Its a Gaylife

Blog tip...

2012-02-12T02:25:00.003+13:00

Like a good read, then check out "City Buoy" and share one man's life http://citybuoy.blogspot.com

This site is a little hit and miss, some really well worth while
eye-candy, but also a lot to troll through at times to find it.
http://mygayfuck.com/

Short Film: STAND UP

2012-02-12T00:26:00.004+13:00

Gay Tube

WORLD NEWS: Amazon sells book on ‘gays going to hell’

2012-02-09T00:42:00.004+13:00

Amazon sells book on ‘gays going to hell’

Amazon’s Kindle Store has sparked a backlash by offering a fundamentalist religious text which tells gay and trans people they are going to hell.

The book is one of 849 listed in Amazon’s Christian fundamentalist section.
The e-book‘s synopsis says: “LGBT Going To Hell is a small fundamentalist Christian book that seeks to tell the LGBT community that it is in sin and lives a lifestyle that is against God’s Holy Word the Bible.
“This is not a book to win friends but to call sinners to repentance.
”One American reviewer wrote: “There is no doubt that books like this are part of the reason why so many young LGBT people in USA commit suicide.
”Another wrote: “I have no idea if it is meant to be a serious work, or a satirical look at stereotypical christian attitudes, but either way, its mostly useless.”The e-book, which costs 77p, begins by commenting on the world’s progress in medicine, science and technology, but condemns its fall into an “evil pit of violence, green, sexual immorality and paganism”.

PinkNews.co.uk has approached Amazon for comment.
At the end of last year, Amazon pulled a calendar by ‘Christian cartoonist’ Joe King. I’m Not Gay, I’m Just a Sissy: 12 Months of Sexual Confusion, included jokes about AIDS and effeminacy in gay men.While some questioned whether the cartoons were genuine satire not designed to cause offence, King took to his own Facebook page to rant about the gays who complained adding that it was not the first time he had been banned.
He said: “Hoo-we! Hell hath no fury like a he/she scorned…”He added that AIDS was an “elective disease” which would stop “the day guys quit sticking it to each other. And for the tragedy of women and children infected… THAT stops the day their gay husbands and fathers stop cheating on them. Anyone need MORE education, science or funding to understand THAT?”In 2009, Amazon apologised after a cataloguing glitch meant many important gay works were mislabeled as ‘adult’ products.

Boyfriend Jerkoff!

2012-02-09T00:34:00.001+13:00

Gay Tube

eYe-CaNdY | Mini-series

2012-02-09T00:21:00.002+13:00

On Film/DVD

2012-02-06T22:48:00.006+13:00

CLOSE TO LEO Tout contre Léo

Cast:
Yaniss Lespert / Marcel, Pierre Mignard / Léo, Marie Bunel / Mother, Rodolphe Pauly / Tristan,Jérémie Lippmann / Pierrot, Dominic Gould / Father, Joana Preiss / Yvan's Mother,Louis Gonzales / Yvan and Assaad Bouab as Aymeric.

Plot:
Prior to focusing his camera on a Man at (a) Bath, writer and director Christophe Honoré compellingly charted the heart-rendering effects of AIDS within a close-knit family, as seen through the eyes of a child.
Only Marcel is a twelve-year-old tired of being treated as the baby of the group and not just by his three older brothers, but by parents who have taken the decision to "protect him" from the devastating news of their eldest son's HIV positive diagnosis.

Yet the ears of an ever curious child are everywhere and having accidentally overheard part of Léo's telling announcement, Marcel is well aware that something is gravely wrong with his brother. Yet with his mother increasingly unable to cope with the gravity of her son's illness and everyone else obsessed with tiptoeing around the issue, Marcel is determined that somehow the truth will out. And when an unexpected, if unlikely opportunity arises for Marcel to spend time with Léo in Paris, he seizes the moment. Only in asking questions on a subject that he's not supposed to know anything of, is Marcel about to learn some hard lessons on life and love?

In a film in which a number of scenes detract from the central issue and make it all the more weaker as a result, Honoré has and to his credit, gone out of his way to create a differing cinematic take on the AIDS narrative, courtesy of building a film based upon the ramifications of hiding the truth and no more so, than a family seemingly unable to discuss three letters with their youngest child.

Thankfully Yaniss Lespert is delightful in the emotional rollercoaster role of Marcel, even if the remarkably close bond between the brothers does at times walk an all too intimate, almost incestuous-like path, with hugs, kisses and sleepovers, a-plenty.

