a news compendium
with a gay bias
WEEKLY | Issue 109 | January 2012 | FREE | be.told.
WEEKLY | Issue 109 | January 2012 | FREE | be.told.
|||| Gay and straight identities blurring, human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell claims, adding sexual identities will soon be a thing of the past...
|||| RuPaul rails against "tranny" taboo, implores activists, "Don't take life so seriously."
< The Sitting, an editorial by Matthew Pandolfe for Carbon Copy magazine.
US & CANADA NEWS
> This is 19-year-old Eric James Borges, who succumbed to suicide, just a month after posting an It Gets Better video in which he talked about gay bullying he endured, and an exorcism his parents performed on him in an attempt to turn him straight. Tragically, Eric had been an intern with the Trevor Project, which provides suicide prevention services to GBLT youth.
< Was Florida University student Robert Champion's violent hazing death down to his sexuality? His family thinks so. There's a CBS News video report here.
> It Gets Better is too white, Pakistani-American claims.
< Republican Mitt Romney's gay equality flip-flop.|||| The American Family Association declares victory over Home Depot, which it's been boycotting over due to the retailer's "conspicuous corporate presence at gay pride events".
|||| The problem of minor-on-minor sex abuse in America.|||| Why is the US marriage rate falling sharply?
> Frank Sieple, the indefatigable AIDS activist, is dead. He was 51.
UK NEWS < Muslim men accused of hate crime over anti-gay leaflet. "Five men go on trial over leaflet calling for gay people to face death penalty in first prosecution of its kind under new law."
|||| Christians claim God has punished pro-gay Tesco; the British-based retail giant has suffered its first drop in profits in 20 years, and "Christian Voice claims God intervened on supermarket’s share price in view of gay pride grant."
|||| Stonewall releases its annual Workplace Equality Index, listing the top 100 British employers for the GBLT community.
|||| NHS launches new "Pride in Practise" gay doctors initiative.
|||| Openly gay MP Chris Bryant says the House of Commons is like a gay bar.
|||| Prime Minister David Cameron forced to apologise for Tourette's slur.
EUROPE NEWS
|||| So, about that secret plan to make half the world's population gay...
> RUSSIA: Gay activists arrested under "homosexual propaganda" law.
|||| SWEDEN: Compulsory sterilization to remain for people who go through gender reassignment surgery.
< TURKEY: New film inspired by the "honor killing" of Ahmet Yildiz aims to shed light on the barbaric practice. 26-year old Ahmet Yildiz was murdered by his father in 2008.
|||| Costa Concordia: "Have you seen Titanic? That's what it was like."
|||| Costa Concordia: More bodies found in capsized ship.
|||| Costa Concordia: In pictures. More images here.
|||| Captain arrested, investigated for manslaughter and abandoning ship.
|||| Costa Concordia: How could this happen to a modern ship?
LATIN AMERICA NEWS
|||| JAMAICA: Jamaica Observer applauds new Prime Minister Portia Simpson Miller's pro-gay stance. But it's a long, hard road ahead for the country's GBLT community, as one reader notes: "The crime of buggery will soon disappear from the statutes... But unfortunately, this will not stop
savages from attacking gays, sometimes with police acquiescence... The real test is when we enact a hate crime statute that punishes anyone, including the clergy for advocating violence against gays."< HAITI: Two years on, the island is slow to recover from earthquake; in pictures. Left, man sells used shoes in Port-au-Prince, 9th January 2012.
|||| MEXICO: No gay weddings in Cancun for now. "Mexican resort area had been marketed as destination for gay couples."
> CAMEROON: Four men arrested for being gay. One of the accused, Jean Claude Roger Mbede, is pictured here with activist Alice N'Kom.
|||| UGANDA: Frank Mugisha, executive director of Sexual Minorities Uganda, has receives death threats and fears for his life.
|||| SENEGAL: AIDS spreading unchecked in prisons.|||| LIBERIA: Gay equality off the agenda.
< NIGERIA: "One day the poor will have nothing to eat but the rich", a protester's sign reads in Abuja, Nigeria. Take note, David Cameron.
ASIA-PACIFIC NEWS
|||| AUSTRALIA: A petition - created by Catholic priest Father Paul Kelly - to abolish the "gay panic" defense is gaining momentum. Sign the petition.
|||| AUSTRALIA: Australian welcomes neo-Nazi music festival.
MIDDLE EAST NEWS
|||| ISRAEL: American Airlines names Tel Aviv the world's best gay city.
|||| Why the fall of Arab regimes could lead to increased homophobia. "There are fresh concerns that the fall of regimes across the Arab world could provoke a wave of anti-gay attacks, amid claims that 700 people have been killed in Iraq due to their sexuality since the end of Saddam Hussein's rule in 2003."
> IRAN: Human rights chief General Mohammad Javad Larijani brands homosexuality a "disease", says same-sex marriage is "immoral".
|||| IRAN: New hell of isolation of Iranian GBLT community as government plans to launch "national internet" and cut access to world wide web.
|||| Iran welcomes American rescue of Iranian fishermen.
BODY & MIND
< One mistake away from a worldwide flu pandemic: Why we need to fix the holey biosafety net.
|||| Chinese tree extract found to stop rats getting drunk.
|||| Gay British men have serious body insecurities, apparently. Who'd have thought?
|||| Let's discuss Bottoming 101.
|||| Should prison inmates have the right to masturbate?
|||| Watch METH, a new documentary about gays'n'crystal meth.
> America's trees.< Meet the "bootylicious Beyonce fly". (Bet it sounds just as irritating.)
|||| RSPCA targets GBLT community in Bred for looks, born to suffer campaign. Gay dog lovers have been urged to think before purchasing or adopting designer dogs.
