Pink Paper: Another One Bites The Dust

After 25 years of bringing news to the UK LGBT community, it is with sadness we announce today that it is no longer practical to continue to update Pink Paper’s daily website.

Media director Kim Watson of Pink Paper publishers MPL commented: “With a hardening economy, diminished job advertising and increasing global online news services covering similar stories, it has become harder to justify continuance of this award-winning website as part of our publishing portfolio."

Ha ha. 

Goodbye drivel machine.
This is technically the third time the Pink Paper has closed - it happened twice under the editorship of Tris Reid-Smith, something of a record in the publishing world, I think.
Well done, Tristram! 
The following editor, Peter Lloyd, managed to make it even worse - a spectacular feat.  
Shame, as it was a publication that began with good and radical intentions, in the dark days of Section 28, and used to have some great staff. 

Makes you wonder who'll be next - tick tick tick...

PS It was all written by interns for the last few months so I can't see what the costs were. Still, a sad day for slave labour, nonetheless...

Maria Miller: Shocking!

The above meme has been much RT-ed on Twitter since Maria Miller was appointed Minister for Women and Equalities on Tuesday.
It's shocking, isn't it?
It's shocking because the charges it makes against Miller are at best somewhat dubious and at worst utter balls.
I'm not going to go through them all blow-by-blow - mainly as blogger How Upsetting has already done this here.
(I trust he's right, I couldn't be arsed to check).
It's terrifying how often these things get passed on and on and on, unchallenged, unquestioned, unchecked.
But such is the apolitical "political" virtual world of online clicktivism.
How depressing.

Further, when it was announced that Miller had been made Minister For Equality, you'd think any gay journalist would immediately automatically go and check her voting record and see what she has said - or not said - on LGBT issues.
In the age of the internet it would take mere minutes to do a basic check.
Her record is piss poor, by the way - which doesn't bode well for marriage equality legislation. 
And it's really piss poor that both Pink News and Pink Paper only pointed this out the following day after picking the story up from bloggers and a press statement they were sent by a church group.
How very depressing.

Nick Clegg: His Word Is His Bond

'Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg told attendees of the spring Liberal Democrat conference that gay marriage will be introduced before 2015' - Pink Paper.

'At the Liberal Democrats’ Spring Conference this weekend, Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg promised the UK’s first gay marriage would take place before 2015 as a result of Liberal Democrats being in government' - Pink News.

"Journalists" who believe everything a politician says - how sweet!

Marriage: More Revolting

"Hi, I belong to a far-right racist party and have a press release about why we don't support gay equality. Will you publish it?"
"Sure. We publish any old crap. No questions asked."

Your wonderful gay press at work.
Well done Pink Paper!

Update: Pink News are also keen on trying to normalise these Brownshirts in blazers from UKIP.

Musicals: Free The Manchester 1!

"A teenage juror who falsely told a court he was ill so he could sneak off to watch a West End musical with his mother will spend Christmas behind bars after his lie was exposed.
"Matthew Banks, 19, had tickets to a matinee performance of the hit show Chicago last Friday but failed to tell the court in Manchester about this when he was called for jury service.
"He sat on the jury for an assault case throughout last week but was determined not to miss his pre-Christmas treat, so on the fifth day of the trial he rang the court to say he was unwell.
"The university student then travelled to London to enjoy the musical with his 49-year-old mother, Debbie Ennis. Meanwhile, the case was adjourned.
"But Banks was rumbled even before the curtain rose at the Garrick Theatre, as a court official had telephoned his student digs to find out whether he would be fit to return to the jury after the weekend.
"His boyfriend Christian Orr answered the phone and said Banks was not there because he had ‘gone to London to see a show’..."

The Daily Mail.
Brilliant.
The tickets were a christmas present from his boyfriend, who - ironically - found he couldn't get the day off work.
Matthew was sentenced to two weeks in a young offender institution - lucky bitch.
Imagine if they started lucking up all young gay men who've been ditzy and devious!

What's noteworthy about the Mail's story is that, although it makes several references to his boyfriend, it never uses the g-word.
Pink Paper, of course, would have stated the bleedin' obvious and said that he was "openly gay."
Sad that the Mail is more progressive and less patronising here than some gay media would be.

Bradley Manning: Your Wonderful Gay Press At Work

Pink Paper has finally published a story about Bradley Manning.
And he's only been in prison for 18 months.
Oh, and apparently he is "openly-gay"
It is here.
Well done, Peter Lloyd - the worst "openly-gay" journalist in the world!
The ever shitter Gay Star News has decided he's guilty.
Thus negating the need for a trial.
Well done all!