Only for all of its poignant parts and for a telemovie, a surprisingly frank scene of man-sex,
troubling sections remain, including a chicken sequence that will undoubtedly outrage animal right groups, whilst Léo's irresponsible approach to his health and to that of others, is sure to cause alarm. Yet in a film in which Léo's "when I'm dead, it'll be too late" mindset is clearly not in keeping with the post '80s advances in HIV treatment and medication, Honoré keeps his most
bizarre twist for the all too abrupt closing act, with the protective attitude to Marcel taken to another, and frankly unbelievable level.
All of which equates to a touching, if at times at odds with reality work, albeit one that also makes
for a strikingly different, heartfelt and beautifully performed piece, thanks largely to the vibrant interplay between the two leads, with Pierre Mignard particularly good in the difficult role of Léo, one that culminates in the and as expected, dramatic d'adieu.

2002 90 mins France

Slice of LIFE: The shocking truth about ‘gay cure’

2012-02-06T22:25:00.005+13:00

The shocking truth about religious ‘gay cure’ therapy by someone
who failed to turn straight

6/02/2012 PINKNEWS
Last month, a state funded Jewish school in North London, JFS, was accused by the Jewish Chronicle of showing students the logo and central message of JONAH, a so called ‘gay cure’ group and implicitly portrayed it as something they should explore if they thought they might be gay.
The chief rabbi of Amsterdam was suspended from his position after he signed a document alleging homosexuality could be “modified and healed”. And Lord Carey, the former Archbishop of Canterbury, backed a Christian ‘gay cure’ therapist struck off by her professional body. But very little has been written about what actually happens at so called reparative therapy. Chaim Levin enrolled on a Jewish scheme to try to turn himself straight. This is his story.

I grew up in a traditional Jewish family in Crown Heights. I love my mother, my father and my family. I had always felt different and was the subject of relentless bullying by other boys for “seeming” gay. When I was 17 I confided to a friend that I was attracted to men and not sexually attracted to women at all. When it came out, I was thrown out of yeshiva (Jewish religious school). For the longest time I felt so alone because I truly believed that I was the only person battling this secret war. My older siblings were getting married and having kids, and all I ever wanted was to be a part of the beautiful world my parents had raised me in. My dream was to marry a woman and live the life my family hoped and dreamed for me. I would never have chosen to be gay; I could not imagine anyone growing up in the Orthodox world who would choose to be someone who doesn’t fit into the values and norms of everyone around them.

So do I think that I was “born gay”? I don’t know and I am not sure how important that is. What is important is that it certainly is not something that I chose or had anything to do with. And I felt immense pressure to somehow change who I was.
After much time and research I found a well-known organisation that “specialised” in reparative therapy. This organisation had endorsements from a wide range of rabbis and I was sure that it was the answer to all my problems. The organisation’s executive director told me that he believes everyone can change if they simply put in the hard work. I would have done anything to change, and this message was just the hope I was looking for. I spent two years attending every group meeting, weekend, and individual life coaching sessions they offered. My parents and I paid thousands of dollars. Every day, every session, I was working and waiting to feel a shift in my desires or experience authentic change. That moment never came. I didn’t change, I never developed any sexual desire for women, and never stopped being attracted to men. Instead, I only felt more and more helpless because I wasn’t changing. The organisation and its staff taught us that change only comes to those who truly want it and are willing to put in the work. So if I wasn’t changing, I was seen as someone who either really didn’t sincerely want it, or would not put in the necessary work. In other words, there was no one to blame but myself.

The worst part of my experience in reparative therapy came at the end. In a locked office, alone with my unlicensed ‘life coach’, who said he was an ‘ex-gay man’ I was told to undress, stand in front of the counsellor and do things too graphic to describe in this article. I was extremely uncomfortable, but he said that I must do this for the sake of changing and that if I didn’t remove my clothing I wouldn’t be doing the work it takes to achieve change. I would do anything to change, and so I did what he asked me to do. It was probably the most traumatising experience of my life.
I tried to tell people what happened, but the organisation said it wasn’t true and refused to fire the life coach. But I have spoken to other men who all underwent the same experience. And I can only imagine how many other young men who this has happened to who have not yet come forward. One of the most frustrating aspects was that because this coach is not licensed by any professional board, he is unaccountable to any licensing committee. Since I was over eighteen and agreed to this kind of therapy, I am told that I have no legal recourse. But I do have my voice! Yet, even after coming forward with what happened, nothing has changed. I often hear that this therapy has helped people, that it is wonderful, but I wonder, how helpful can an organisation be when it causes great suffering and pain to many who come to them for hope.

