Category Archives: A Gay Old World

At A Newsagent Near You

the gay kiss in coronation streetAttitude Magazine has voted Coronation Street’s Todd Grimshaw as ‘Queer of the Year’ – which is interesting considering he’s a fictional character. At last Coronation Street has acknowledged gay people’s part in a society – although I don’t consider it a breakthrough in making the programme ‘representative’ or ‘real’. I believe that there was a great deal of publicity about this kiss which really concerned a pretty small element of the storylines in the programme (admittedly, I only watched for the few weeks around this kiss). If stories that Todd’s boyfriend is being cast are true, then it might get more interesting. Of course, the real crunch is what the regular viewers think. Perhaps I’ll get an idea when I see my gran over Christmas.

the cover of attitide magazine december 2003Attitude also voted The Hours as ‘Film of the Year’ which I am not sure about, and ‘Event of the Year’ was the scraping of Section 28 – which, of course, is a great step forward. The magazine has also chosen ‘Sexiest Man of the Year’ and, let’s just say, that one of the top choices is a previous Man of the Moment. The other, I imagine, will be very soon! Oh, if you’re thinking of heading to the newsagent, it’s the December issue I’ve been reading.

On this day…

2005: Civil Partnership: Elton To Marry
2004: Thanksgiving 2004
2004: Does Remote Storage Work

The gay team

I am not sure how I missed this list of high profile gays or, as The Observer put it, a list of “20 of the most influential UK-based gays and lesbians working in a range of professions”, but I am glad it’s online. I am not sure that I agree with this list as the most influential gay or lesbians in the UK but, nonetheless, it’s an interesting article.

It’s a very worthy list and I am sure that everybody on it deserves a place but I can’t help feeling that Graham Norton or Brian Dowling – who might be too overtly camp for many gay people – should be on that list. They have provided a very public face for gay men over the past couple of years. The effect of a daily talk show hosted by a gay man can not be overlooked.

On this day…

2004: The Producers

Queer Eye?

OK, so I now know that the US version of Queer Eye for the Straight Guy starts in the UK on Living TV on 6th November, the certainly been a lot of talk about it in the US so I await it’s start with great anticipation.

On this day…

2005: Gay Life Is More Fun: Official
2004: A Funny Thing Happened On the Way To The Forum
2003: Side Bar Dermot
2002: The World May Not Revolve Around Me

Gay Teens Right To Privacy

Sometimes I forget that I am in London which is a relatively OK place to be if you are gay – not perfect but better than many. Thank goodness I am not in Pennsylvania:

Police officers in a Pennsylvanian town are responsible for the suicide of a gay teen, after they threatened to tell his family about his sexuality, a court has ruled. [Source: UK Gay.Com via Tom]

What saddens me in this tale are the stories of people being made to read or listen to portions from the bible, presumably, telling them what sinners they are. There is a wide gulf between what these people think of the bible and my own opinions but I will never understand how people of faiths that profess to ‘love’ can be so cruel to other people, regardless of what they think of them.

On this day…

2006: There Can’t Be A Winner In Football Unless There’s A Loser
2004: Weekend In Britain’s Smallest County
2002: Fast Food Nation

No More Clause 28

Section 28 will now be repealed two months after the Local Government Bill comes into law over the summer.

Stonewall

I was reading the Stonewall site earlier and came across a piece of news that I either missed or hasn’t been widely reported: Section 28 is no more. Isn’t that fantastic news and about time. But why has it been so widely under-reported?

On this day…

2006: Button Is A Winner!
2005: London’s Living Room
2004: Saturday News
2003: RSS Feeds
2003: July 2003 And All That
2002: Where Are You Now, Miss Boo?

Pride

Blue on stage at Pride 2003Well despite the weather and the somewhat officious woman searching by bag on entry, this year’s Pride in the Park in Hyde Park was fabulous – the best I have been to (probably ever – although my first Pride on Clapham Common was pretty cool too).

