heavy black dresses and a headdress called a mantilla to the parades.

Mr Fossati was fined €300 after last year’s Easter Sunday parade. After he appealed, the fine was reduced to €60 but he was banned for four years by his own brotherhood, Santísimo Cristo del Salvador. “I was not given any reason for the ban,” Mr Fossati said.

“It could be jealousy. Or maybe it was punishment for being gay. But everyone where I live knows my sexual orientation and it is not an issue. I am deeply religious and this is the worst thing that could happen.”

He said that his costume last year had been modelled on traditional religious paintings of Christ and although it originally showed off both his shoulders he had got it altered to show only one in case it was considered too risqué.

The Junta [!] and the brotherhood both declined to comment.

The Times.

Fagburn urges all good Christians to celebrate Easter by getting themselves nailed to a cross, like this plucky Filipino dude pictured above.

Europe: Can You Tell I'm Reading This?

Boris seems to share a scriptwriter with Out & Proud's Adam Lake.

Out & Proud launched last night in London's Chinatown, which teeters on the edge of irony.

PS Why gay people like me shouldn't listen to Boris Johnson and his calls for us to vote to leave the EU, boring Independent retort highlighting the shocking revelation that neither Boris nor the Conservative Party have very good records on supporting LGBT rights.

News: Cause Everyone Loves A Show Trial

PS Here comes another one...

Brighton Pride: Sake

PinkNews Exclusive

The Minister of State for the Armed Forces, Penny Mordaunt, has announced that the Red Arrows are to fly over Brighton Pride…but it knows nothing about it!

Speaking at the pro-Brexit Out and Proud launch event in London last night, the Portsmouth North MP said: “I can offer you a bit of an exclusive tonight. If they would like it, Brighton Pride will have been offered the Red Arrows to fly over the city...

YAY!!! 

Hopefully dropping rainbow-coloured drones.

Stonewallers, you did not riot in vain.

PS Manchester latest victim of gay fuckwittery.

Rev David Skeoch: He Never Married

Daily Telegraph.

'Exuberant'!

Students: Behaviourism

For generations gay men have faced harassment and discrimination for their sexual preferences. And although they are still a target for violent attacks in many places, the National Union of Students (NUS) has passed a motion calling for the abolition of representatives of gay men because “they don’t face oppression”.

Instead, the NUS has accused the traditionally-abused group of displaying “oppressive behaviour”.

The NUS lesbian,gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) conference has passed a resolution that says homosexual men were often the perpetrators of misogyny and other prejudice within gay and lesbian student.

The ban follows a trend in university campus to exclude any views or objects that may offend and the rise of “no-platforming” policies.

The motion, which defended safe spaces and no-platform policies, said: "Misogyny, transphobia, racism and biphobia are often present in LGBT+ societies. This is unfortunately more likely to occur when the society is dominated by white cis gaymen."

“Cis” relates to someone whose identity conforms with their biological gender and it seems to refer to masculine gay men.

The motion adds: “Gay men do not face oppression as gay men within the LGBT+ community and do not need a reserved place on society committees.”

The NUS motion said gay men should no longer be represented in gay and lesbian societies.

Jack Matthews, LGBT gay men's representative at the University of Manchester, slammed the motion for disregarding the struggles that gay men faced and called it "disgusting and extremely disrespectful".

He added: "The only way the LGBT community has been able to achieve their rights is by standing together as a community. We need to take the torch from our elders and carry this on. We shouldn't be starting internal conflicts and segregating ourselves."

Tom Slater, creator of a free speech ranking, said: "Campus sexual identity politics is disappearing up its own backside. We've had feminists banning other feminists for being the wrong kind of feminists.

"We've had gay rights campaigners smeared as racists and transphobes, purely for promoting free speech. Now the NUSLGBT campaign is calling for reps for gaymen to be abolished because they're effectively not oppressed enough." 

Daily Telegraph.

Fagburn's bored with silly middle class children imagining oppressions, but note how it's Britain's 'least gay-friendly broadsheet', the Daily Telegraph, feigning concern over this, which, as it's an NUS resolution, is an absolute irrelevancy.

The headline and framing of this is pretty mendacious.

Still, nice to see those cake toppers back.

NB The hyperlink above is to another Telegraph article, I'm Gay, But Given The Choice Would I Rather Be Straight?! Oh and Tom Slater is part of the Spiked/Telegraph continuum.

Chemsex: Who Will End This Deadly Gay Craze???

Barrister Henry Hendron has admitted to supplying the party drugs which killed his 18-year-old boyfriend Miguel Jimenez in January last year.