Update: I'll do a round-up of press coverage during the week. It's unexpectedly turned out that his defence is claiming his sexuality is key, and the army prosectors saying it is irrelevant. The press seems to be going for the "crazy mixed-up fag" line, like this dreadful piece in the Daily Mail.

PPS: You can download Greg Mitchell's e-book, Bradley Manning: Truth And Consequences, for free on Monday (US time, obvs). Tis good.

Gay Star News: At Last...

Gay Star News has just gone live!
(Actually they're Beta Testing - whatever that means).
They've promised the site "will revolutionize [sic] the way you get news about the gay (LGBT) world."
Yeah, right.
It's run by Tris Reid-Smith, best known as the long-serving editor of Pink Paper - and the man who year-in year-out made it so unbelievably dreary and unreadable.
Was it just the two times that the Pink closed down under his stewardship?
Looks like Pink News is more of the same - but on the internets!
Oh, and Tristram's boyfriend, Scott Nunn, is also a "director".
They clearly haven't got a clue what today's gay (BLT) news stories are.
Is there really anything on there that you want to read?
No?
Me neither.
Their promo stuff pushes that Gay Star News will be "24/7", but who wants to read a couple of cut-and-pasted press releases 24 hours a day, seven days a week?
And the design's real amateur hour stuff, too.
Let them know what you think - they're gagging for feedback.
They're launching properly in January.
If they carry on thinking that they can get away with this lazy dull dull DULL reheated rubbish, I'll give them til March.
Hopeless.

One Star.

Clause 28 2.0: LGBTory Tell Us A Story

The Pink Paper's Peter Lloyd - officially the most hilariously hopeless gay journalist in the UK - has got something of a scoop!

"The Chair of LGBTory - the Conservative Party's queer division [!!! Fagburn] - has slammed an article which suggested the coalition government was introducing a Section 28-style guideline for schools.
"As reported in The Sunday Telegraph yesterday, Education Correspondent Julie Henry wrote that there are plans to "protect children from inappropriate teaching materials and learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and for bringing up children..."

Ah, the chair of LGBTory, eh Peter?
Well, he would say that, wouldn't he?
What did you expect this gay Uncle Tom to say exactly?
So what did he tell you?

"It's a total non-story. Funding agreements under the last government had exactly the same wording. It's in the Education Act 2000 section 148 and the exact wording is copied into the funding agreement..."

Really?
Both the relevant clauses are quoted - in full - at the end of the Telegraph piece.
Shall we compare and contrast?

Sex and Relationship Education Guidance, July 2000

Pupils should be taught about the nature and importance of marriage for family life and bringing up children. But the Government recognises that there are strong and mutually supportive relationships outside marriage. Therefore pupils should learn the significance of marriage and stable relationships as key building blocks of community and society. Care needs to be taken to ensure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances.

Free School Model Funding Agreement and Academy Model Funding Agreement, July 2011

"The Academy Trust shall have regard to any guidance issued by the Secretary of State on sex and relationship education to ensure that children at the academy are protected from inappropriate teaching materials and they learn the nature of marriage and its importance for family life and for bringing up children."

The new funding agreement stops there - check it here.
So it's not "exactly the same wording", is it?
The Tories have decided not to include these all-important sentences;

"But the Government recognises that there are strong and mutually supportive relationships outside marriage. Therefore pupils should learn the significance of marriage and stable relationships as key building blocks of community and society. Care needs to be taken to ensure that there is no stigmatisation of children based on their home circumstances."

Perhaps Pink Paper and LGBTory could explain why?
One can only presume they don't think they matter?

Pink News Paper: Newsflash

Pink News Paper has been sent a press release, Fagburn can reveal.
It is understood that this press release was sent by someone and has something to do with The Gays.
Although it is of fuck all interest to anyone beyond the people that sent it, it has been faithfully reproduced verbatim.
The Pulitzer Prize is surely in the post.

Mr Gay UK: Great Last Paragraphs Of Our Time

"The return of the contest follows controversy around previous winners – namely, Anthony Francis Morley, who was charged with the murder of Damian Oldfield."

Who he ate.
Quote from the endlessly stupid Pink Paper.

