Queer Progress: From Homophobia To Homonationalism

From its beginning – a carefully written review of key concepts such as materialism, liberalism, Keynesian economics, and gay liberation – it’s clear that Queer Progress is in the business of analysis as much as it is about telling a crucial story. But the two aspects are thoughtfully intertwined, with McCaskell identifying examples of, say, left opportunism at work in the disruptions of gay conferences by revolutionary Marxist groups, or early rhetorical shifts toward respectability and away from sexual liberation.

The latter implies the book’s central question: where and how did a movement that vociferously defended sexual deviance, and that universally distrusted the state, get replaced by a politics that shies away from radical sexuality and unquestioningly lauds a wonky, government-approved vision of gay rights? A queer sort of “progress” indeed...

From a review on Quill & Quire.

Queer Progress: From Homophobia To Homonationalism, Tim McCaskell (Between The Lines).

Homophobia: My Funny Valentine

20-year-old Degas Sikorski is openly gay – and has spent three years working at the Party City in Edmonton [Canada].

However, the retail worker spoke out after he was the victim of a homophobic ‘prank’ at the store on Valentine’s Day.

On the Saturday Valentine’s Day shift, a supervisor had put up the Valentine’s cards left for all the employees in the break room.

However, one for Mr Sikorski had been defaced with the words “Faggot – you are not getting shifts for a reason”.

Mr Sikorski had not been assigned a shift for six weeks.

The worker told Global News he has never had issues with staff or management over his sexual orientation – and is in the dark about the nasty message.

He said: “My jaw hit the floor. [I thought] Oh my God, I’m not safe here.”

“Suddenly I can’t be myself. Suddenly I can’t accept myself and be who I am at Party City for fear of retaliation from somebody in the staff." ...

Pink News.

Seeing as so many of these cases where someone has gone public claiming to be the victim of homophobia have turned out to be hoaxes, you'd think the gay media would have learnt to treat them with some caution.

Gays In The News: The Canadian Throuple

Daily Mail.

Also popular with the Mirror, Metro, and all gay media - though it's from an agency.

Running subtext: Look at these fucking freaks!

I was one of the founding members of Parliamentary equal marriage group, this isn't what I worked for. Thoughts? https://t.co/Obf5vNIjI8

— ERS (@EthanLDN) October 16, 2015

The Independent: Quite Baffling

I've written before about how piss-poor The Independent's coverage of gay issues has become - for a liberal paper it's incredibly infrequent and bafflingly random.
With Johann Hari suspennded it's currently fallen away to zilch.
The only gay-related story in The Independent On Sunday today?
"A gay rights group and the Quebec government unveiled a guide Tuesday on caring for homosexual and transgender seniors in a bid to combat homophobia and abuse of the elderly..."
Good for them, but is this really of interest to anyone who's not a Quebecois gay senior?

Update: The Independent did not run a gay-related story again until the following Saturday; 'World's First Gay Ice-Cream Bar Opens'.
The fucking cunts must think we're idiots.

Rage: The 1981 Toronto Bathhouse Riots

"On Feb 5, 1981, 30 years ago, more than 150 Toronto police descended on that city’s gay bathhouses, arresting more than 300 innocent men. It was part of a deliberate and organized campaign by government and police to push gay baths and bars out of business, to silence the gay press and to remove gay voices from public discourse.
"Gay people had, of course, previously fought police harassment, but the events in Toronto in the first half of 1981 were watershed for the liberation movement in Canada. The activist chops refined then equipped gay people across the country to fight censorship, win partnership and employment rights, demand reasonable treatment from government, face HIV/AIDS, fight homophobic violence and win marriage rights..."

Xtra! magazine assembles a fascinating archive of articles, photos, audio and video clips to mark the 30th anniversary of the Toronto Bathhouse Riots - Canada's Stonewall