The recent Torah Declaration, signed by so many rabbis, only serves to perpetuate the notion that all homosexuals in the Orthodox community must change in reparative therapy. Unlike the helpful recent RCA statement on welcoming homosexuals or the “Statement of Principles” written and signed by over 200 responsible rabbis, the Torah Declaration does not demand that therapists must be board licensed. Unlike these other statements, it does not allow those for whom this kind of therapy is harmful or not working to seek other options. It kills me that this Torah Declaration will be used by parents to force their children into therapies that may be harmful to them. It frightens me that this Torah Declaration says that “change is mandated by the Torah,” when I know personally that change therapy has not worked and was so harmful for me. It hurts me to know that I am now being blamed by these rabbis and therapists for this failed therapy.

It confuses me that this Torah Declaration contains so many flawed arguments. Saying that God would never make a gay person unable to change is simplistic, inconsistent and flat-out wrong. If someone gets into an accident we would never say that we know he can be “cured” simply because his affliction is not genetic and he wasn’t born this way. We would never tell a deaf person (born deaf or not) that his ‘test’ is to find a way to hear again, so that he can be observe the positive commandment of hearing the shofar (horn) in the synagogue at new year? Yet the Torah Declaration uses all of these arguments to make gay people feel that their ‘test’ from God in life is to change their sexuality, simply because it may not be genetic and God would never make it unchangeable. This is the worst kind of rationalised homophobia.

I know first hand how this kind of societal bullying can lead to self-harm and suicide. I know of too many young men who have been pressured to stay in these kinds of therapies only to be tormented to point of taking their own lives. No one can bring these boys back. However, there are many Orthodox rabbis, religious therapists and organisations that remind us we are loved and that we belong. In the darkness of my days, a grass roots support community organisation in New York called JQY saved my life. JQY is a group of over five hundred young Jews who grew up in the religious community. Their goal is to combat shame, bullying and ostracising, while making families, religious schools and communities safe and welcoming to their gay members. They do not advocate for any change in religious law, but rather assert that one can believe that certain behaviours are technically prohibited and still be a happy, healthy and fulfilled person.

In JQY the right path for an individual is unique for each person. There are some members of JQY who are trying to change their orientation and many like me, who have tried for years and have discovered that it is not possible for them. We are all just trying to be the best that we can be. We learn from each other and are there for each other because we know how hard it is to be gay in a religious family. JQY is my logical family. We have support meetings, crisis resources, festival get togethers and sabbath meals where we know it is safe to be ourselves.
I now have a sense of pride about who I am. However, I understand the concept of “pride” as combating the years of self-shame and instead promoting a sense of personal self worth. Pride is not a celebration of any personal behaviour or desire. Nowhere in my story do I ever mention prohibited behaviours. I know that “being gay” does not express anything about personal intimate behaviour; it merely expresses an orientation. I adhere to the religious concepts of modesty, which demands that intimate behaviour stays private and discrete, and has no place in the public forum. In fact I do not know any gay person from a religious background who doesn’t believe the same way.

This is not an appeal to change religious law or anyone’s political views. This is not a push for gay marriage or any legitimising of gay marriage within the orthodox Jewish community. I am simply asking my community not to judge and not to pressure someone to participate in a program or therapy which causes harm. Just because someone is honest about being gay, does not mean that he engages in anything wrong. No one should feel silenced or asked to lie about who they are. Abuse and cruelty should never be tolerated or ignored. A little humility goes a long way. Sometimes the kindest and most thoughtful response when it comes to very difficult situations is, “I don’t know, but I’m here for you because you are part of my family and community.”