Pink Paper: Mind Your Language 2

In what could be a historical first, The Pink Paper has got a story no-one else has!
Mind you, it is about PinkPaper.com - a gripping readers' poll to be precise.
"The overwhelming majority of PinkPaper.com readers believe that the term 'openly-gay' is not offensive, according to our latest online poll.
"The results come after author Stella Duffy used micro-blogging site Twitter to suggest that PinkPaper.com has been "taken over by the Daily Mail" for using the phrase in a recent article..."
Duffy was descrbed as "openly gay" in an item about the Green Carnation book awards.
She Tweeted;
"UTTERLY bemused (and not a little riled) by the weird gay press and Guardian reportage of Green Carnation shortlist. 1. if the shortlist were only 'famous' authors it would really have been something to complain about; 2. Colm Toibin and Jackie Kay ARE famous ffs. sigh. and grr. "(completed weirded by the PinkPaper referring to me as 'openly-gay' - OPENLY-GAY?, what, like self-confessed?! have they been taken over by the Daily Mail? very odd.)"
[Edit: This first bit above wasn't tweeted - see Stella Duffy's reply below].
"dear PinkPaper, 'openly-gay' is as offensive as 'self-confessed'."
According to Pink Paper, 97% agreed it wasn't offfensive, and three per cent of disagreed.
(Which could mean around 33 people voted).
Dear Pink Paper - and dear Guardian - a simple rule for journalists to follow is to avoid using any word or phrase you wouldn't use in everyday speech.
Like openly-gay, gays or homosexual.
And the gay media doesn't need to continually point out that a well-known person is gay or openly gay - we all know Graham Norton is, thanks.
Just a few thoughts...

PS This story appeared several days ago, but I'm running it now in tribute to PinkPaper.com's editorial standards.

Peter Moore: Gay Serial Killer Cheats Death

Reports that the serial killer Peter Moore, who was jailed for life in 1996, has died have been denied by the Ministry of Justice (MoJ).
A patient at high security Broadmoor hospital with the same name died in July and this was incorrectly reported as being the killer from Conwy.
The error was made in a news agency report which was carried by the BBC and other media outlets.
The MoJ confirmed the reports related to another man called Peter Moore.
The Press Association said its story had been "based on incorrect information".
Broadmoor said there was no connection between it and the serial killer Peter Moore.

BBC News.

Oops!
Reports such as the Mirror's 'Gay serial killer who murdered four men and tortured more than 50 dead' have now disappeared into the ether.
Unintentionally hilarious piece on PinkPaper.com;
"The reported death of gay serial killer Peter Moore is "incorrect" and a mix-up with another patient of the same name, PinkPaper.com can report."
The Pink Paper! Champion of editorial standards!!!
Dontcha just love that "PinkPaper.com can report"?
It's a favourite phrase of the Pink Paper - like they had to get security clearance to break the story of the century, and this wasn't just something they found while dicking about on the internet.
Further; "We report on the news before any other gay news service."
Which means they've run it before Pink News.
Seeing as Pink News recently ran a "news story" that was almost a year old that's hardly something to brag about, dear.

First Out: So Farewell Then...

Sorry to hear First Out cafe bar is closing.
I have many sweet memories of being there.
Though admittedly most were many years ago.
They can't afford the new lease apparently...

Update: 'Long-standing LGBT London cafe First Out to close this month'
"We report on the story before any other gay news service" - Pinkpaper.com
Oh no you didn't - and I do this as a hobby, not a job.
Still that's quite good for you - you're normally a day or two behind me.
But why even bother claiming you broke this story?
It's hardly Hackgate, is it?

Update: Statement: "We at First Out team have no immediate plans for relocation but, as they say, watch this space..."

The Daily Mail: We Tell Lies For A Living

A very nice man at the Office For National Statistics has kindly sent me a link to the "Survey" on opposition to gay marriage as cited in The Daily Mail article 'Conservative UK: Most Britons still oppose gay marriage'
There's a pdf here.
And as I pointed out it's five years old, so the use of the word "still" is quite bafflingly mad.
And people weren't actually asked "Do you support gay marriage?"
And it's got nothing to do with the Office of National Statistics - it's just mentioned in a footnote (number 31).
Strictly entre-nous, I get the impression ONS are as pissed off with this as the rest of us.
The Mail is refusing to print corrections to this crapola - and is even blocking people from pointing out it is a total fiction on its message boards.
And if you think the Press Complaints Commission are going to do anything you're stupid.
So why not phone up the man who made this crap up - Steve Doughty - directly on 020 7938 6340 or email steve.doughty@dailymail.co.uk and tell the lying fucker how you feel?
And it is shameful that some braindead jerk at The Pink Paper or The Advocate can just reprint this crap without questioning it.
Your gay press at work!
FFS!

Update: Sorry, I should have said that the actual FACTS on that ONS report make for very interesting reading.

