Russia: Openly

B-b-but I keep reading in the media and from that leading expert on Russia, Stephen Fry, all gay men there are sent to death camps.

I think the posh interns the gay media loves to not pay for writing drivel go back to "uni" next week.

Peter Tatchell: Useful Idiot

Western Left used to fight fascism. Now it ignores the crimes of neo-fascist Assad, Putin, Iran & Hezbollah in Syria pic.twitter.com/fSGfeGW2Sb

— Peter Tatchell (@PeterTatchell) August 19, 2016

And to think some people believe Peter Tatchell is a CIA stooge...

Saint Peter - fearless defender of American imperialism!

Elton John: Dear Yoko

WHEN Elton John decided his business affairs were a mess, he turned to the most important man in his life.

But he knew making partner David Furnish his “CEO” would not be plain sailing.

“I call him Yoko now because a lot of people don’t like what he’s doing,” confesses the flamboyant superstar about his significant other of 23 years...

The Sun. 

Why is Elton talking to The Sun, and why now?

Hmm...

Update: Sir Elton John and Putin will not meet in Russia, BBC News. 

Actually, it's just been postponed.

Propaganda: The Danger Of Demonisation

Does any intelligent person look at a New York Times article about Russia or Vladimir Putin these days and expect to read an objective, balanced account? Or will it be laced with a predictable blend of contempt and ridicule? And is it any different at The Washington Post, NPR, MSNBC, CNN or almost any mainstream U.S. news outlet?

And it’s not just Russia. The same trend holds true for Iran, Syria, Venezuela, Nicaragua and other countries and movements that have fallen onto the U.S. government’s “enemies list.” We saw the same pattern with Saddam Hussein and Iraq before the 2003 U.S. invasion; with Muammar Gaddafi and Libya before the U.S.-orchestrated bombing campaign in 2011; and with President Viktor Yanukovych and Ukraine before the U.S.-backed coup in 2014.

That is not to say that these countries and leaders don’t deserve criticism; they do. But the proper role of the press corps – at least as I was taught during my early years at The Associated Press – was to treat all evidence objectively and all sides fairly. Just because you might not like someone doesn’t mean your feelings should show through or the facts should be forced through a prism of bias.

In those “old days,” that sort of behavior was deemed unprofessional and you would expect a senior editor to come down hard on you. Now, however, it seems that you’d only get punished if you quoted some dissident or allowed such a person onto an op-ed page or a talk show, someone who didn’t share Official Washington’s “group think” about the “enemy.” Deviation from “group think” has become the real disqualifier.

Yet, this conformity should be shocking and unacceptable in a country that prides itself on freedom of thought and speech. Indeed, much of the criticism of “enemy” states is that they supposedly practice various forms of censorship and permit only regime-friendly propaganda to reach the public.

But when was the last time you heard anyone in the U.S. mainstream say anything positive or even nuanced about Russian President Putin. He can only be portrayed as some shirtless buffoon or the devil incarnate. Former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton got widespread praise in 2014 when she likened him to Hitler...

Robert Parry, consortiumnews.com

Thankfully the gay media doesn't do this sort of thing.

If you just go 'LIKE HITLER!', you've already lost the debate.

Gay Media Watch: Foreign Affairs

This is a mural that has appeared in Lithuania.

The gay/GBH media think it is 'amazing'.

And not politically infantile.

Can you see President Putin?

He is the current bogeyman of Western power and thus this week's new Hitler.

Can you see Donald Trump?

The gay media do not like him either.

They like Hillary Clinton, because she loves The Gays - even though she's well to the right of Trump on many issues, especially foreign policy.

The mural shows these two men kissing.

Because two men kissing is inherently funny, isn't it?

Hahaha!

Or is it meant to be disgusting?

The gay media serves imperialism.

Well done the gay media!

Owen Jones Watch: Love & Hate

A generous double-helping of our Owen over on Guardian online today.

Firstly, OJ thinks President Putin of Russia is not very nice,

BUT WHY IS NO-ONE ELSE ON THE LEFT SPEAKING OUT?!! *

Next up, a video where you can watch Dr Owen Jones drool all over put on his comedy concerned face as he talks to young Olly Alexander about mental health.

Enjoy!

Update: Gay Twitter reacts...

