Fagburn: Here Is The Gayer News!

• Dong! The forward march of fascist anti-gay pasta halted. An ever-so slightly pyrrhic victory for gay hysterics and fans of phoney outrage, as Barilla pasta announces competition asking the gays to make gay-friendly adverts getting other gays to buy Barilla pasta! Mamma mia!

• Dong! Saint Peter of Tatchell is organising another pointless protest against Valery Gergiev, some Russian conductor who supports Putin! Remember: Russia is uniquely evil, and this old man is personally responsible for all its sins. You are asked to bring sparklers. Yes, sparklers! Drop me a line if you have any idea what all this is meant to achieve, beyond getting Mr Vain's picture in the papers again, and boring some posh people. [Update: And here Peter digs himself into an almighty hole and shows once more why so many on the Left think he's a berk].

• Dong! Dan's Bank Balance Just Gets Better! Want Dan Savage to speak at your college? That'll be $24,000, please! The official voice of American gay privilege don't come cheap. Hopefully Dan throws in his classic  "Say 'Yes' To War On Iraq!" routine for free. [Update: Savage tells a conference he wants; "Population control: there's too many goddamn people on the planet. You know, I'm pro-choice, I believe that women should have a right to control their bodies. Sometimes in my darker moments, I'm anti-choice. I think abortion should be mandatory for about 30 years." Erm...]

• Dong! Our Owen Jones has made a short film for the BBC explaining the continuing relevance of Karl Marx to, I think, Blue Peter viewers. Owen is taking part in the Bonfire Of Austerity action in Westminster this evening. Which clashes with the Million Mask March. [Update: Irony alert as media only report on the latter Anonymous protest to say a celebrity turned up! Luckily Russell Brand took off his mask so people knew who he was. Celebactivism? No thank you!].

Is 'queer' a word middle-class activists use that may alienate LGBT workers? Discuss.

• And finally, the US Senate has passed ENDA - the Employment Non-Discrimination Act. It's still perfectly legal to sack LGBT workers in most states in America, but this is a start towards stopping that. But why get angry about something that actually impacts on the lives of ordinary lesbians and gay men in your own country, when you can whine on about something less important in Russia?

Europe: Endless

Bit of a scoop in today's Independent.
According to a new Amnesty International report - Because Of Who I Am: Homophobia, transphobia and hate crime in Europe - lots of bad stuff happens to lots of gay people in lots of European countries, and not just in Russia!
Who knew?
MIND=BLOWN!!!

Today lots of twits on Twitter are very angry about a claim that two teachers in Russia have been sacked because they're gay.
Oddly, I don't recall such OUTRAGE last time a teacher in America was sacked because he was gay.
In fact, it's legal to sack a worker just cause they're gay in most American states.
USA! USA! etc.

Please support Fagburn's campaign to boycott the anti-gay apartheid Nazi USA regime.