Appearing in the dock at the Old Bailey this week, Hendron, 35, said that he bought £1000 worth of drugs from BBC producer Alexander Parkin, 41,which he intended on selling on to guests at a chemsex party at his flat at the country’s most prestigious legal chambers.

The drugs led to the death of Jimenez, whose body was found by the sobbing lawyer after the two day party held over 19-20 January 2015.

Prosecutor Martyn Bowyer said: “It is accepted this defendant bought in bulk for use in what is known as the gay chemsex scene.

“He would be making them available for friends at cost price.”

Mr Bowyer continued: “The drugs found at the flat were purchased by him for his own and others’ use, others including his then partner, who tragically died as the result of taking those drugs.” ...

Attitude blog.

Bit of a difficult one for Attitude to cover, this.

Obviously this is proof that CHEMSEX EQUALS DEATH!!!

On the other these two sound like their target readers.

A 17 year-old Hendron first leapt to fame in 1998 after addressing the Conservative Party Conference, calling for longer prison sentences and a return to corporal punishment.

One is tempted to call him the 'gay William Hague', but [deleted on legal grounds].

Fagburn doesn't think taking drugs or giving them out should be a crime, but I hope the judge bears the above in mind when sentencing him.

Oh, and you're about five times as likely to die from being struck by lightning.

The jury's still out on DEATH BY CHEWING GUM!

PS Why mention he's a 'teen' in the headline'. 'Twink' surely...

Ukip: The Second Time As...

UKIP descended into farce last night after the party suspended its former Deputy Chair for six months - for slamming a colleague who once compared gays to Nazis.

Suzanne Evans – who helped write the 2015 Election Manifesto – was dumped yesterday in the latest twist to a vicious civil war blazing in the right-wing group.

UKIP said she had been suspended for “publicly criticising a fellow candidate”.

She last month criticised Alan Craig – a candidate for the London Assembly – for advocating ‘gay cure’ therapy.

But insiders said it appeared she was paying the price for daring to challenge UKIP chief Nigel Farage.

Ms Evans – who went to the High Court yesterday in an attempt to challenge the suspension – is a supporter of Vote Leave.

She added: “I will look to take up whatever right of appeal is open to me.” ...

The Sun. 

Of course, if you're in the Conservative Party and believe in 'gay cure' therapy, they make you Work And Pensions Secretary.

Milo Yiannopoulus Watch: As A Gay Man, I'm A Racist

James Franco: He Loves The Gays

He loves the gays, he really really loves the gays, they're so edgy, aren't they, the gays, oh yeah, hooray for the flipping gays...

Pet Shop Boys: Chart

Thankfully it's on the radio etc etc.

Haven't kept up with the interviews in the current media blitz, so don't know if Chris Lowe has come out yet.

PS Each man kills the thing he loves...

Antarctica: Gaytards Plan For World Domination Nears Completion

Antarctica is known for frigid temperatures, parading penguins and now... being “the world’s first LGBT-friendly continent”?

That’s right — at least if Planting Peace has anything to say about it.

The non-profit advocacy organization, which created the pro-queer rainbow Equality House adjacent to the Westboro Baptist Church compound in Topeka, Kansas, recently traveled across Antarctica carrying a Pride flag in a symbolic effort to declare full human rights for all lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) people living in or visiting Antartica. The gesture is also meant to raise awareness about securing equality for queer people on a global level...

Huffpost Queer Voices. 

Why why WHY!!!???

PrEP: Waiting

Rarely has a u-turn, rarely has a breach of trust, been so misleadingly announced. Reading NHS England’s press release, ‘Update on commissioning and provision of PrEP for HIV prevention’ (21 March 2016), you would think the NHS were simply clarifying progress to date and the well understood responsibilities for the commissioning of PrEP. In fact this press release was the announcement of a shocking U-turn as NHS England suddenly abandoned its own process for the approval of PrEP, just before its conclusion, with nothing to replace it bar some loose change found down the back of the sofa....

This fiasco will have serious human consequences in the many HIV transmissions which will take place and which would undoubtedly have been prevented if the NHS had not walked away from PrEP. It epitomises the inability of our health system to value prevention. Perhaps also the failure of our health system to value equally the well-being of gay men. We cannot allow PrEP to be in limbo for a further two years, provided to just a few on a totally inequitable basis. We need Ministers to take a lead in providing as a matter of urgency a credible alternative for the commissioning and funding of PrEP for everyone at high risk as soon as possible.

Yusef Azad, National Aids Trust blog.

See also 'The government’s attitude to rising HIV transmission rates has proved reckless and negligent', Chris Godfrey, Attitude blog.

NHS refusing to offer PrEP is insulting in the face of thousands of gay men who will be diagnosed with HIV without it, Matthew Hodson, GMFA.

