Surrogacy: It's A Family Affair

Daily Mail.

At the time of typing Mail Online readers are surprisingly supportive...

I don't get what the big deal is? It's not his mothers egg that was fertilized by his sperm, so there's technically no 'blood relation'? She was merely the "oven" for the "bun", the capsule for the fetus to grow in? I see absolutely nothing wrong with this situation at all. If my son was gay and could not conceive a child on his own, or even if he wasn't gay, but couldn't find a woman to carry his child, I would do the same thing for him. A mother's love for her son is undeniable and I'm betting that 90% of the mothers reading this article would do the same.

PS However Mail columnist, Amanda Platell, thinks it's disgusting...

It is a story so unusual, it's almost hard to get your head around it — and one that, quite frankly, leaves me feeling deeply queasy...

Etc etc etc...

Amanda Platell: Oh, Go Fuck Yourself

Mail Online.

Who is 'WE' here?

1D Drugs Shame: George Michael To Blame!

For a true indication of how ‘hot’ a life of smoking dope turns out to be, you need look no further than George Michael, another pop star who also once had millions of impressionable children idolising him.

Last week, the 50-year-old was rushed to hospital after collapsing with a mystery illness.

And not for the first time. The past decade of his life has been racked with drug abuse — in 2009, he announced brazenly that he had cut down his cannabis intake from 25 joints a day to seven — and ill health.

He’s had convictions for driving under the influence of drink and drugs, and for lewd behaviour in public lavatories.

What a far cry he is now from the young man who had it all as part of Wham!, a singer adored all over the world, selling more than 25 million records.

George Michael today lives alone in his North London mansion.

True, he has a £105 million fortune, but in middle age he cuts forlorn figure — lost, lonely and unrecognisable from the beautiful young star he once was.

Compare him with his Wham! partner Andrew Ridgeley, who never took to cannabis and now leads a wholesome life with his long-term partner and stepson in a 15th-century castle in Cornwall.

Mail Online.

Wise words, Amanda, wise words...
Though you seem to be really arguing for the magical life-saving powers of being straight and married.

Update: And Tony Parsons - former George Michael court correspondent - joins in in The Sun.

Yes, that's the Tony Parsons who spent his days writing for the NME speeding off his nut.

Amanda Platell: Comedy Fucking GOLD!

A wedding day is always a special occasion and especially so, of course, for the first homosexual couples marrying today.

I wish them every happiness for the future. But that does not alter the fact that I still disagree with the concept of gay marriage.

No doubt I’ll receive a barrage of abuse for even admitting as much. For surely the saddest legacy of the whole gay marriage debate is how it has brought about the most appalling bigotry — not against homosexuals, but against those who oppose the new law.

For evidence of that, you only had to watch BBC Question Time on Thursday. One audience member, Marilyn Barmer, was booed and hissed for even having the temerity to ask: ‘Why do we need to change the definition of marriage that has existed for thousands of years, when equality already exists?’

A perfectly reasonable question, you might think. Yet from the outraged response of the audience, it was as if she’d been proposing the execution of every first-born. Others who echoed her views were similarly subjected to jeers, sneers and contempt.

I can’t help wondering if that’s the reaction the BBC — our self-appointed Ministry for Political Correctness — sought to provoke by hosting the show in Brighton, the gay capital of Britain...

Textbook stuff by Amanda Platell in the Daily Mail.

Daily Mail: Absolutely The Most Patronising Article Ever Written - Official!

Yet another relationship of hers has seemingly bitten the dust.

But Liz Hurley had just the thing to put a smile back on her face: a night out with another man, just days after the reported end of her engagement to former Australian cricketer Shane Warne.

For once, Liz wasn’t on the rebound. She sought solace from the kind of man every girl needs: a gay best friend.

In Liz’s case, that GBF was Elton John’s partner, David Furnish. And just like Liz, every time I’ve checked into Heartbreak Hotel I’ve relied on my own GBF: my fellow Daily Mail columnist, Andrew Pierce.

Where would I be without him? I shudder to think. Andrew is my twin soul, my confidant, my co-conspirator in good times and sad.

And there have been plenty of both in the 15 years we’ve been an ‘item’.

