27 April

Friday 27 April 2012

This year’s Manchester Pride festival theme ‘Queer’d Science’ will be held in commemoration of gay computer science genius and code-breaking hero Alan Turing. The parade is on August 25. This year’s branding gives a nod to the Diamond Jubilee featuring a crowned corgi and the motto ‘Manchester Pride Rules’.

Aaaaah.

When Dominic Sheahan-Stahl was asked to be the keynote speaker at his younger brother’s high school graduation, he was deeply honoured. Mr Sheahan-Stahl, who graduated himself from the same school in 1998, prepared his speech to deliver at Sacred Heart Academy in Mount Pleasant, Michigan. But the proud former Catholic school pupil’s feelings quickly changed when the invitation to speak on May 20 was rescinded – because school bosses found out he is gay.

Should have known, really.

“When writing about domestic violence, there is often a statement to the effect that domestic violence occurs across all races, cultures, ethnicities, religions and socio-economic groups. True enough. Also stated is that sometimes females are perpetrators and sometimes men are victimized. We agree. Another fact we acknowledge in trainings and literature, but families and society keep hidden in yet another closet, is the fact that yes, domestic violence also occurs in same-sex relationships,” writes Dale Brown in the Herald News.

He continues: “we have to only reflect on the stereotypes, prejudices, discriminations, bullying, expulsions and alienation and shame that society has imposed on those identifying as LGBT to further understand the resistance of gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered individuals to identify as victims and to further reach out in the hopes of informed and supportive help.”

Gay Activist’s page on domestic violence in gay relationships is one of our most frequently downloaded pages and after all these years of being an almost lone voice on the subject, it is gratifying to see other sections of the community recognising the problem.

Gay does not mean paedophile, writes Paris Lees. “One of the ugliest lies our heternormative culture spreads is the idea that gay people threaten children. Of course, gay people are capable of abuse – but so are straighties. The gay community poses no more risk to children than any other social group. Furthermore, recent research revealed that lesbian parents were actually less likely to abuse their children. So there.”

Jose M. Osorio/Chicago Tribune

Chicago’s Gerber/Hart Library is named after Henry Gerber, who started the Society for Human Rights, believed to be the first gay rights organization in the United States, and Pearl Hart, a civil rights-era attorney who spent much of her career defending gay rights, and was founded in 1981 by historian Greg Sprague, who had earlier launched the Chicago Gay History Project.

It holds more than 14,000 volumes, 800 periodical titles and 100 archival collections, including the founding documents of Chicago LGBT institutions like the Howard Brown Health Center as well as personal diaries, artwork and newspaper clippings from the earliest days of the gay civil rights movement. The library also has some of the original signs from Carol’s Speakeasy, a legendary Chicago gay bar from the late 1970s to the ’90s, and a pair of sequined red ruby slippers signed in 1992 by members of the Chicago Gay Men’s Chorus.

There’s more on gay history in our Gay History blog, The Way We Were.

The Miami New Times have been to the Miami Gay and Lesbian Film Festival and find the event is not the huge draw it used to be. Their correspondent ‘Cultist’ was having a drink with a friend.

“I mentioned a queer film I really enjoyed called Keep the Lights On, a wonderful exploration of a relationship that came unhinged at the hands of meth addiction. My fellow imbiber heatedly agreed before adding, “And that’s great, ’cause gay films usually really suck.” I chose to not take the unintentional bait that was set up for me, but found myself half-nodding in agreement.

Gay films can really be bad. Not just run-of-the-mill bad or “got lost along the way” bad, but the kind of train wrecks where you hope there are no survivors, because life after that would probably be too impossible to bear. A former colleague of mine would describe this problem as “My girlfriend gave me a camera for Christmas, so I should make a movie” syndrome.”

Oh dear, that bad? Oh, it isn’t too bad after all.

A still from Lesbian Space Aliens Seeks Same. Photo: New York Times

“Films like Vito, Elliot Loves, and Mosquita & Mari are obvious choices for the festival, and strong ones with good buzz. Yet it’s the inclusion of films like Jobriath AD, Speechless, and Angel that are most encouraging, because they are films on subjects that don’t usually play well with traditional audiences: transgender identity, LGBT Asia, and underground music, for example. Their inclusion shows the festival is challenging Miami audiences to step up and out of their comfort zone and tackle aspects of LGBT life they’ve historically chosen to ignore at the cinema. While there are a number of films that look promising (Unfit: Ward vs. Ward, Taboo Yardies, Taking a Chance on God and 30 Years From Here among them) my “don’t miss” recommendation is the incredibly charming Codependent Lesbian Space Aliens Seeks Same, a delightful ode to 1950s science fiction films that is exactly about what the title implies, and is a sheer and simple delight.”