Can't stop watching this. Owen's death grip vs Olly's awkward shoulder pat. #owly  https://t.co/Y9B3rUkxo9

— Paul Lang (@rudemrlang) January 26, 2016

Tweet Of The Day: Gay Mafia

Both #BBC and #ITV are run by gay mafia. Why are we allowing this shit? #justasking

— Alexander Nekrassov (@StirringTrouble) January 25, 2016

A laughable response to the equally laughable Panorama documentary that Putin is secretly MADE OF GOLD!

Alexander Litvinenko: Kremlin Paedophile

Here's the article where the rather bizarre Alexander Litvinenko accused Vladimir Putin of being a paedophile.

Obviously anything this man has said should be taken seriously.

NB Polonium had never been used as a poison before, and was not initially found in his body, but apparently turned up some time later, as if by magic, so yeah, obvs killed by those evil Russian Pitinistas. (Though it seems not unlikely the mafia did).

Update: At last! Someone's tracked down the 5 year-old boy Putin kissed in 2006!

Russian Maxim: Respect

In an article headlined “Gays We Respect,” the Russian edition of men’s magazine Maxim has “forgiven” a list of famous actors, authors and musicians for their sexual orientation.

“We, men, do not consider men who love men to be men. This is the rule,” the introduction to the post reads. “But there are exceptions. There are gays who have earned our respect and the right to remain real men in our eyes.”

These “exceptions” include actors Ian McKellen and Neil Patrick Harris, who the magazine has “forgiven” for their sexual orientation due to their onscreen roles.
 
“We weren’t sure about including Neil Patrick Harris in the list — after all, he declared himself a ‘happy gay’ in 2006. But his performance as Barney Stinson in the series How I Met Your Mother hasn’t left us indifferent,” the article reads. “It’s impossible not to respect someone who elevated the hunt for girls into a true art, who systematized all the tricks and techniques and created the ‘Bro Code.’ Even if he was just acting the role. But how he acted!”

As the lead singer of Queen, Freddie Mercury “brought us so much joy, we are ready to forgive him anything,” the magazine continues.

Rob Halford of Judas Priest is evidence that “if you’re cool enough, it doesn’t matter what your orientation is.” British comedian Stephen Fry is presented as “the living embodiment of the idea that one can be openly gay and a sensible person at the same time.” ...

An editor at Maxim’s Russian edition told BuzzFeed News Nov. 26 “our position is clearly formulated in the introduction to the article.” Alexander Malenkov, the editor-in-chief of the Russian edition of Maxim, told the Russian News Service Nov. 30, “This is a joke article. It says so in it.” ...

BuzzFeed LGBT.

The piece does seem to be a piss-take - and presumably meant to mock Russian homophobia and machismo - but satire is always lost on simpletons.

Though, admittedly it might have lost something in the (Google) translation.

Still... Russia BOO!

Update: Not seen one gay media account of this that didn't regurgitate it as clearly another example of TEH EVIL RUSSIAN HOMOPHOBIA!!!

But where would be without the Pavlovian LGBT media seeing homophobia where there is none?

Hey! Remember when Putin called Elton John and that was absolutely 100% straight-up true?

Tweet Of The Week: Take That Putin!

.@JaymiUJWorld has a special message for President Putin in his latest GT column. Via https://t.co/KTWRgsA0xw pic.twitter.com/EHIZchabBe

— Gay Times Magazine (@GayTimesMag) November 21, 2015

LOL!

Elton John: Gawd Bless You Ma'am!

The union has not been without its share of scrutiny. The Sun on Sunday carried an innuendo-laden story earlier this year, pointing out that Furnish had bought a £330,000 flat in south London for a hunky 33-year-old personal trainer [Danny Williams], who had also accompanied him on a number of trips.

“Oh, that was a situation where I was just helping someone out that was completely misconstrued,” says Furnish, apparently unperturbed.

Elton’s mum has also been known to turn to the tabloids to vent her feelings about her son-in-law, whom she seems to blame for a seven-year rift between mother and son. Sheila Farebrother did not attend the Furnish-John wedding and hired an Elton lookalike in March for her 90th birthday party. She told the Daily Mail earlier this year that the last time she spoke to her son, she ended the conversation by saying: “You think more of that f****** thing you married than your own mother.”

“It just makes me very sad,” says Furnish. “Next question.” 

The Sunday Times Magazine.

The only part of this interview that made me larf, not barf.

Update: Elton talks to the Oxford Union about Putin and Russia and gay footballers and other ABSOLUTELY THRILLING subjects du jour!

