Fanny & Stella: Unforgotten

A new play by Taggart writer Glenn Chandler charts the forgotten story of two cross-dressers and a notorious 1870s court case..
The Observer.

This is the 'forgotten story' that was the subject of Neil McKenna's book, Fanny & Stella: The Young Men Who Shocked Victorian England, published by Faber in 2013.

It was widely reviewed, The Guardian published a lengthy and thoughtful one by Kathryn Hughes, complete with an online photo gallery.

It's the first thing that comes up if you Google 'Fanny Stella' - hard to believe even this was beyond the journalist.

PS The Observer also has an article about homophobia in sport!!! SNORE!

Fagburn: Catch-Up

Regular viewers may know Fagburn is currently spending his weekends away, smuggling AK-47s to the brave anti-fascist freedom fighters in east Ukraine.

So sometimes, at best, all you may get up is a round-up of the most THRILLING news.

So here is a piece in The Independent that ticked all my boxes.

1. It's written by that leading gay intellectual of our age, Patrick Strudwick! See also Patrick's groundbreaking article; 'It is time for my bedroom curtains to stop being homophobic!'
#stoptthegayhatecurtains *

2. It's about Ian McKellen - of hilarious ITV gay sitcom, Vicious, fame! He is like super old and was in Lord Of The Rings, so whatever he says goes.

3. They talk about THEGAYSINSPORT! - always makes for an interesting article that. Is it the last taboo? etc etc.

4. They plug that calendar by those rather plain, but pukingly posh boys from the NAKEDWARWICKROWINGCLUB! But they love The Gays! Phwoar.

5. Gareth Thomas! Yay! He played rugby and now he gay! ibid. And he man! Not like the rubbish gay gays. Exciting times!

6. The bible. Always worth discussing what this holy book has to say about bumming, or indeed about anything, really. Historical facts? Rational thought? Meh. Fagburn will now consult his pet monkey spinning on an ouija board to see what he thinks.

Night.
x

* Strudwick - an expert on gay politics - writes of the 'near comically villainous [sic] Section 28, gagging teachers from discussing homosexuality'. Err, it didn't, dear.

Sport: Back Of The Net!

Former Irish rugby international Neil Francis sparked controversy today when he claimed that gay people do not have any interest in sport and that only a tiny percentage are actively involved in professional sports of any kind.

The player-turned-pundit was speaking on Newstalk’s Off the Ball today and when asked by presenter Joe Molloy if he believed the percentage of gay people involved in sport was lower than the 10 per cent which is the estimate of the general population who are gay [sic], he said he suspected “that nowhere near 10 per cent. I would say in the smaller margin of 1 per cent.”

When his statement was challenged by the presenter he went on to say: “What are their interests? I mean, If you’ve ever sat down with, you know, homosexual people, and asked them what their interests are, very often they have no interest in any kind of sport. That’s my experience from sitting down with them; I’ve done it on a regular basis.”

“It’s not a generalisation - that, you know, in every sphere of life. . . you meet either a gay man or gay people in a social environment... and my, my, the way I look at, you know, sort of, after talking to them, they have very little interest in sport. Very little.”

He said that professional sport “by its very nature” was not something gay people would be interested in and immediately added that he did not “have an interest in ballet.”

He accepted that by making his comments he opened himself up to accusations of “stereotyping” but said he did not care.

“I’m here. I’m going to express an opinion,” he told the programme

He also said he had been turned off the Winter Olympics because of the focus on sexual orientation and the homophobic position adopted by the Russian authorities. He said he was “sick and tired of, y’know, sort of picking up, y’know angles on whether the Russians have an anti-gay policy or not. It’s about the Olympics or not, and the side issue has just put me off.”

Irish Times.

Well said!

Sport bores the tits off almost all gay men.

That's one of the things that make us gay.

Diving and figure-skating aren't 'sports', they are dancing in the air and on ice.

Some gayers might watch some sports for reasons of Eros and an appreciation of the male form - like kickboxing and the footyball but that is quite different. 

The rest are statistically insignificant.

Sometimes stereotypes are true. 

Jason Collins: Elites And Society And Sport

Sir, Simon Kuper in his otherwise (as ever) insightful essay on homophobia in sport (“Professional sport finally enters the 21st century”, Comment, May 1) slips in one de haut en bas assertion that “educated people tend to be most tolerant of homosexuality” which cannot be allowed to go unchallenged.

In fact, it has been educated elites which throughout history wrote laws and rules excluding or criminalising not just gays, but at various times women, blacks, Jews, Roman Catholics or any group they disdained. Those who served in the armed forces in the second world war, for example, reported later – when the educated elites finally allowed such taboo subjects to be discussed – that, of course, every unit would have its known gay members, and nobody gave a damn as long as they fought the enemy. It is probably precisely because the elites were scandalised by the perceived immorality of the “lower orders” that they passed laws to assert the superiority of the traditional family. If “market economies tend to be gay-friendly”, as Mr Kuper asserts, it is difficult to see how the world’s prototype capitalist economy, the US, also harbours some of the most vocal anti-gay bigots. 