We met, auspiciously enough, at the Savoy Hotel’s American Bar (although he often tells me that we’d actually met once before at the Tory Party Conference)...

Amanda Platell, Daily Mail.

Oh do shut up!

Thanks - if that's the right word for bringing this record-breaking pukeyness to my attention - to @DarnEther. x

PS Just one week later the Mail runs another feature saying every woman needs a GBF - and now they can prove it with science.

The Hollywood Closet: The Silence of La-La Land

Gay British actor Rupert Everett was recently on the BBC's Hard Talk warning that young male actors who were ambitious should not come out if they wanted to play leading roles.
When Rock Hudson died from an Aids-related illness in 1985, commentators bemoaned the intolerance of the old studio system that had compelled him to remain in the closet.
"Forty years ago, the world was a very different place and there were virtually no publicly available gay men or lesbians in any walk of public life," notes Brian Robinson, senior programmer at London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival, of the period in which Hudson was working. "Now, lots of things have changed. A whole generation has grown up with an idea of normalcy about gay identity."
Even so, Hollywood is still in the business of making "four quadrant movies" – that's to say ultra-mainstream films appealing to males and females, young and old. When a studio spends $100m on a mainstream movie and an equivalent amount in marketing it at home and abroad, anything that can jeopardise its box-office performance is frowned on. Agents put pressure on their clients not to "come out"...

Geoffrey MacNab in The Independent on the Hollywood closet - a subject that obsesses the straight press almost as much as the sports/football closet does.
It's a bit of a brisk gallop from Valentino to producer Iain Canning, often veering off-course by introducing barely relevant quotes and anecdotes from the likes of screaming Tarantino.
MacNab doesn't come to any real conclusion beyond; "It's pressure from the risk-averse, profit-driven studios, innit?"
And it's sprinkled with more than a little irony as two of the three people he speaks to for the piece - a "gay writer" and "an industry insider" -  are both unnamed and anonymous.
Fingers crossed, they exist.

This article was one of several "inspired" by Jodie Foster's apparent coming out on Sunday - there have been eleven on the Independent online alone!
Some were gushy old guff, but several gay commentators have been rather sniffy and sour, leading Fagburn to invent a new word "Out-righteous, to describe a privileged gay man who looks down on a celebrity who's just come out for not doing so sooner.
It's yet to catch on.
The most offensive comment piece about all this was Amanda Platell in the Daily Mail, Why Jodie's Silence Spoke Volumes.
Do lesbians and gay men really need to be told by straight people - especially Daily Mail columnists - where they went wrong and how we should live our lives?

PS Have to admit Rupert Everett was very good on HARDTalk.

PPS Sorry about the forced pun in the title, I'll try and think of something better.

Islamic Riots: Gays To Blame

As violent protests continue to spread across Muslim countries, isn’t it interesting how their people respond with such fury when their faith is traduced, yet we in Britain have a Government that feels free to trample all over our own nation’s age-old Christian beliefs.
Gay marriage is opposed by the majority of all faiths here and it was in no party’s manifesto. Yet our political masters are still pressing ahead against the people’s will, branding anyone who stands in their way as bigots.
Is it any wonder the Islamic extremists have nothing but contempt for our so-called democracy?

Amanda "Some of my best friends are gay" Platell writing in the Daily Mail.
This is so fantastically stupid, I keep re-reading it just to make myself laugh.

PS Death to Amerikkka!

Daily Mail Privacy Trial: Homophobic, Moi?

'Daily Mail columnist Amanda Platell yesterday dismissed claims that the newspaper had been homophobic in its coverage of former Cabinet Minister Chris Huhne’s lover.
'She told the High Court that she found it ‘hard to believe’ that Carina Trimingham had been distressed by descriptions of her as being a bisexual and ‘jokey references’ to her appearance.'
Miss Trimingham, 44, who was in a civil partnership when she started her affair with Mr Huhne, is suing over what she describes as ‘crude and demeaning stereotypes’ in newspaper stories about her sexuality.
'She accuses Associated Newspapers, parent company of the Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday, of misuse of private information and harassment in 65 articles, including references to her size, having spiky hair and supposedly wearing Doc Marten shoes.
'But Miss Platell said: ‘To be accused of being homophobic or having written things that are homophobic is one of the most offensive things you could say to me.'