BrewDog No Label: Tastes Like Pinkwashing

A company has created what it claims is the world’s first “transgender” beer – using hops that have changed sex from male to female.

Scottish brewing company Brewdog launched the new product, No Label – which it claims “captures the spirit of Soho itself”.

Brewdog explained: “No Label is the world’s first ‘non-binary, transgender beer’ designed to reflect the diversity of the area and champion inclusivity.

“This 4.6% ABV Kölsch has been brewed with hops that have changed sex from female to male flowers prior to harvest.

“We have used these to emphasise that, just like humans, beer can be whatever the hell it wants to be, and proud of it.” ...

“The beer draws parallels with individuals who identify themselves in a similar ‘non-binary’ way, as neither exclusively male nor female – a community of people that is still largely under-acknowledged by society...

Profits from the beer will be donated to queer event collective Queerest of the Queer, in turn to support trans communities.

Pink News.

It really is baffling that Queerest of the Queer would not only be involved with this, but open their post on it by decrying pinkwashing.

— How Upsetting (@How_Upsetting) November 5, 2015

Queerest of the Queer aren't the people you call when you want to pink wash - we don't give you easy credits on your corporate social responsibility - we're a collection of politically minded queers into performance and creating queer spaces.

So when BrewDog responded to our challenge to talk about their fundraising video and how they could seriously re-engage with and make amends to the LGBTQ+ community they weren't taking the easy track.

We met and started to talk about levels of oppression and how Cis, White, Rich, Gay men are not the only voice, even if they are a loud voice. There are other lived experiences. We had long animated discussions, including how charitable money doesn't often end up going to the grass roots organisations that help LGBTQ+ youth, especially when they are supporting the homeless and refugees.

Then we got talking about the history of brewing, the role of women in early brewing that was slowly erased, and the work Brew Dog are doing, and should continue to do, to bring more diversity into brewing.

This led us to talking about the closure of queer spaces, with the closure of the Black Cap, Madame JoJo’s and the George and Dragon to mention but a few.

  

So we ended up where we are today, with No Label - a beer with our name on it. A beer without anybody’s name on it. A beer, as it were, without a name.

All money from this venture is gong to charities - because one of the goals of Queerest of the Queer was that we give as much of any profit we can to charity. We didn’t make a profit from the festival in September- and this allowed us to do more than we could have done even if we had a capacity crowd.

Money is going to the Albert Kennedy Trust, Micro Rainbow who support LGBT asylum seekers, and we are working with Mosaic Youth and other youth charities to run a LGBTQ+ youth ball in the new year.

We haven’t put a label on what this relationship with BrewDog is – it would be counter-intuitive...

Facebook post - please read the comments.

Pink News.

Last September, BrewDog released a crowdfunding video that showed founders James Watt and Martin Dickie sending up how desperate they were for money by dressing in bad drag and trying to sell their bodies in a brothel window, under the hashtag #dontmakeusdothis.

This was greeted with a (slightly OTT) online petition and a call for a boycott until the 'transphobic' online ad was withdrawn.

BrewDog beer company claims to be "beer for punks". They claim to be ethical. Yet in their new crowdsourcing video they mock homeless people, trans women and sex workers. They say, "don't make us do this" whilst performing as offensive caricatures of people, many of whom already suffer discrimination every day. They are mocking the lives and experiences of people who real punks would be defending and helping.

Worse, this is a fundraising video - they're using these images in an exploitative manner to make money.

In February 2014, BrewDog came up with this wanky PR stunt to jump on the hysterical Sochi bandwagon; ‘Hello My Name is Vladimir’ has been launched as the world’s first protest beer, aimed to mock and criticise Russia’s anti-gay “propaganda” laws.

Take that Putin!

Full disclosure: Fagburn completely missed this one, I ignore a lot of these tedious pink PR exercises as I don't like giving them the oxygen of publicity.

I had no idea how farcical this one was - thanks to @How_Upsetting for joining the dots. x

See also Why Drinking 'Transgender Beer' Won't Help The LGBT Community, Anthony Lorenzo, Vice.

PS Should point out that Fagburn does not think the BrewDog dudes are devils, and probably had good intentions.

Look at this for an example of classic bourgeois LGBTIQWXYZ victimhood!

Sorry?

Where was the 'HARM DONE'! by their crappy ad?

Sake.

Putin: Is Lovely - Official

Elton John’s husband David Furnish has called Vladimir Putin “genuinely lovely” and has confirmed the star will meet the Russian leader.