SP

24 April

Tuesday 24 April 2012

Photo of Dr Mike Davidson: Peter Ould

The man behind the “Post Gay” campaign which has been banned from London transport is revealed as South African born Dr Mike Davidson, 57, of Belfast. He has really driven the “Post Gay” programme with his claims of having been “treated” for homosexuality himself. Davidson admits he didn’t have a “tactile” relationship with his father. He became a Christian when he was embraced by a speaker at summer camp. At bible college he had a homosexual relationship with a visiting professor. Davidson repressed his homosexuality for years until he moved to Britain in 1999, by which time he was married and had two children. Davidson had begun a secret life surfing gay websites and at this point he sought therapy. Davidson claims this therapy steered him back to heterosexuality. He believes homosexuality is a “Normal Development Aberration” where “Normal Development” is the process of reproduction between a man and a woman.

His Core Issues Trust makes it profoundly clear that homosexuality is not considered a “disease” but describing homosexuality as a “aberration” has offended many.

You can get all sorts of things on one of these. Amazon

Meanwhile Father Martin McVeigh, the priest under investigation after accidentally displaying pornographic images of men during a school meeting, has taken an immediate temporary leave of absence. Parents and parishioners were read a statement from the Catholic Church which exonerated Fr McVeigh, but many parishioners were not happy with the statement and have refused to allow their children to take part in any ceremonies conducted by him. The flash drive seems to have disappeared.

In the Independent Fiona Shaw reveals that telling your children you are gay is harder than telling your parents.

I know him, he’s… Photo: Clapham Guardian

A festival which hoped to promote the lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender community during the London Olympics has been cancelled.

Pride House at Clapham Common failed to secure sponsorship and headline artists. The venture was backed by an array of celebrities, ranging from Stephen Fry to Ben Cohen, and promised a vibrant line up of entertainment across a period of 18 days. There were high hopes it would raise the profile of Clapham, while creating awareness of homophobia in sport.

A political storm has erupted following the news it has been cancelled, with opposition councillors condemning Lambeth Council for pushing the plans ahead. Tory Councillor Shirley Cosgrave, Clapham Common ward councillor said: “We had concerns about the financial viability of the event and hope that lessons will be learnt about the need for rigorous checking of applications before such events are given the go-ahead.”

LGBT campaign group Stonewall said the cancellation of the festival will come as a blow to Britain’s gay community, with Olympics organisers failing to promote sexual diversity. A spokesperson said: “Unfortunately they have done little, if anything, to promote or reach out to the LGBT community. There is one openly gay paralympian show jumper on team GB. Given the Olympic Games legacy which said they would promote diversity, they are ignoring 3.7m around the country in sport.”

Undated photo: Alamy

Gay and bisexual men are neglected and discriminated against by a health service that tends to focus solely on their sexual health.

6,900 gay and bisexual men who had used NHS healthcare services in the last year were surveyed by Stonewall who found that a third had negative experiences. Confidence in confidentiality systems and lack of opportunities for discussion were so poor that the same proportion had not even come out to their GP or other staff. The men said they were more likely to be open about their sexual orientation with their manager and work colleagues than with healthcare professionals.

3% of gay men and 5% of bisexual men had tried to kill themselves compared with 0.4% of all men. 7% of gay and bisexual men had deliberately harmed themselves, compared with just 3% of all men.

Among younger gay and bisexual men aged 16 to 24, 6% had tried to take their own life and 15% had harmed themselves. 50% of those surveyed had experienced at least one domestic violence incident from a family member or partner since the age of 16, compared with 17% of all men. (This does not surprise Your Activist. Our page on domestic violence in gay relationships is one of our most downloaded pages.)

Many patients were discriminated against by doctors and nurses. “I overheard the reception staff say to a nurse: ‘The poof is here for his appointment,’” David, 23, told Stonewall. Jack, 37, described how his doctor wrote “homosexual” in capital letters on a letter he had to take to hospital after breaking his wrist. Every time a different doctor pulled up his details on the computer, the same tag would appear.

Patients report health professionals assuming that because they were gay, they must be HIV positive, and of their partner’s rights being ignored.

Your Activist has been lucky so far with his own medical professionals, but recognises that there are areas of the health service which need improvement and further training. Gay Activist thinks the NHS as a whole suffers from an Imperious and bossy culture which is unhelpful.