The Daily Mail

Get ready for the punchline - it's a cracker.

'She said one of her closest friends is fellow Daily Mail columnist Andrew Pierce, who is gay.'

Richard Littlejohn wrote a piece his Mail column at the same time that was strikingly similar in tone, language, smears and bile - the Mail ran eight about Trimingham in eleven days.
Here's a little background to the case.

PS Also loving the Compare & Contrast photos the Mail used - above - of the gorgeous, pouting Miss Platell and Carina Trimingham.

Marriage: The Queen's Speech

"This Government is promoting a fair society where people respect each other.
"I believe that if a couple love each other and want to commit to a life together, they should have the option of a civil marriage, irrespective of whether they are gay or straight. We are not changing religious marriage, or requiring religious groups to go against their traditions."

Lynne Featherstone, the Equalities Minister and Lib Dem MP, speaking to The Independent.
The paper speculates; "There will now be a furious battle ahead of this spring's Queen's Speech, in which proposals could be announced, with the aim of the first gay weddings taking place by 2015 at the latest."
I wouldn't hold your breath - though it would be fun to see if the Queen mentions gay marriage in her speech.
Featherstone has also written a piece for the Daily Telegraph (who are rather obsessed with this issue); 'This is not gay rights versus religious beliefs'.
"Who owns marriage? It’s an interesting question and a pressing one in the debate around equal civil marriage. It is owned by neither the state nor the church, as the former Archbishop Lord Carey rightly said. So it is owned by the people.
"The fierce debate over the past few weeks has shown people feel very strongly about marriage. Some believe the Government has no right to change it at all; they want to leave tradition alone. I want to challenge that view – it is the Government’s fundamental job to reflect society and to shape the future, not stay silent where it has the power to act and change things for the better..."
NB She mentions no possible timescale.
The Independent also - for reasons best known to themselves - quote Julian Clary; "Lord Carey's comments [opposing gay marriage] are very predictable. All these comments seems to come out of fear. In 10 years, when gay marriage is normal, we'll have forgotten all about this. He should have one of his pills and shut up."
There's a nutty piece by Amanda Patell in the Mail (natch) today on how Lord Carey and the Archbishop of York have been 'Vilified for daring to fight for marriage'.
And she actually points out that some of here best friends are "gays".
"I fear that Mr Cameron’s position is just another typically cynical exercise to try to rebrand the Tory Party.
"He is not driven by belief, but simply by an opportunistic attempt to spin himself as a modern, liberal kind of guy..."
At least she got that bit right - well, Platell did used to be a Tory spin doctor.

PS With its usual duplicity today's Mail also includes a glowing interview with Julian Clary where he talks about having thought about entering a civil partnership.
"Claridge’s would be an ideal setting. But we may change our minds. Sometimes when I think of a reception and speeches and referring to my husband, I don’t think I can face it."

Fashion: Fascinating Fascism

"It has long been said that fashion is a con-trick by largely gay male designers to make women look more like men: breastless, hipless, as skinny as a boy. And in this respect, pre-pubescence is merely the next logical step. These clothes aren't meant to look good on you, they're meant to look good on Justin Bieber. (And even he would struggle in that Marc Jacobs dress.)"

Carole Cadwalladr, The Observer.
Codswallop, Carole.
It's only been said by The Daily Mail's second-most loopy columnist, Amanda Platell.
"Size zero turned out to be an apt term as the most feted designers, mostly brilliant gay men, effectively tried to squeeze women out of the fashion equation. And now they have..."
"It’s the ultimate in woman hating, to create a half-man, half-woman creature because the girls are simply not up to the job. They’re too, let’s face it boys, womanly, even when they’ve been starved to within an inch of their lives.
"What an act of abject misogyny."
What crap!
How ironic that Platell was taken up on this by Barbara Ellen;
"As for the accepted "fact" that "fashion is full of gay men who hate women"… this isn't a fact – it's snide, homophobic hogwash, offensive to the hordes of committed gay professionals in the fashion industry. If fashion has a problem (and, by Zoolander, it does), it's not covert hatred of the female, rather, it's overt worship of youth and the BMI that comes with youth. All this, and worse, could be said of fashion, but let's keep the gay-bashing out of it."
Ironic as Ellen was writing in The Observer and Carole Cadwalladr is her holiday stand-in.
Come back soon Miss Babs!