After breakfast at a friend’s house, PY and I headed down to Embankment for the parade. This is the first time I’ve ever marched with the crowd and it was brilliant – the only downside of actually taking part is that you do not get to see it all. In a bid to overcome this, we ran ahead and watched part of the parade (including the fabulous OutEverywhere bus) and then joined in at some point (for a great deal of the time we marched near a float that Josh from a previous Big Brother was prancing about on). The atmosphere was superb and the crowds watching were huge. Coming up to Piccadilly Circus was just a mass of people – it was quite exciting really.

Then we made the park. We made our way to the main stage and seeing Liberty X (who were surprisingly good), Ulta Nate (who sang a whole stack of songs that I was familiar with) and Blue (who were also very good). Later in the day we caught Tom Robinson and Jimmy Sommerville (this after standing on the sidelines singing along to Bananarama – but as nobody has a picture of that I will deny it at a later date).

At some point in the afternoon – just after it started to rain – we had a wander around the market stalls (which seemed more varied than other times) and had a poke in some of the dance tents (although it’s not really my thing). By late afternoon, the rain was pouring but spirits were not dampened (and. luckily, for most of the afternoon the ground in Hyde Park held up).

It was an exhausting day but it was worth it and it was great to be with a bunch of other homos just having a good time. There will be some pictures in the gallery, eventually.

UPDATE: Other sites:

On this day…

2002: Back To A Normal Life

Gay Consumers Are Good

I always knew that I was desirable to marketers. It must explain the excessive junk snail and e-mail that I get, those telephone calls in the evening offering me deals on kitchens and the voice mail advertisements on my BT1571 service.

Gay men and women are among the first to adopt new devices and online tools, making them an important demographic for online marketers. [Forrester Research Finds That Gay Consumers Are Among The Earliest Technology Adopters – from Business Wire]

I wonder if this means anything at all or is just another piece of research that will be buried.

On this day…

2005: links for 2005-07-17
2005: In Case Of Emergency
2003: Rain Breaks Heatwave
2002: Amazon Light

Dr Kildare is a Sissy

Apparently, Richard Chamberlain (Dr Kildare to those a little older than me and that bloke from the Thorn Birds to me) who was (apparently) a heart throb has decided to come out. Which of the following statements from the Ananova article to we think is most telling?

  • His coming out coincides with the release of his autobiography, Shattered Love.
  • I’m not a romantic leading man any more so I don’t need to nurture that public image.

I don’t know him nor to I know the situation he was in but I think it’s sad that his coming-out (and his staying-in) were, it appears, money driven. I respect anybody’s right to privacy in their lives but being gay isn’t a publicity stunt.

On this day…

2004: Troy
2004: Polo Shirts: A Fashion Idea For 2004
2003: Open Secret
2003: Crossroads ‘was all a dream’
2003: Pop Life
2003: Unfortunately There Are Effectively No Funds Available To Pay The Salaries
2003: No Consensus In Support Of Same-Sex Unions

No Clause 28

Finally, that hateful clause looks like it is on its way out [Stonewall]. Remarkably little has been said about this in the news, but I guess we all have other things on our minds right now. Regardless, this is going to make life better for gay and lesbian teenagers across the country.

Often straight people just don’t get it – those’s years when, growing up, you feel isolated and alone because you know you are different. The suicide and attempted suicide rate amongst gay teens is, apparently, quite high. Schools and teachers now have a clear message that it’s OK to talk about homosexuality. And if that stops one person thinking about suicide then this is a fantastic day.

But it’s not over yet. Here comes the House of Lords. [Read more at Stonewall].

On this day…

No other posts on this day.

It’s All Queens on 4th July!

The Foreign Office, strait-laced guardian of a global empire in Victorian times, has embraced the 21st century by offering special advice to gay and lesbian travellers.

Only in America on Independence Day: A group demanding voting rights for Washington DC is to mark America’s Independence Day by asking Queen Elizabeth to place the US capital under British rule [BBC]

On this day…

2005: God Is Bored Of You
2005: Fleet Street editors Back the Bid
2005: Countdown is Progressing
2005: Powered By Rotting Fruit
2002: Did They Make It Up?
2002: Amazon A-Go-Go
2002: Finally – CSS