SP

29 March

Thursday March 29 2012

(L-R) Peter Lawrence and Don Gallagher. Sky

A gay banker has won his appeal against a decision to award his former partner £1.7m of the couple’s wealth. Peter Lawrence, 47, claimed West End actor Don Gallagher was receiving more than he was entitled to because judges had taken into account a £2.4m London flat he bought before they got together. The case is believed to be the first involving a civil partners to reach the Court of Appeal.

Lord Justice Thorpe said same-sex partnerships enjoy exactly the same rights as straight marriages under the law but said the original financial calculations had followed “too theoretical a map”. The 55%-45% division of assets seemed unfair given the fact Mr Lawrence’s flat had soared in value while the couple were together, he said. “Whether approached on a needs basis or a fair-sharing basis, I would propose a lump sum of £350,000,” said the judge.

Now an interesting snippet. The Law Commission is currently reviewing legislation on how married couples and civil partners can claim financial support from one another after a divorce or dissolution, which includes looking at ‘non-matrimonial’ property which has been acquired before a relationship begins or has been received as a gift or through inheritance. The commission is expected to report back in 2013.

Disturbing news from Moscow. A bill banning the “promotion of homosexuality” to minors was introduced into the State Duma on Thursday, less than a week after similar legislation came into force in St. Petersburg. Novosibirsk regional lawmakers submitted the bill, which calls for fines of up to 500,000 roubles for promoting a gay lifestyle in the media and through “public activities that promote homosexuality as normal behavior.” “The propaganda of homosexuality is widespread in modern Russia,” says a note attached to the bill..

The legislation argues that exposure to a gay lifestyle is particularly dangerous for children and teens who are not able to properly evaluate what they are seeing. The bill will stir fears in the gay community about an increase in discrimination and a crackdown on every manifestation of homosexuality — from gay-pride events to the arts and media.

Giles Chichester: PA

Giles Chichester, a Conservative MEP for the South West who represents the Tory Party in Brussels, has written to the Prime Minister urging him not to legalise same-sex marriage which he calls a “bizarre” move that will prompt a grassroots party revolt.

Mr Chichester believes it is a “mystery” why Mr Cameron is pushing the “militant gay agenda” championed by pressure groups. While supportive of same-sex civil partnerships, he warns the proposals, launched this month, are among a series of policies working to “undermine the traditional family”…. “Should this measure go through, it will cause many Conservatives to question their loyalty to a party which is no longer supporting values inherent to the party.”

Sunil Gupta at an earlier exhibition at London’s Tate. Jeff Mather Photography

Meanwhile the same European Parliament adopted its annual report on EU citizenship – in which it laments that same-sex couples still face disproportionate obstacles when moving inside the European union. The European Parliament “reiterates its previous calls for Member States to ensure freedom of movement for all EU citizens and their families, without discrimination on grounds of sexual orientation or nationality”. Specifically, the Parliament reminds Member States that they must implement the rights granted under the Free Movement Directive, not only to married heterosexual couples, but also to registered partners and same-sex spouses.

A gay art exhibition in India has been stopped. The exhibition celebrating gay life which opened in Delhi last week has been closed by police following an anonymous complaint of obscenity. The exhibition at the Alliance Française featuring photographer Sunil Gupta’s work is titled Sun City and Other Stories: Paris-San Francisco-Delhi. The exhibition opened to a rapturous response last week.

The police say they received a complaint on Saturday. An officer reportedly said: “[the caller] said a blue film was being played at Alliance Française. Since it is a diplomatic area, the police cannot enter the premises. Hence an area assistant sub-inspector went [there] and spoke to the manager and they decided to take action accordingly.”

“The absence of leadership and role models in the gay community leads to lack of identity, purpose and direction for gay men. There is no compelling vision for the future that serves as the motivation to change the old mindsets about sexuality that permeate the gay lifestyle. Gay men need a new vision that catapults the gay community into a more fulfilling and meaningful future.

The evidence for the problem is easily seen in gay media channels and by listening to the opinions of heterosexuals about gay men. A person can come to a Pride Parade and witness the demonstration of sexual acts, eroticism and sexual innuendo instead of being presented with new ideas and inspiration to live a meaningful and purposeful life,” says Paul Angelo.

“It is important to act now because sex-centered lifestyle doesn’t work any longer. Love, happiness, good health and financial independence require more than sexual compatibility. In addition, the world is changing faster than ever and the economic and social hardship will only get worse in the coming years. By acting now, gay men can get a head start in creating the ultimate lifestyle and in enjoying the benefits of a loving partner, successful career and a healthy lifestyle.”

Oh, dear. Life was so much simpler when all you had to worry about was your Ring of Confidence.