Interview: Jones/McKellen

Actor Sir Ian McKellen, who has appeared as Gandalf in the Lord of the Rings and Magneto in the X-Men series, as well as taking numerous Shakespearean roles, talks to Owen Jones about his gay rights activism, his friendship with Sir Patrick Stewart and how he fell in love with theatre...

Clash of the comedy gay professional northerners!

Some very hard-hitting questions from our Owen, there.

You'd think Sereena would have the answers to these printed on postcards by now.

Art: Kanye Loves Kanye

Ever wondered what it would look like if Kanye West made out with Kanye? Well thanks to Australian artist, Scott Marsh you can finally see what that would look like and it’s definitely hilarious!

Let’s be honest, Kanye West would probably love to make out with himself and he finally got his chance … sort of. A famous picture of Kanye kissing Kim Kardashian at the 2015 Grammys was recreated on the side of Zigi’s Wine and Cheese Bar in Sydney, Australia but instead of Kanye kissing his wife, the artist, Scott Marsh, thought it would be better if Kanye was kissing himself!

“No one can love Kanye quite like Kanye,” Scott wrote on his Facebook. He also posted the pic to his Instagram with the caption: “Who do you love as much as #Kanyeloveskanye ???” It’s pretty funny but the best part is that it’s 20 feet high. That’s definitely one mural that you won’t be able to miss! Considering Kanye’s recent Twitter rants, we wouldn’t be surprised if he commented on social media about the mural that’s going viral. The artist then posted several pics of people kissing in front of the mural...

Hollywood Life.

Poppers: The War Against Pleasure

Why is the government so anti-pleasure, particularly for gay men? Much of the drive to ban legal highs has come from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ), a rightwing thinktank that has consistently misled the public and government about the harms of legal highs. These claims have been refuted by DrugScience.

Much of the pressure to ban legal highs has come from the Centre for Social Justice, a right-wing thinktank

One of CSJ’s main attacks is on what it calls the “loosening” of laws on moral values in the past decades, leading to the erosion of the family. The acceptance of homosexuality is one of its main concerns. It is hard not to conclude that the government shares this opinion and that the poppers ban is in fact an attempt to deter – or even punish – men who enjoy having sex with men.

This is the conspiracy theory explanation, but we must also consider that the government is confused. It may think nitric oxide is the same as nitrous oxide. Confidence in its reasoning is not encouraged by the fact that at the first reading of the psychoactive substances bill, government spokespeople several times referred to a ban on nitrates, which are fertilisers, not nitrites.

Whatever the reasoning behind the popper ban, it is fundamentally flawed. Poppers should be removed from the psychoactive substances bill, though it would be much more honest to scrap the whole legislation as it is so lacking in justification and logic.

David Nutt, The Guardian.

Newsflash! Poppers Stay Legal In Tory U-turn, Mirror.

Thought For The Day: Love To Hate You

People have (such) incredibly low expectations of me, that I just need to show up. For my performances, I need to not be terrible and people will be impressed. I just know people have really, really low expectations of me and that's what the Internet does. I'm such an easy person to target. Young, good-looking, white, gay men - we love to hate those people. But there's been a real person there the whole time. 

PrideSource Q&A.

Diddums! :(

PS Here's a great 'Shut the fuck up, you talentless whiney white twat' by Les Fabian Brathwaite.

Smithers: Keep It In The Closet

Springfield's most confirmed bachelor Waylon Smithers will finally come out to the withered object of his affection, Mr. Burns, in the next episode of The Simpsons, "The Burns Cage."

But Mr. Burns, being the oldest man alive, has remained either oblivious or completely ignorant to Smithers's feelings—until episode 17 of season 27. According to the episode's official synopsis:

When Smithers is devastated by Burns' lack of affection towards him, Homer makes it his mission to find him a boyfriend. Meanwhile, after Bart orchestrates the removal of the lead in the school's stage production of Casablanca, Milhouse serves as a terrible understudy, which frustrates his co-star, Lisa.

“In Springfield now, most people know he’s gay, but obviously Burns doesn’t,” executive producer Al Jean told TV Line last September. “We deal with that in two episodes.…We actually do a lot with Smithers this year; he gets fed up with Burns not appreciating him and considers his options.” ...

Out.

NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

The whole point of Smithers is he's in thecloset.

This is as dumb as making Homer Simpson smart.

Cuba: Behind You

And so began phase two of Obama's masterplan to hand Cuba back to the Mob, and return it to its rightful place as America's whorehouse.

This will not end well, you mark my words...

Boxing: Bully For You

Guardian online.

'I am gay man, hear me roar!'

Zzzz...