The Guardian: How Queer!

Faces not shown as he is a gay dad and must be filled with shame.

The Guardian.

Another piece that reads like satire.
Remember when 'queer' meant being radical and not being a heteronormative posh person?
And what the fork are "queer millenials"?
Unless you're 13?
Please no more of this on The Guardian online, you're getting worse than the Independent Voices.
And that's saying something.

Charlie Condou: Scoop Of The Century!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

The Sun: Boobies!

Mum rents out boobs to gay couples' babies

A MUM is ’renting out’ her breasts to male couples who are now allowed to adopt babies under France’s gay marriage laws.
The 29-year-old nurse is offering her £85-a day breast-feeding service on a small-ads website, describing herself as a "mother in full health".
The controversial business venture comes after France legalised same sex marriage in May.
The ad by Cecilia232, from the Paris suburb of Boulogne, has appeared on the e-loue website, which uses the slogan, "With e-loue, everything is up for rent".
Her post reads: “I am a young mother in full health, a trained nurse, 29 years old and I’m renting out my breasts to feed young babies. In one day I can offer you up to a dozen feeds for your baby.
“Gay men in couples are not able to breastfeed their babies. Breastfeeding allows babies to be in good health. Basically, breast milk gives them complete nutrition.
“Contact me through the site. Serious enquiries only.”

The Sun. - just possibly because they're more interested in breasts than the travails of gay parenting.

The Mail also decided to run with this story - go figure.

Apparently it's all true.

Daily Star: Oh, Hang On...

Daily Star.

What a difference ten hours makes.
I'll check the state of play again at lunchtime.
Could be triplets by then.

The New Normal: The New Boring

The New Normal - the new sitcom from Glee creator Ryan Murphy - starts on E4 this evening.
It's about a gay male couple who have a surrogate baby.
That's right, they're gay dads, and wh...

Sorry, I fell asleep just typing that.
The only interesting thing about this is how quickly a subject that was once outré can become a cultural cliché. 

PS It's rumoured Elton John's had a second baby. Zzzz...

Fagburn TV: Pitch For New Series

Dear Sky/Channel 4/BBC/Interweb TV Bigwigs,

I have an idea for a groundbreaking new television series.
It is about a gay couple who don't want sodding children.
Maybe we could do a tie-in column in one of the Sunday newspapers?

I await your reply,

Fagburn.

• The video above is a trailer for The Vessel, a British online TV "comedy series" - you can watch episodes here. Though I wouldn't recommend it, it's fucking abysmal.

Elton John: Again!

Mere words can not describe my excitement at this fantastic news.
And - to quote Homer Simpson - in case you can't tell, I'm being sarcastic.

Invisible Parents: This Isn't Just Any Family...

A "viral video" promoting legal recognition of gay parenting and adoption rights in the EU.
Good for them for doing this, lots of folk love this sort of heartstring plucking, and I don't think it's aimed at people like me.
I kept expecting the voiceover to say; "This isn't just any family... this is an M&S gay family", and thought it was as sentimental and mawkish as a John Lewis Christmas ad.

Also interesting that the two dads' child is a girl.
This invariably seems to be the case in representations of gay male parents in popular culture - from Jenny Lives With Eric And Martin to Modern Family.
Why not a boy? Is that a bit "suspect" and "icky"? Were they worried it might send out the wrong viral message?
Cause you know what they say about gay men, right?
Surely gay men who raise boys are the real "invisible parents"?

• Gay couples can legally adopt in Argentina, Belgium*, Brazil, Canada, Denmark*, Iceland, The Netherlands*, Norway, Portugal*, South Africa, Spain*, Sweden*, and The UK* (France* has just introduced a bill to legalise gay marriage and adoption).

* EU member states - 7 out of 27.

Mamas & Papas: Papa & Papa

Mamas & Papas - a UK-based online store for parent and baby stuff, apparently - have started a new campaign How We Roll, that features straight couples, mixed-race couples, a gay couple and a single mother. 
They all look young and - as I believe the younglings say - "hip".
I said "campaign", but this only seems to exist as a subsection on their website and as - surprise - a press release!