SP

14 March

Wednesday March 14, 2012

AP

There are about 2.5 million gays in India of whom 7% are HIV-positive, according to figures submitted by the Indian government to their Supreme Court. The Aids programme has already reached 200,000 men in same-sex relationships and the hope is to raise that number to 400,000. The prevalence of HIV in the group is 6.54%-7.23%. Overall, the number of HIV-infected people in India is just 0.2% of the population as the country’s Aids control programme has been successful in reducing the number of new infections.

A Ugandan gay rights group filed suit against an American evangelist, Scott Lively, in federal court in Massachusetts on Wednesday, accusing him of violating international law by inciting the persecution of homosexuals in Uganda. The lawsuit alleges that beginning in 2002, Mr. Lively conspired with religious and political leaders in Uganda to whip up anti-gay hysteria with warnings that homosexuals would sodomize African children and corrupt their culture. The bill has just been reintroduced.

The European Parliament has adopted a resolution calling on member states to ensure gay couples inheritance rights are respect around the EU. Individual countries who do not recognise legal partnerships between gay couples should not be able to deny a gay widow or widower the rights they have to their late spouse’s estate under the law of their home country, and a state “should not be able to apply the public-policy exception in order to set aside the law of another State or to refuse to recognise, or, as the case may be, accept, or enforce a decision, an authentic instrument, or a court settlement from another Member State when doing so would be contrary to the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union, and in particular Article 21, which prohibits all forms of discrimination.”

Meanwhile, here’s your chance to suggest specific gay, transgender and intersex protections in a new consultation on the draft Commonwealth Charter. The Royal Commonwealth Society wants comments to the Draft Charter of the Commonwealth before Friday 23 March 2012. That does not give us much time, chaps.

The current draft Charter re-affirms the human rights commitments of the Commonwealth nations, of which 41 of 53 member nations still criminalise gay sex.

You can download the draft Charter here. (Opens a pdf). and you can take part in the consultation here.

SP

12 March

Monday March 12, 2012

Peter and Hazelmary Bull. PA

Two Christian guesthouse owners are considering taking their legal fight against rulings of discrimination to the Supreme Court. Judges have twice ruled Peter and Hazelmary Bull, from Cornwall, broke equality laws in 2008. Mrs Bull said: “I feel that the law has gone too far. Certainly Pete and I are ready to see if we can achieve some sort of result whereby two lifestyles can live alongside each other. “We need to apply for leave to appeal, because that wasn’t given at the last court hearing. If we get it we could take it to the Supreme Court. If we don’t get leave to appeal then I understand we would possibly take it to Brussels.”

Nick Clegg. Left Foot Forward

Nick Clegg, the leader of the Liberal Democrats, one of the two parties in Britain’s governing coalition, insisted gay marriage will be introduced before 2015. Meanwhile church leaders yesterday ramped up rhetoric against the plans. Mr Clegg told party activists: “We are bringing forward proposals for gay marriage, already provoking debate. Let me just say, if you are a young gay person, your freedom to love who you choose is a fundamental right in a liberal society and you will always have our support.”

A recent poll found that 70% of 2,000 respondents were against gay marriage. Although it has been widely reported elsewhere, your Activist has ignored this poll because it was commissioned by a Catholic anti-gay-marriage organisation and could not therefore be considered to be impartial.

Reuters alerts us to a worsening situation for gay men and lesbians in Iraq.

“The man holds up two pictures of his friend, which tell the story of what it now means to be gay in Iraq.

One photograph, which the man keeps on his mobile phone, is a portrait of a handsome youth with a stylish haircut. The other, a printed snapshot taken last month, shows the body of the same young man lying sprawled in the back of a white pickup truck, his head disfigured by blunt trauma.

According to a police report, Saif Asmar was found bludgeoned to death in the afternoon on Feb. 17.

“They laid him down on the pavement and smashed his head with a cement block,” said his 25-year-old friend, who works as a doctor’s assistant and also as a gay activist under the pseudonym Roby Hurriya. He did not disclose his real name.

Homosexuals have lived in fear in Iraq for years, notably since religious militia claimed control of the streets in the sectarian warfare that followed the U.S.-led invasion of 2003, which toppled Saddam Hussein. But Hurriya – whose adopted surname means “Freedom” in Arabic – says a surge in killings in the past two months is by far the worst he has seen.”

The Daily Mail informs us that sex-change operations on the NHS tripled between 1999 and 2009. More than 1,000 have had surgery, at a cost to the taxpayer of £10million. Men wishing to become women make up 80 per cent of the cases. In addition to surgery to correct their genitals and adapt their chest, transsexuals can also receive psychotherapy and hormone replacement therapy on the NHS.

Well why not, Daily Mail; they’ve paid their taxes.

SP