Putin, 63 – who has invaded [sic] Crimea, backed civil war in Ukraine and sent his forces to help Syrian tyrant Bashar al-Assad – phoned Sir Elton last month to arrange the meeting to discuss gay rights.

The call came a week after the singer was duped by two Moscow comedians pretending to be the president.

During the talk Putin apparently asked Elton not to be offended by the prank which was broadcast on Russian TV.

Yesterday film producer Furnish, 52, said: “Putin is lovely. He and Elton spoke on the phone and the Kremlin have confirmed that.

“Now they’re trying to get a date in the diary to talk face to face.”

Speaking at the Attitude awards in London on Wednesday night, he added: “That may surprise people but I take people as I find them and he was so polite and lovely on the phone.

“He’s genuinely lovely. Besides, this isn’t about politics – I’m not a politician – it’s about humanity.” ...

Mirror.

Told you.

Peter Tatchell Watch: The Appliance Of Science

Daily Telegraph.

Peter Tatchell - a self-styled authority on so very many subjects - has an honorary masters degree in stating the obvious and repeating what someone else has written.

He's written this article at least three times before - often in support of his Nostradamus-like prediction and collective death wish that gay identity will be eradicated.

God bless you.

NB These days Peter's ever madder musings are usually only published by International Business Times - a shady right-wing religious nutter outfit. Go figure.

PS Whilst it is oft rumoured Peter Tatchell is in the pay of MI6, the CIA etc, I have found no evidence for this, and believe his defences of American empire are due to his own gullibility.

Putin: Speaks

Watch it here.

In 2013, Russia enacted laws banning "propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations" [to children] and blocking same-sex couples from adopting children. A 2014 Human Rights Watch report documented an uptick in anti-gay violence and harassment in Russia since the laws were passed. *

In the clip above, an outtake from 60 Minutes' two-part interview with the Russian president, Putin says he supports equal rights. "The problem of sexual minorities in Russia had been deliberately exaggerated from the outside for political reasons, I believe, without any good basis," he tells Charlie Rose.

In the U.S., Putin points out, some states still have laws on the books against same-sex relations. (This is partly true; all such laws were invalidated in 2003 by the Supreme Court ruling in Lawrence v. Texas.)

[Missing quote where he condemns such anti-gay laws:

“I would definitely condemn that. I believe there should not be any criminal prosecution or any other prosecution or infringement of peoples’ rights on the basis of their race, ethnicity religious or sexual orientation. We don’t have that.”]

In Russia, Putin adds, "We have no persecution at all.* People of non-traditional sexual orientation work, they live in peace, they get promoted, they get state awards for their achievements in science and arts or other areas. I personally have awarded them medals."

Putin also defends Russia's controversial gay "propaganda" law. "I don't see anything un-democratic in this legal act," Putin tells 60 Minutes. "I believe we should leave kids in peace. We should give them a chance to grow, help them to realize who they are and decide for themselves. Do they consider themselves a man or a woman? A female? A male? Do they want to live in a normal, natural marriage or a non-traditional one? That's the only thing I wanted to talk about. I don't see here any infringement on the rights of gay people."

CBS News.

Bear in mind this is an instant translation and may not be precise; (legal) 'prosecution' and (social) 'persecution' appear to be confused for one. [Here's a dimwitted intern at GT getting it wrong. PS And Attitude!].

I wish Russia would repeal their silly little law, but you'd have to be a complete gaytard and/or a stooge of American empire to think 'PUTIN = HITLER!!!'

* Some flaws in the Human Rights Watch report.

Update: Russian LGBT youth group we said was banned clearly not actually banned, Pink News reports.

Elton & Putin: It's On!

Russian President Vladimir Putin has phoned pop star Elton John and proposed a meeting, according to the Kremlin.

Sir Elton has said he wants to talk to Mr Putin about his "ridiculous" attitude to gay rights.

The singer previously fell victim to pranksters who impersonated the Russian leader on the phone.

But Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told Russian media that Mr Putin had this time called the singer and asked him not to be offended by the hoax.

Mr Putin said on Thursday he was ready to meet Sir Elton - when their schedules allowed it - and discuss "any issues of interest" to the British star, Mr Peskov said...

BBC News.

Thought everyone would see right through my silly - and, let's face it, rather childish - hoax, but it looks like I've got away with it for now.

Letter Of The Day: Eltongate

I like Elton John. His songs invoke powerful emotions, and his status as a talented artist and songwriter is not disputed.