WORLD NEWS: Guilty verdict for killer of gay teen Jack Frew

2012-02-06T00:03:00.003+13:00

Guilty verdict for killer of gay teen Jack Frew
6/2/2012 PINKNEWS
A jury in Scotland has unanimously found gay teenager Craig Roy guilty of the murder of Jack Frew in 2010.
Returning its verdict in Glasgow today, the jury rejected Roy’s argument that he was suffering from an undiagnosed personality disorder.Roy had admitted causing the death of the gay schoolboy, who was found with 20 stab wounds and his throat cut in woodland over a year ago, but denied full responsibility for his actions.Now 19, Roy said he had no memory of the attack itself.A picture of the complicated relationship between Roy and Frew emerged during the trial.The teenagers had been schoolmates at East Kilbride in South Lanarkshire.Psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee told the court Roy had admitted having a sexual encounter with the murdered teen in January 2010. The court previously heard Roy’s claim that he saw Frew as a threat to his new relationship, describing him as a “sex pest.
”The court had heard that Roy and Jack Frew met in woods on 6 May 2010 at the murdered teenager’s request. Roy was said to have been concerned Frew, then 16, would tell his boyfriend about their sexual encounters and brought a knife to the meeting.
He told a psychiatrist Frew had exposed himself, but thereafter his memory failed.
Roy’s boyfriend Christopher Hannah, 20, a student at Glasgow Caledonian University, was the first person to arrive at the scene after being called by Roy.

The jury less than two hours to reach its verdict. The BBC reported Jack Frew’s father saying Roy should “rot in hell”.Roy will be sentenced on 1 March. Though he faces a mandatory life sentence, the minimum term he must spend in custody is yet to be determined.

WORLD NEWS: 16 Million Gays in straight Marriage

2012-02-05T23:54:00.007+13:00

China: 16 million women ‘married to gays’
6/6/2012 PINKNEWS
A university professor in China has estimated that 16 million women in the world’s most populous country are married to gays.
Professor Zhang Bei-chuan of Qingdao University says the huge number of women – equivalent to the population of the Netherlands – who have tied the knot with gay men are struggling to cope.
Speaking to state-run China Daily, the academic said as many as 90% of gay Chinese men marry to conform with social norms.

As of 2010, China had a population of more than 1.3 billion.

According to Professor Zhang Bei-chuan’s estimate, roughly 3% of the country’s adult population is in a gay-straight marriage.
The potentially damaging effect of such marriages was highlighted by 29-year-old Xiao Yao, who was married to a gay man and now runs a support website for wives in similar situations.
She said: “Most gay men’s wives I’ve known are silently suffering at the hands of husbands who could never love them, and like me, some even got abused by husbands who were also under great pressure.
“The website makes them feel they’re not alone and empowers them to make the right choices.”The number was queried by one of the gay men questioned by the paper, but others said they would consider marrying a woman. Wang, 27, told the publication he would consider marrying a lesbian if he were forced to wed a woman.
Xiao Dong, a gay man involved in HIV/AIDS prevention efforts, said it was an “unsubstantiated” and “pointless” investigation.
Homosexuality was decriminalised in the People’s Republic in 1997 and its status as a mental disorder revoked in 2001, but legal protection for gays is minimal with no non-discrimination or equal marriage rights and strong censorship rules.

eYe-CaNdY II

2012-02-05T23:17:00.004+13:00

CHESTS

eYe-CaNdY

2012-02-05T23:12:00.004+13:00

Covered up

NEWS: Murdered gay teen ‘exposed himself to killer’

2012-02-01T00:17:00.006+13:00

26 Jan 2012
The court at the trial for the murder of 16-year-old schoolboy, Jack Frew, has heard claims that he exposed himself to his killer shortly before his death.The high court in Glasgow heard from a psychiatrist that Mr Roy, 19, became furious because the deceased, Mr Frew, had exposed himself just before the incident took place at East Kilbride in May 2010, The BBC reported.

The schoolboy, the court heard previously, was found with 20 stab wounds, and his throat cut. Psychiatrist Dr Rajan Darjee told the high court in Glasgow that Mr Roy said he had a sexual encounter with Mr Frew in January 2010, and was worried that his boyfriend, Christopher Hannah, would find out. The court previously heard Mr Roy claim that he saw Mr Frew as a threat to his relationship with Mr Hannah, and that described him as a “sex pest.”Dr Darjee said Mr Roy told him he had no memory of the events between producing the knife, and seeing Mr Frew lying, bleeding, on the floor.The psychiatrist told the court: “Although he accepts it was him that killed Jack Frew he hasn’t any recollection of the incident.”The accused, Mr Roy, has admitted stabbing Jack Frew, but denies murdering him.

Dr Darjee was asked by prosecutor Jennifer Bain whether Mr Roy qualified for a personality disorder, to which he said: “Mr Roy does not meet the criteria for personality disorder.“There is evidence of some personality traits, but we all have some traits.”He also said, with regards to the incident, that Mr Roy “struggles to accept he might act that way towards another person. He feels disgusted with himself.”The trial continues.