He does not mention the issue of religion, which to many would seem to provide a stronger correlation. The more secular the society and the less the power of organised religion, the easier it has generally been for countries to unpick legislation previously disadvantaging not just gays, but women and ethnic minorities.

From across the Channel, even francophone admirers of republican values have recently been reminded by the violent outbursts against gay marriage that France is an overwhelmingly Catholic country – the flight of whose once-persecuted Protestant minority did nothing but benefit market-friendly Britain.

Tom Brown, London EC2, UK
Letter to the Financial Times.

Trust the FT and their bloomin' de haut en bas assertions!  
Like the Economist, the Financial Times is surprisingly "socially liberal", both were advocates of gay marriage in the UK.

Jason Farago (!) wrote on Guardian online about Jason Collins' coming out; "On one level: sport is more than just a spectacle, and every action that makes gay life more visible is worth taking.
"But while Collins has done something right and brave, the PR flood that's accompanied it should remind us that sport is not some pure land of athletic contests, but a multibillion-dollar industry whose motivations are not exactly altruistic. We should all respect and celebrate gay achievements – but I fear the real desire for openly gay athletes comes from a hunger to sell sneakers."
I think he might be overstating the (financial) case here.
Figures for the supposed "marketing goldmine" in sponsorship deals etc an (American) out pro sports (male) player could hack into seem ludicrously over-inflated and plucked from the ether.
More insightful was the blogger NewBlackMan (In Exile); "Once we view Jason Collins’ coming out narrative as a story of a maturing middle class identity—which culminates in the irrepressible desire for a monogamous commitment or “settling down” as he puts it--it becomes easier to understand his outing—and the auxiliary demand for universal adulation on the part of the media—as part of a well tread genre of black politics...
"The historic import of Jason Collins announcement may be less a sea change towards sexual liberation for black people, and more a signal that now, certain black gay men can be assimilated into the trappings of liberal, middle class American life."
Talking of assimilation, the Daily Mail managed to heterosexualise Jason Collins' coming out story, asking what his ex-girlfriend makes of it all.
Genius.

Breaking: Someone We've Never Heard Of Has Come Out!

The world of sport was literally turned on its head today after an American sportsman we'd never heard of before came out as a gay man who is openly gay, Gay Stupid News can reveal.
Jason Collins plays basketball, which we think is the one where they try and put balls in hoops.
Not sure.
Jason, who is 34 and nine feet tall, plays baseball for Wolverhampton Wizard Wanderers, a popular team. 
He has two arms and two legs, Gay Stupid News can confirm.
GSN's Joe Meringue told GSN; "This is a real game changer. Slam dunk da funk!"
Asked if he knew what on earth that meant, or who Jason Collins actually was, Joe said no.
On Twitter @Worthinggaylad49 spoke for many when he tweeted simply; "So brave". 
More when we've had a chance to nick some stuff off Wikipedia and have another quick Google... 

Sport: Selling Out

A gay man who makes money out of trying to convince businesses they can make money out of marketing to gay men has said businesses can make money out of marketing to gay men, Gay Stupid News can reveal.
And Bob Doogle-Wanger III, head of Pink Pounding Inc, says the next market to be opened up will be the world of sports.
"Without a doubt, I really believe this," Bob told GSN. "If a top baseball player came out he could make $10billion immediately - that's just a ball park figure, of course."
Doogle-Wanger is author of the book, The Pot Of Gold Over The Rainbow: Making The Gay Market Work For You.
He estimates the US LGBT population's buying power is approximately $800 trillion.
This is based on his own totally reliable research that shows one in four Americans are gay, and most are millionaires.
"When I tell people this they think I must be kidding, and must have made this up cause I have a vested financial interest in peddling crap like this," he laughs. 
"I can see Nike getting on board real quick," he says. "They have a history of championing diversity in their advertising. They sponsored that South African athlete guy without any feet, and that worked out real well for them.
"Also they employ a helluva lot of children in South-east Asia to make their clothes - I think that shows these dudes really care about the little people."

• In other "news", Gay Stupid News reports on some things all the other gay media wrote about a few days ago.

Football: Crazy

The broadsheets and articles about "gay men and sport", they go together like a horse and dog food.
Today, it's The Independent On Sunday's turn.
'Gay Footballers Should Feel Free To Come Out, Say Fans'
Which is most generous of them, I'm sure you'll agree.
This is another one extrapolated from some ongoing research conducted at the University of Staffordshire.
Its bulletpoint finding - "More than 90 per cent of fans would approve of a gay player and say there is no place for homophobia in football" - was released last year.
(Fagburn doesn't want to trivialise this, but if you conduct a self-selecting online survey asking how fans feel about homophobia in football, you might just possibly get a pro-gay bias...)
Professor Ellis Cashmore has now written up a more detailed analysis for the Journal of Sport & Social Issues.
Tradition dictates I now reduce these to bulletpoints.