> A tiny frog.< Scenes from a seal cub orphanage. Altogether now: "Aaaaaaaaaaah..."
|||| Bath time at the sloth orphanage, and stunning footage of Common Cranes flying over Venice, from the BBC's Earthflight.
> Here's more on Hidden in the Open: A Photographic Essay of 140-Years of Black Male Couples.< The Last Chapter: A look at GBLT bookstores around the world. Not included in the story is The Arcane Bookshop in Perth, Western Australia, which is now closed, and which had a profound and genuinely life changing effect on your correspondent's life.
< Review: The Weary World Rejoices, by Steve Fellner. "His disconcerting work continues to challenge the expectation that contemporary gay poetry is dainty, polite and petite."> Review: Next Extinct Mammal, by Ruben Quesada. "Reading the debut collection from Ruben Quesada, is like sifting through a box of small, rare gems."
|||| When Books Come To Life After Dark...
< The Timmelsjoch Experience Pass Museum, by architect Werner Tscholl, in the Swiss Alps.> The Klein Bottle House, by architects McBride Charles Ryan, in Melbourne, Australia.
|||| Goldfish Salvation. Stunning.
|||| "What an ignorant arse." Gay film distributer Peccadillo Pictures delivers its verdict on British Prime Minister David Cameron, who wants British filmmakers to make mainstream commercial pictures.
< Andrew Ahn talks about Dol, a short film about "a gay Korean man who yearns for a family – which the director used to come out to his own parents". Trailer.
|||| Say Only Yes, the second installment of The Devotion Project, a short film series documenting GBLT couples and their love, is up now. Just lovely.> More on Lost in Paradise, Vietnam's "first film to openly feature love and intimacy between gay men".
|||| Joe Manganiello on Magic Mike and being a sex symbol. "I spent my entire career in my 20s with nobody wanting me to take my shirt off. Seems like I turned 30 and everything kind of flip-flopped."< Here's CSI hunk Adam Rodriguez (far left) in a shot from the film...
...But don't get too excited - no-one's going full frontal nude.
|||| James Bond villains blamed for nuclear's bad image.
|||| Kim Novak: "I want to report a rape. My body of work has been violated by The Artist."
|||| James Franco to play Robert Mapplethorpe biopic Mapplethorpe. The photographer died of AIDS in 1989.
|||| Watch trailers for The Broken Tower, a biopic (yeah, another one) about gay poet Hart Crane, starring James Franco (again), and Joshua Tree, 1951: A Portrait of James Dean. A very gay portrait...
|||| Watch A Hundred And Eleven, a film by undergraduate film student Hieu Tran.
< Controversial sitcom Work It has been cancelled after just two episodes.
|||| Remember last year's Tracy Morgan controversy? Apparently it's time to look back on it all and laugh (unless you're one of the many gay teens who took their own lives as a consequence of the homphobic bullying Morgan thrives on).
|||| Review: Doctor Who - The Sensorites. "There is plenty to enjoy here. At six episodes it does outstay its welcome but there are at least three very good episodes here that are worth watching. For me, it is clearly the themes of the story which remain strong - fear of the unknown, xenophobia, mistrust between races."
< Craig David might have the face of a 60-year-old crystal meth addict, but from the neck down it's still going on!
|||| Elton John's writing a book about the AIDS crisis.
|||| Madonna really is as nasty and unpleasant as I suspected her to be, revealing a truly ugly persona on The Graham Norton Show. Yuk.|||| KD Lang lesbian divorce shock!
> Justin Bieber on wanting to be as legendary as Michael Jackson, and how Jesus died on the cross for his sins. And shit.
|||| OMG! Could the Spice Girls reunite for the London 2012 Olympics?
|||| Los Angeles City Council votes for mandatory condom use for porn stars - within city limits.
|||| Out's horrible pictures of porn stars in bathing suits. And they are.
< Much nicer is this picture of Nicco Sky and Jake Andrews at the Cybersocket Awards. Yum!
> And MOC Blog has even more pictures from the awards. |||| Meet the ten Hardest-Ridden Sluts In The Jizz Biz: "A champagne bottle. The entire Falcon roster. Francois Sagat's fist. A parking cone. New York. L.A. Erik Rhodes has smoked 'em all."
|||| So, about Chi Chi LaRue's latest, Daddy It Hurts...
|||| Canadian gay porn channel hardtv announces launch of gay porn entertainment show.
|||| 10 porn stars who should never get tattoos.
< Footballer Lee Steele sacked for homophobic tweet. He wrote of openly gay rugby player Gareth Thomas - who is appeared in Celebrity Big Brother - "I wouldn't fancy the bed next to Gareth Thomas."
|||| Tennis Australia distances itself from gay hate merchant Margaret Court.
Davies is "an inspiration".
PARTING SHOTS
> Chris "Leave Britney Alone" Crocker discusses his new look, gender, porn, Britney Spears, his documentary, Me At The Zoo, and more.
|||| Hard on a subway. Yum.
|||| Things that I'm supposed to like that I don't like. Food for thought...
|||| Are you scientifically literate? (Your correspondent managed a dazzling 14 out of 50 - how did you do?)
|||| Doomsday Clock moves one minute closer to midnight.
|||| Sh*t Homophobic People Say!
|||| And finally, a gay Stormtrooper love story.
Issue 109: 7-14 January 2012
Read the last edition.
Remember what was going on this time a year ago? No? How about a reminder? Read Issue 83.
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© 2012
2 comments:
That science quiz was torture (partly because of the layout), but with some lucky guessing I managed 34, pretty good, I thought!
Yeah, yeah, f**king smart-arse. :-/
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