Israel/Palestine: More Pinkwash

Peter Tatchell released a statement on Monday condemning the decision of the International LGBTQ Youth and Student Organisation (IGLYO) to hold its General Assembly in Tel Aviv this December as "divisive, exclusionist, mistaken and regrettable..."
"Since human rights are universal, we cannot divorce LGBTI rights from the national rights of the Palestinian people. These are two aspects of the same struggle for universal human rights.
"It is true that on LGBTI rights Israel is, by far, the most progressive nation in the region. However, human rights should not be viewed from a gayist perspective. LGBTI rights do not trump all other human rights."
Admirable sentiments, of course.
There's a predictably silly piece in The Jewish Chronicle; 'Peter Tatchell under fire for gay meeting attack'.
The only gay media that have covered this appear to be some blogs and Midlands Zone.
Pink News and Pink Paper usually reprint any statement from Peter Tatchell pretty much verbatim.
How strange they have both decided to ignore this one...

• See also Que(e)rying the Israel-linked GayMiddleEast.com: a statement by Arab queers

Bradley Manning: Sunday Service

Ad placed in The Indypendent, NYC.

Some of us are always thinking about you, Bradley.
The Bradley Manning Support Network has started a new online campaign 'I Am Bradley Manning'.
This could be beautiful.
Or it could appeal to a lot of people who are vain and egotistical who like seeing photos of themselves online, but I guess it can't do any harm.

Here's a passionate piece by Peter Tatchell from earlier this week 'Support Bradley Manning - Gay Hero'
It's great when Peter sends out articles like this as mail-outs - if nothing else it's the only time some churnalists on the British gay press acknowledge that Bradley even exists.
Ten months after he was charged, Pink Paper has still not run one single fucking story on Bradley Manning - shameful!

• bradleymanning.org

East End Gay Pride: Hate Against Hope/Cancelled Due To EDL Interest

Comment: Why Are Gay People Trying To Ban East End Pride?
"In a sad reminder of the prejudice that Prides face throughout the world, the event has been denounced as confrontational, with the organisers facing a flurry of baseless and deeply personal abuse..."
Paul Birrell, Pink News, yesterday.

'East End Pride Organiser Resigns After ‘English Defence League Past’ Is Revealed'
"One of the organisers of East London Gay Pride resigned today after it was revealed that he had been involved with the English Defence League.
"Raymond Berry helped found the far-right group and remains involved in groups including Stop the Islamification of Europe, it was claimed..."
Pink News, today...

• For the record Out East did not call for East End Pride to be "banned". In their open letter they wrote they have; "great concerns about this demonstration and we have decided neither to participate in the event nor to call our supporters to be part of it, and we think it important to express the reasons why...
"We call on you and the organisations supporting this event to cancel it with a view to working with the local communities of the East End to ensure active, inclusive responses are made to homophobia, which do not inadvertently contribute to community tensions."
The statement from LGBT Muslim Group Imaan that outed Raymond Berry's EDL connections.

UPDATE: Wednesday March 16th. Organisers have cancelled East End Gay Pride.
In a rather silly statement they blamed "personal vendettas" against them.

UPDATE2: The shamefully thick and lazy Peter Lloyd, Pink Paper news editor (!), does his usual trick of just cut and pasting a press release without getting a second opinion - thus missing the point of the story (the furore started over unproven assumptions the stickers/posters were put up by Islamists).
He even manages to spell "Defence" "Defense"; Mr Lloyd, (American) spellchecks are only useful if you yourself can spell. Jesus fucking wept.

Equality Law: Now You're Just Being "Ridiculous"

The Tories class war continues apace.
'Fury as Theresa May scraps equality law' - The Daily Mirror.
"Home Secretary Theresa May was accused of a shocking attack on the poor yesterday after scrapping an equality law.
"Councils will no longer need to consider disadvantages and inequalities in their policy decisions."
Of course this has pleased those on the right.
'Theresa May will today scrap a ‘ridiculous’ Harriet Harman equality law dubbed ‘socialism in one clause’' - The Daily Mail
May's speech about ending "Harman's law" was "leaked" to the Mail.
Reading between the lines, more worryingly the Conservatives seem to be abandoning any commitment to equality - now they will talk of "fairness".
The Home Office press release announced;
"Controversial rules that would have forced all public bodies to focus spending and services on poorer areas at the expense of better-off communities were today scrapped."
But in a piece of spin as obvious as an iceberg it adds;
"The speech also underlined the government’s ongoing commitment to equality and fairness."
Really? Do go on...
"This included the Home Secretary announcing that a measure in the Freedom Bill will allow people who were prosecuted for having consensual gay sex at a time when this was illegal to apply to have their convictions deleted from criminal records."
May also said in her speech; "...we will give schools the power to take tough action to tackle bullying, including homophobic and transphobic bullying."
Verily, the Conservatives giveth and the Conservatives take away.
Even if they don't say how they will giveth in practical terms.
Would anyone fall for this?
"Minister for Women and Equalities Theresa May has spoken out on a new equalities strategy, announcing that those harboring convictions for consensual gay sex should soon be able to apply to have their records cleared," Jamie Tabberer writes on PinkPaper.com.
"She added: “We will give schools the power to take tough action to tackle bullying, including homophobic and transphobic bullying."
"May will however scrap an inequality measure that would have called for public bodies to address class inequalities introduced by Harriet Harman, labeling it 'ridiculous'."
Pink News' headline reads; ''May scraps ‘ridiculous’ equality duty but promises new action on anti-gay bullying'
Ridiculous innit?