Earlier in the Court hearing:

- Blackmail alleged at gay teen murder trial

20 Jan 2012
The jury at the Scottish trial of Craig Roy, accused of killing gay teenager, Jack Frew, has heard claims that the defendant was being blackmailed by the schoolboy and that the two had slept together.

The defence counsel for the 19-year old said there is no question that he stabbed Jack Frew, but Mr Roy has denied murdering him.
In a police statement, Mr Roy’s sister Robyn said her brother admitted to her he had “slit Jack’s throat.
”The statement also said: “I asked him why he done it and he said ‘He’s being blackmailing me. It was only meant to be a threat.’

“He said Jack had been pestering and annoying him for over a year.

“He said he had slept with Jack once and that Jack kept asking for sex ever since and was blackmailing him.”.The BBC reports that when asked about this statement in court, Ms Roy retracted part of it, saying her brother later denied he had slept with Jack Frew.
On cross-examination, Ms Roy said her brother “didn’t know what he was saying and was pretty hysterical” during the telephone conversation after the alleged incident.
A friend of Frew’s, Calum Chisholm, told the court that he and Jack were in contact by SMS just before the alleged incident took place. Mr Chisholm, 19, had formerly been in a relationship with Jack Frew for around a year. He said he received a text message from him on the day of his death saying: “Ha, ha! Well Craig Roy wants to meet me later. Threesome?”, followed by one reading: “Meeting behind the church the now if you want to join.
”PC Neil Clark said when Craig Roy was having a cut on his hand treated at hospital after the death was discovered, he told the police officer: “He was bribing me for sexual pleasures, but I know that’s no excuse for what I’ve done.”The mother of the defendant, Fern Roy, 46, said her son was acting normally that afternoon.But later, Christoher Hannah, 20, her son’s boyfriend, called her saying her son had hurt someone.
Mrs Roy said her son had had never had behavioural problems, and that she had not noticed any strange behaviour in the months leading up to the incident.Mr Roy had come out at 14.

His mother told the court: “He just came out and said he was gay. I was a bit surprised because he liked girls, but it didn’t bother me.”Chris Hannah, 20, and a student at Glasgow Caledonian University, was the first person to arrive at the scene, after being called by Mr Roy, and called the emergency services. Mr Hannah described Mr Frew as flirtatious and claimed that he had sent him flirty texts and emails, after saying that they all used to meet at a skate park in the area.When asked about the contact between Mr Roy and Mr Frew before the incident, he said: “I did not particularly like that. I sent him an angry text message to leave Craig alone.”The court was played the 999 call made by Mr Hannah, where he is heard sobbing and referring to Mr Frew: “Someone’s murdered him. His throat’s slit.”When asked if he knew who slit Mr Frew’s throat, he said: “My boyfriend did it.”Mr Hannah said he had not been welcomed by Mr Roy’s family. He claimed that Mr Roy’s mother thought he “made her son gay with [his] mind control”.
Earlier in the trial, a juror at the trial was discharged, after it transpired that he knew one of the witnesses.The jury is made up of 14 people – 9 women and and 5 men, and the trial is before Lord Doherty.The case continues.

