Peter Tatchell: Poor Me

The Guardian.

Peter might want to think about why so many 'attacks' - meaning criticisms - now come from people on the left.

Wet wanky liberals adore him * - and this profile is a wonderful/woeful example of that.

Nothing he says is challenged, not one difficult question is asked, no critical observation is made.

And, as seems usual in these things, the rather 'imaginative' account of Tatchell's biography - oh great hero, oh brave martyr - could have come straight from a press release from Saint Peter himself.

This belongs in a fanzine, not The Guardian.

* See the readers' comments for more hilarious examples; 'Unsung hero' (!), 'So brave', 'deserves a knighthood' etc etc

Brian Sewell: Different Times, Different Times...

The journalist Tanya Gold describes realising, in 1999, that she was an alcoholic when she tried to jump Sewell. “I looked across the office,” she wrote, “and saw the art critic, sitting at his desk. I decided to ‘take’ Brian. I lunged, straddled him – and the newsroom gaped. As I was peeled off, a pale Sewell said, ‘If I was ever unsure I’m a homosexual, I’m not now.’”

The funny thing about that story is that it sounds, now, like just about the most improbable thing that could ever happen in an office, but at the time, it seemed no more than 10% out of the ordinary. He certainly wasn’t ruffled – he was always pale – and she was by no means the drunkest person in the office. It was a very different time, for newspapers, when transgressions were deliberate and admired, and kudos was all about effortlessness: expertise imbibed in subtle, imperceptible ways, articles knocked out in 20 minutes, bitchiness executed with total nonchalance but never vulgarity.

Sewell wasn’t the only one capable of that but he was, much like his accent, in a class of his own. Knowing that made him generous even while he pretended, with all the might of his typewriter, to be a bastard.

From a touching tribute, The Day Brian Sewell Picked A Fight With Princess Diana, by Zoe Williams in The Guardian.

PS Here's some of her writing for the Evening Standard.

The Guardian: A Sterile Forum

In fact it's such a dark time to be gay, they still dare not show gay men's faces in The Guardian.

• Human Dignity Trust. 

Kaleidoscope: World

The Kaleidoscope Trust - "a new international organisation to support gay men and lesbians around the world who face prejudice and discrimination" - held their launch at the Commons yesterday.
It's worth noting Ed Miliband was the only party leader to attend.
Cameron and Clegg were content to get some underling in their office to cobble together some bland platitudes about The Gays which were released as "A letter of support from the Deputy/Prime Minister."
What do you expect them to say? "Sod off."
Peter Tatchell says he was not invited, despite offering them much help when they were setting the trust up - he still sent a message of support.
Elton John did not attend - most papers had said he would be attending, he had only been invited. He also had written a statement of support.
It was clearly the association with Sir Elton that meant many papers previewed the launch of Kaleidoscope earlier in the week - none reviewed the unstarstudded launch today.
And as for those cynics who have suggested the trust could be "activism as imperialism"?
'Bisi Alimi [pictured above], a refugee from Kenya where he was threatened with death because of his sexuality, said:
“I am tired of international organisations coming to Africa to tell us what to do. Kaleidoscope is coming to Africa to say, ‘What do you want us to do?’, and that is the most important thing."
The Guardian - who ran an In Praise of... Kaleidoscope editorial on Monday - has used all this as a hook to run two pieces for a G2 cover story today;
Zoe Williams' Gay Rights: a world of inequality "Gay people still live in fear in many countries around the world – prejudice, torture and execution are common. Can two new legal and diplomatic campaigns change attitudes?"
And a companion piece;
Persecuted for being gay "The voices of [8] people from around the world who have found themselves stigmatised for their sexuality"
Presumably the rest of the press are waiting for Sir Elton John to say something else.

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.