Update: The Guardian published a reply online a week later.

Fashion: It's London Fatuous Week

A Boy In A Dress Isn't Evil, But Size Zero Models Are
'Does Andrej Pejic modelling women's clothes truly symbolise "the ultimate rejection of the female body" by "evil" gay fashion designers?
'The image I keep seeing is of Pejic in a Jean Paul Gaultier wedding gown. The same "Crazee" JPG who'd send a unicorn down the runway if he could, who designed Madonna's ultra-femme coned bra, whose perfume bottle is woman-shaped. Is this a gay man who hates women?
'What's so shocking about a boy in a dress anyway? Marilyn did the same in the 1980s and no one had a rad-fem fit. For the true face of catwalk evil, look instead to the girl models, some so emaciated they made Samantha Cameron blench in shock.
'As for the accepted "fact" that "fashion is full of gay men who hate women"… this isn't a fact – it's snide, homophobic hogwash, offensive to the hordes of committed gay professionals in the fashion industry. If fashion has a problem (and, by Zoolander, it does), it's not covert hatred of the female, rather, it's overt worship of youth and the BMI that comes with youth. All this, and worse, could be said of fashion, but let's keep the gay-bashing out of it."

Fagburn's most favourite newspaper columnist, Barbara Ellen, tells it like it TIS in The Observer, as per.
Yay!
As your faithful servant Fagburn has reported, this hackneyed old anti-gay tripe/trope - fashion is dominated by gay men and gay men hate women yada yada yada - was disinterred this week by the dreadful Glenda Slagg Amanda Platell in The Daily Mail ('Fashion's Ultimate Insult to Women'), and by the equally hopeless Richard & Judy (!) in The Daily Express ('Boys Will Be Girls').
Funny - all the gay men Fagburn knows love women; from their best friends to their heroes to their mums.
Which side are you on?

Transphobia: Just A Bit Of Fun?

Fagburn has noted endlessly before how transphobia now occupies the same place in The Sun's demonology that homophobia used to.
If someone is trans it's a news story in itself.
And being trans is always either funny or frightening.
It continues today with a "fun quiz"; 'Tran Or Woman'
"THIS bevy of beauties are all blessed with good looks, style and figures to die for.
"Well, most of them... but believe it or not some of these lovely ladies are actually LADDIES.
"Yesterday we told how Bosnian male model Andrej Pejic has been causing a stir after hitting the catwalk in DRESSES at London Fashion Week.
"Here are 14 more ambiguous beauties, some who were born male and others who are 100 per cent female.
"Can you guess the genders?"
I thought The Sun had cluelessly coined a new word today in "tran" - as opposed to trans.
I was wrong.
The Sun were using it four years ago - in the same stupid fucking quiz!
'Tran Spotting: Ladyboy Or Lady?'

The Daily Mail's beyond parody columnist Amanda Platell writes today; 'Fashion's ultimate insult to women: The latest way of demeaning real women is a male model dressed as a girl'
And manages to resurrect one of the most tired homophobic cliches in the stupid columnist's quiver; "Size zero turned out to be an apt term as the most feted designers, mostly brilliant gay men, effectively tried to squeeze women out of the fashion equation. And now they have."
Please...

Update: That tired homophobic cliche was resurrected on Saturday in Richard & Judy's column in The Daily Express - but with a twist;
"Some fashion writers suggested this week that many designers are gay men who want their models to resemble teenage boys with absolutely no visible female attributes such as breasts, waists, hips, and buttocks.
"I have no idea if this is true, but this week the ultimate in androgyny was revealed in the papers. A fashion model with long blonde hair, high cheekbones and a softly beautiful mouth, wearing designer women’s clothes."
Steady on, Richard!

Amanda Platell: You Can Say That Again...

"Britain's last Catholic adoption agency has been forced to close its doors after half a century, due to Harriet Harman's equality laws.
"Under the new legislation, they would have been obliged to place children with gay couples as well as straight, against the teachings of their faith.
"We all know the Catholic Church does not have an unblemished record when it comes to caring for children..."

Amanda Platell, on the Catholic Care case, The Daily Mail.