How We Roll celebrates the diversity and individualism that forms the makeup of the modern family, for whom parenting has simply become a positive extension of their current lifestyle. It features real parents, from all walks of life with different lifestyles, interests and personalities and every person has had an interesting and compelling story* to tell us and share with you. See how they roll...

The press release throws up some interesting - though obviously highly questionable - "stats" about gay parenting.

Figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) highlighted the growing number of families that aren’t necessarily formed of mum, dad and 2.4 children. In 2011 there were 8,000 families with a same-sex couple at the helm, either in a civil partnership or co-habiting, and almost 2 million families with a single parent. The number of families headed by a heterosexual couple was calculated to be 5.5 million...

It appears that a large proportion of the younger population is open-minded to same-sex parenting, as a [self-selecting, online FB] survey conducted by Mamas & Papas revealed. Sixty five per cent of 18-34-year-olds were indifferent or positive towards same-sex parenting, and only 20 per cent were particularly unfavourable. Of those questioned, five per cent of 18-34-year-olds claimed to be in homosexual relationships and have children, compared to only 0.2 per cent of the 35+ age range.

[The first figure on the per centage of same-sex parents will almost certainly be an underestimate, the second an overestimate - they clearly can't both be true].

There's a great sceptical piece on askamum.co.uk, where creative director, Olivia Robinson 'denied rumours the new campaign was an attempt to gain more exposure: “It is certainly not just a publicity stunt – it comes from a belief that parents are changing.”' 
And ends with the question; "What are your opinions on Mamas & Papas new advertising campaign? Do you think it’s genuine, or just a publicity stunt?"
Quite. 
If only the dafter and churnalistic sections of the gay media would raise such an obvious question.
Usually they're so excited about guff/stuff like this they wet their nappies.

* The gay couple, James and Glen, do not get to tell their story, oddly.

Mail On Sunday: Come To Daddy

Quite touching piece in the Mail On Sunday about a gay dad and a lesbian mum.
The Mail, despite their homophobic columnists and right-wing bias, have quite a good record on sympathetic stories about gay parenting and gay teen suicides.
Maybe cause it's just a load of sentimental twaddle that appeals to yummy mummies.
Not sure.

Fagburn: In Briefs

There are two big gay stories running at the moment, but apart from them there's not much been worth commenting on in the papers this week.
A friend told me it was half-term. Dunno why, but this always seems to happen on shool holidays.
YOU TELL ME!!!
So here are a few things "in brief" that Fagburn thought may be of interest...

• Although a current obsession of the media is babies as a lifestyle accesory for rich and famous gay men, new American research - All Children Matter: How Legal and Social Inequalities Hurt LGBT Families - suggests "Contrary to stereotypes, children being raised by same-sex couples are twice as likely to be living in poverty as children raised by married heterosexual households" (Summary). More on the media and marketing myth of gay men as a monied class - also much loved by our enemies on the right, of course - on the excellent Gay Money blog.

• Hopefully Fagburn won't be the last person in the virtual world to draw your attention to the genitaltastic, hilarious, but ultimately rather disturbing new video for Duck Soup's Big Bad Wolf. Can't wait to see Diva Fever do this.

• Fagburn is but of course in solidarity with everyone at Occupy London. And is so proud that two voices often heard speaking up for #occupylsx in the media have been our friends Naomi from UK Friends Of Bradley Manning and Ronan from Queer Resistance.

• It's Trade's 21st birthday on Saturday night Sunday morning - which makes Fagburn feel very old. Here's an interview with Laurence Malice to mark the occasion from the Independent blogs. One point on Axl Rose (note spelling) though: Fagburn witnessed this and it was one of Guns N Roses entourage asking if they could come along later, not Axl himself. Ever wondered what all the fuss was about? Here's Richard Smith's "award-winning" essay on a night at Trade Us Boys Together Clinging.

• Fagburn is gagging to see Lawrence Of Belgravia - the new documentary about my favourite failed Pop star, "Mad" Lawrence of Felt (and Denim fame). If you're not stuck in Brighton like me, you can see it at the London Film Festival this week.