Boyz: 1993-2006

Boyz magazine is marking its 1000th issue this week, with a look back over the last 19 years in Boyzworld.
It's fun, but a little bit frightening if like Fagburn you actually remember gay life in 1991.
I remember being given a copy of the first issue at London Pride that year and my heart sinking - it seemed like the triumph of the banalification of the British gay press.
It seemed a betrayal too - the people behind it were the people behind the then serious, political Pink Paper, and Boyz seemed like anything but.
There are two ways of judging any publication; what's it trying to do and how good is it at doing that?
David Bridle, Boyz co-founder, its first editor and now managing director, remembers the original formula he sketched out on a beermat; "We had already decided the new Boyz - originally to be called Boyz Own - would be based on the formula of succesful girl's teen magazines Just 17 and Smash Hits but aimed at gay men..."
"A male nude centrefold, an agony uncle, a Boyz doc, weekly listings for strippers and drag artistes, a gay astrologer, a weekly cartoon strip, and postal 'contact' adverts divided into fetish interests..."
When Bridle was editor Boyz did what it did badly; it wasn't sexy and fun, it was nerdy and boring.
It got good under Simon Gage, editor between 1993 and 1998.
"We just realised that if you wanted to get very serious messages across, you had to make them fun. You could say it was a pretty dark moment in our history, with Aids and a government intent on stamping us out with legislation like Clause 28, but rather than give into it, we made it fun to do the right thing. In at atmosphere of 'Gays, stop having sex!', we were very sex positive and just hammered home the 'Use a condom' message. Generally we were all about underlining what a great thing it was to be gay and never mind what the old cunts in the House of Lords were saying..."
It was in its own way quite subversive, a tradition carried on by his successor as editor, (David) Hudson, now with added Indie.
Hudson was dumped in 2006 and Bridle took over running it himself.
Bridle told Press Gazette; "Boyz has always been a young men's gay title, but we're at the stage where we need to remind ourselves what we're about. We're looking again at what an 18-year-old would want from the title."
ie Bridle wanted to make it more like a "girls' teen magazine" once more.
Ah well, it was good while it lasted.
So much of the gay press seems like cut-and-pasted press releases. Boyz at its best felt like you were reading queens writing about the things that actually excited them, or that riled them.
Both Simon Gage and Hudson could teach classes at working within and pushing against the constraints of the commercial gay press.

Papal Visit: Your Protest, Our Marketing Opportunity

From PinkPaper.com - who hilariously are billing this as an "exclusive":
"Britain’s leading gay titles – Attitude, DIVA, GT and PinkPaper.com – have joined together for the very first time in opposition to the Pope’s UK visit, today.
"On the eve of London’s latest anti-Pope rally, the brands [!!!] – who are long-standing publishing rivals – have united in response to Pope Benedict XVI’s state-funded trip, which began in Scotland yesterday and continues across Britain over the weekend...
"But today, the four titles have joined forces against the attacks.
"They have issued this joint statement:
“As our country hosts the Pope this week, we – the leading gay press..."
How kind of you to let us know and try and raise "brand awareness" at this difficult time.
Fight the power!!!!!!!!!
There are rumours of some big ch-ch-changes at Millivres-Prowler Group, does this historic union between the "long-standing publishing rivals" mean a merger is on the cards?

Update: Gaydar also tried to use the protests against the pope as a marketing opportunity, bringing some young men dressed as 'Gaydar Angels' and some adverts masquerading as placards to the protest at Twickenham this afternoon; '6 Million Gaydar Members Are Not Evil' etc.
Oh do fuck off!
Not much of a PR exercise as - predictably - only Pink News and Pink Paper (and now ironically yours truly) mentioned their shameless scam.

• Cartoon from today's Guardian by Steve Bell (again).