• The taboo surrounding gay players in football is a myth.

• Despite overwhelming support for homosexual [sic] players, many fans said they viewed homophobic abuse – frequently cited as a major reason dissuading players from coming out – as good-humoured banter.

• While football itself is ready to accept gay players, anyone coming out would face media intrusion of "titanic proportions", warned Clarke Carlisle, chairman of the Professional Footballers' Association.

• Clubs and agents are cited as the main obstacles to players coming out by more than 40 per cent of fans. "Brand damage" was how one fan put it.

No, I can't quite square all these circles, either.
But at least the IoS didn't include the near obligatory quote from Max Clifford... this time.
He told the IoS two years ago; "It would take a very courageous Premier League footballer to come out because fans are so vociferous in football in a way they aren't in any other sport. There are also barriers to a player coming out from some clubs, firstly because the players are commercial assets and the clubs don't want those assets damaged, and secondly because a player coming out would cause disruption."
Which doesn't sound too wide of the goalmouth to be honest.
Though I do get the feeling here, that everyone seems to be blaming everyone else.

Simon Hoggart: "I Fear Change!"

"Language changes at a dizzying rate. This week the prime minister and home secretary gave public support to a campaign to "kick homophobia and transphobia out of sport". There was a reception at No 10.
""Transphobia", it turns out, is not "fear of change", as you might imagine, but hatred of and violence towards people who have "changed their gender assignations". I don't think that's too much of a problem in professional sport here – I have not heard of any Premier League footballers who were born female – though it may have been in the old East Germany, if for chemical rather than psychological reasons.
"But when you have a term for one group of people, you need a word for the rest, and the one they've come up with is "cisgender". So the huge majority of us are now, "members of the cisgender community".
"I am puzzled about who invents these words and how they become accepted."

Simon Hoggart, in his Guardian column - yes, The Guardian.
Oh do piss off!

Sports News: AWWWW

"Sam Maden is 12 years old. He loves the Boston Red Sox. And he believes in equality, inspired by his Uncle Chris, who died unexpectedly in January at the age of 43.
So when Sam's teacher recently asked him to come up with a project that could "make a difference" in the world, Sam had an idea to merge his love for the Red Sox with a cause his uncle believed in passionately: ending the bullying of gay kids and kids perceived to be gay.
Inspired by news that the San Francisco Giants had responded to a fan's petition on Change.org by announcing they would become the first pro sports team to create an "It Gets Better" anti-bullying video, Sam came up with an idea to ask his favorite team on the planet - the Red Sox -- to step up to the plate.
Sam decided to honor his uncle by starting a petition asking the Red Sox to make an "It Gets Better" video as well. In the last 24 hours, more than 5,000 people -- mostly Red Sox fans -- have signed Sam's petition on Change.org.

Watch it here.

The Daily Telegraph: Letters To The Editor

SIR – How refreshing it is to watch the Masters. Golf must be the only sport left in which the players do not kiss and hug each other.

Adrian Holloway
Minchinhampton, Gloucestershire. The Telegraph.

The Sports: A Cricketer Is A Gay!

Newsflash: Someone who plays the cricket is gay!
Here's Steven Davies's "coming out" interview - on video on The Daily Telegraph online.
Even an old cynic and sportsphobe like Fagburn who has absolutely no idea who he is has to go "Aww..."
"Aww..."


Update: All very positive coverage. As the Telegraph broke the story, they really went to town on it. Most over-used word "brave".
Update: Though the Telegraph are guilty of some appalling class prejudice; "That the England set-up was so supportive and understanding was of little surprise. This current squad is as decent and well-rounded a group of professional sportsmen as you are likely to find...
"It is elsewhere in the game that problems might lie. If there are bigots and homophobes out there, they are hardly likely to announce themselves now. They will bide their time.
"I worry in particular about Twenty20 crowds. They are not exactly your typical cricket gatherings. More like football in fact, a sport in which homophobia is hardly unknown..." Steve James: 'Cricket respects Steven Davies's brave announcement he is gay but Twenty20 crowds could be tricky', Telegraph online.
This is a subtext to much of the coverage of Davies' coming out; nice middle-class cricket folk, aren't like nasty rough football hoi polloi...
See for example The Guardian's take on it; 'Football Urged To Get Onside As Ashes Star Comes Out'

Fagburn Awards 26: Yawn Of The Year

Any article about gay men and sport.
Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz...

Here's yet another story from today's Independent about Gareth Thomas.
Fair play to Mr Thomas, but these are always 'He's a gay/dog and he plays rugby/rides a bicycle!!!'
Wow!
It also starts with Fagburn's other Yawn of the Year; "I'm not a gay [insert your profession here], I'm a [insert your profession here] who happens to be gay..."
Which happens to be a fatuous cliche.