He is famously homosexual and clearly passionate about the rights of all us to be able to pick our partners with the freedom we all deserve, and through being heard by many powerful people he has probably influenced more than we realise.

He strives for a life without bigotry and hatred, which is indisputably an admirable quality.

However, surely one has to wonder why musicians, actors and artists are elevated to such powerful positions. And why did Elton John think that Vladimir Putin was actually going to pick up the phone to discuss Russia’s policies with him? Did he honestly believe that he could succeed where Angela Merkel and friends had failed?

Maybe he thought that a quick rendition of Nikita sung down the telephone would melt the ex-KGB man’s heart and that the views of a nation would be changed immediately?

I’d love to damn this optimism as the naive behaviour of yet another pop star diva, but sadly I can see why he tried.

Our celebrities, particularly in the West, seem to have been given a god-like status. In the UK, many of the people we see on television appear to have the friendship of some of this country’s most rich and powerful people.

Jamie Oliver has told us what children should eat in school; Russell Brand and Sting have pushed for new drug laws; and Jeremy Clarkson even managed to get the PM to empathise with him in his time of need. Am I the only one who finds this odd?

A year ago I spent 10 months living in St Petersburg. I accept the claims about racism and homophobia in Russia, neither of which I find attractive or acceptable. However, one must take one’s hat off to a leader who scorns the idea of a pop star telling him how to run his country.

Yes, we’d all like Putin to change, but let’s not be foolish enough to think that he might be influenced by a piano player and singer, no matter how talented or rich he might be.

Steve Davies

West End, Hampshire

The Independent.

Baffling Spectator cartoon.

See also Does Elton John genuinely believe he can change Putin's attitude to gays? The Spectator.

Und 'Hi Elton. Bono and Donald Duck here. Let's talk human rights', Tanya Gold, The Sunday Times.

Elton John: Not Funny

Mirror.

Regular viewers may recall there was only one mediabot who said this sounded like a hoax.

And, again, yes, it does get boring being proved right all the time...

PS Listen to the incredibly convincing prank call. 

PPS The in-no-way mad Masha Gessen writies for the Mail.

Elton: Meet Putin

Elton John's Instagram.

Can't figure out if this is a hoax or not.

Update: Yup, it's probably bollocks.

PS Katie Welsh, The Telegraph.

Elton John might be a millionaire masquerading as a human rights advocate, the Bono of the gay world, but Putin is a Bond villain who thinks he’s 007. He’ll probably insist on having the conversation while riding shirtless on a snowmobile through the Steppes with a burly biker gang or mud wrestling. He’s so aggressively masculine that he’s probably on first name terms with more bears than the entire biker phalanx of a Pride parade...

Note Telegraph readers are not thought to have to have 'bears' explained to them these days. Unlike 'twinks'. Knowledge of Grindr seems to be pretty much a given.

However The Telegraph's style book still says; 'gay: permissible in headlines if essential but use homosexual in text.' 

Odd, as the Telegraph has rather a lot of 'homosexuals' working for it now.

Russia: Not Uniquely Bad Shock

If Russia is not unique in its failings on gay rights, nor is Putin quite the singular villain he is so often presented as. Before the Sochi Winter Olympics he insisted that he was not homophobic, that he knew gay people and had gay individuals in his administration. In much of Europe that might sound tame, but for a Russian leader to say that in public was quite a departure. Outside the biggest cities, the Russian public, like the Russian Orthodox church, is deeply conservative.

It is also worth noting that the Russian law regularly cited as evidence of institutionalised homophobia is little different from the UK’s notorious section 28, which banned the “promotion” of homosexuality in schools. When was section 28 repealed? In Scotland in 2000, and three years later elsewhere. We then traversed the path from section 28 to civil partnership and now gay marriage in just 12 years.

So, if – and why not be optimistic and say when – Sir Elton John meets Vladimir Putin, their discussion could be longer and more serious than the singer expects. And John might also learn that it is not primarily Putin’s mind he needs to change, but that of the wider public – as in Ukraine, and many other countries besides. So let him take his music to Red Square, bring his family along, and appeal to the fans directly. Putin would probably not come and sing along – despite his apparent love of crooning – but he might just sneak a look from behind a Kremlin curtain.

Mary Dejevsky, The Guardian.

No, lady! Russia is uniquely evil and we must never stop going on about it coz Empire and brainwashing.

That is why they have banned Sir Elton John!

Oh, hang on, they haven't...