• If you are stuck in Brighton, Owen Jones - author of Chavs: The Demonization of the Working Class - is talking at Waterstone's this evening. I'm going. It's great that young Owen has become the go-to guy for sharp and fresh left-wing comment in the last few months, so why the hell wasn't he on the Newcomers section of The Independent's Pink List 2011?!!

• Flaunt magazine has a choice of two covers this month. One of James Franco sitting at a desk and one of his naked butt. Quite possibly a publishing first.

• Some bloke called Gareth Thomas is retiring from rugby. Snore! How many times? We don't do sport. But apropos of nada did you hear about the GT-tribute designer shoes by his chum, Christian Louboutin? A snip at £640!

• Russell Tovey returns to BBC3 with a new series of Him & Her. Not til next Tuesday mind, but there's a thing about it in The Independent today. And it means we can print a nice picture of the lovely "Ears" in his briefs. Enjoy!

Pink Parenting: Niche Marketing

Fagburn's heart sank a little on seeing the legend splashed across The Independent's front page today;
'I'm The Daddy! How Gay Parenting Went Mainstream'
accompanied by a photo of Sir Elton John holding up baby Zach.
I wish them and Mr Furnish well, of course, but was dreading seeing another puff-piece on gay celebs and their sprogs.
Despite the illustration used (above) Glad To Be Gay Parents (inventive title!) the article did try to touch on some of the issues/problems lesbian and gay parents might encounter - suffogacy, adoption, schools, stigma... - but of course could only really touch on them.
The hook to The Independent running this is the alunch of a new bi-monthly magazine, Pink Parenting.
It's a sign of the times - and in more ways than one.
Nowadays lesbian and gay magazines are essentially about trying to find a niche market to sell to advertisers.
Debuting next month Pink Parenting promises; "everything you need to start a family from surrogacy options, adoption and the legal aspects of being a modern family to what's the best stroller out there on the market."
Which sounds like it could be heavy on the adverorial...
"Unlike many other gay magazines, our demographic is LGBT couples between the age of 30 to 45 that are more interested in modern day life and having a family then the gay club scene."
Currently a small demographic, but a wealthy one, of course.
I'm still now convinced, it'll be viable - even if it just continues online only.
Remember all those "gay weddings" companies that started-up a few years back?
Congratulations!

Gay Dad Watch: Now Ewan McGregor's Got One

It really is the gay cliche of 2011 - and it's still only January.
Ewan McGregor plays a bloke who finds out his dad is as gay as a lorry in new movie, The Beginners, released this summer.
The gay dad is played by Christopher Plummer - though judging by the trailer he's so fruity even Helen Keller would have guessed.
Today it's the turn of The Times to run loads of articles about gay dads; 'The Struggle To Be Gay Parents In The UK' and 'We Used The Same Surrogacy Clinc As Elton John'
Exciting!

Fagburn Awards 16: Quote of the Year

It was very nearly Supreme Court judge Lord Rodger's much misquoted and (deliberately) misunderstood line about gay asylum seekers and "Kylie and cocktails", but...
Fagburn makes no apologies for choosing this below from today's edition of The Guardian from the ever brilliant Zoe Williams as Quote of the Year.
It says much about these times - and rather handily also keeps you up to speed on the only news story of this last week: To Elton and David a child...It may be a bit over the top, but hey, technically it's still Christmas.

"What's amazing is that the people who do deride the Furnish-Johns on the basis of age and lifestyle, the people who are wondering whether this baby is an "accessory" (because they're gay, and gays are only interested in handbags) are so outnumbered by those who don't. Almost nobody in the mainstream is decrying Elton John's age, because without a subtext in which we all disapprove of his lifestyle, it wouldn't make sense. It has no engine, it would sound vindictive. So even the hoariest old traditionalists rejoice at the tidings. Homophobia might not be dead, but we're seeing the final twitches of its rodent bones; it's slowly turning into one of those things only children do. It's quite a moment. And on Christmas Day!"

Zoe Williams, The Guardian, Rejoice at Elton's News. And That Homophobia Is Dying
The Guardian's media analyst Roy Greenslade looked at how other newspapers reacted to the news here.

• The Babies Go Elton John CD shown is available in a couple of good record shops. Probably.