In the NEWS

2011-11-26T19:08:00.005+13:00

“6 deaths” linked to UK churches HIV advice

At least six people have died in the UK after being told they had been cured of HIV and could stop taking their medication.An undercover investigation by Sky News has revealed that evangelical churches in London, Manchester, Birmingham and Glasgow have been telling worshipers that God can heal them of the virus.The broadcaster sent three undercover reporters to the Synagogue Church of All Nations (SCOAN), in the south London Borough of Southwark All of them were told by pastors they could be healed.The team – who are all HIV positive – had water sprayed in their faces as part of the healing process.They were also shouted at and told it would rid them of the devil.One of the pastors, Rachel Holmes, told Sky News, that SCOAN has a “100% success rate”, adding: “if symptoms such as vomiting or diarrhoea persist, it is actually a sign of the virus leaving the body”.The former Health Secretary Lord Fowler, who led the HIV/AIDS awareness drive in the 1980s, said SCOAN’s advice about the virus was dangerous and completely incorrect.With the church being a registered charity, the UK’s Charity Commission has now launched an investigation.SCOAN told Sky News: “We are not the Healer – God is the Healer. Never a sickness God cannot heal. Never a disease God cannot cure. Never a burden God cannot bear. Never a problem God cannot solve.“To His power, nothing is impossible. We have not done anything to bring about healing, deliverance or prosperity. If somebody is healed, it is God who heals.Last month, BBC London aired the findings of a similar investigation into the practice. Meanwhile, HIV/AIDS support charities are appalled at the revelations.Deborah Jack, Chief Executive of the National Aids Trust told PinkNews.co.uk: ‘It is worrying and tragic that there are people living with HIV being told not to take their life-saving medication. “Prayer and faith are very important to some people, but this should always be in addition to medical treatment rather than a substitute. “It is a terrible abuse of trust and faith for these religious leaders to be misleading individuals and this is a serious issue which needs to be tackled. “If a person with HIV stops taking their medication, there are not only grave health risks but it also increases the likelihood of passing the infection on to others”.SCOAN is not the only church in the capital that has been offering dangerously incorrect advice about the virus.A gay HIV positive man was also told to stop taking treatment by a church in north London.His boyfriend is now believed to be ill with the virus.

On DVD: SHANK

2011-11-26T18:34:00.007+13:00

SHANK

Cast:
Alice Payne
Marc Laurent
Tom Bott
Wayne Virgo

Cal (Wayne Virgo), a sexy 18-year-old gang member, has a life of drugs, online
sex hookups, random acts of violence and his big gay secret. As the film begins,
Cal hooks up violently with an anonymous stranger that temporarily satisfies his
cravings, but fails to quell lust for his best friend, Jonno (Tom Bott). Nessa
(Alice Payne), their twisted, foul-mouthed and controlling, gang leader,
suspects that there is something going on between them but she can't put her
finger on it and tries to split the two buddies apart. Cal is drifting apart
from the gang as his gay self emerges. Using horrible violent force, the gang
mugs a young cutie Olivier (Marc Laurent). Cal decides to make his break from
the gang official by trying to restrain them so that Oliver can escape. Ignoring
Nessa's fierce taunts, Cal chases after Olivier and takes him to safety. The two
young men together plot a revenge scheme, which then turns quickly to lust and
then love. Shank is a very real, edgy and raw British drama played out
on the streets of Bristol.

Director: Simon Pearce
Screenwriter: Christian Martin, Darren Flaxstone
Country: United Kingdom
Runtime: 89 min

Genre: Drama

NEWS: New Zealand Labour will allow gay couples to adopt

2011-10-15T21:02:00.001+13:00

New Zealand’s Labour Party says it will push for gay couples to be allowed to adopt.Although Prime Minister John Key has said the issue is not a priority, the party’s ‘rainbow’ policy document says it will modernise the law “to ensure the widest pool of suitable adults is lawfully available to provide care to children in need”.Although most New Zealanders can adopt, gay couples cannot.Other promises include measures to crack down on homophobic bullying in schools and updates for relationship and relationship property laws.This week, it was claimed that two Labour MPs had called gay National MP and Attorney General Chris Finlayson “Tinkerbell”.Trevor Mallard and Clayton Cosgrove have been accused of homophobia. ACT’s Wellington central candidate Stephen Whittington has accused openly gay Labour MPs Grant Robertson and Chauvel of covering up prejudice in the party.According to GayNZ.com, Mr Chauvel said Mr Mallard had supported all pro-gay legislation and did not deserve “vilification”.

NEWS: Woman ‘disgusted by gays, wont leave the house’

2011-09-17T22:33:00.001+12:00

A Catholic woman from Massachusetts says she is so disgusted by gay people that she fears leaving her house.

Stacy Trasancos, a stay-at-home mother of seven children, detailed her extreme homophobia on her blog, acceptingabundance.com.

She wrote on August 26th that after seeing two men “effeminately rubbing elbows” at a local swimming pool, she is becoming too fearful to go out.

In another instance, Ms Trasancos described a trip to a local park, in which she saw two women rubbing each other’s backs in a way that was “clearly not just friendly affection”.

The mother raged: “I find myself unable to even leave the house anymore without worrying about what in tarnation we are going to encounter.

“We are responsible citizens. We live by the rules, we pay our taxes, we take care of our things. I’m supposed to be able to influence what goes on in my community, and as a voter I do exercise that right.

“But I’m outnumbered. I can’t even go to normal places without having to sit silently and tolerate immorality.

“We all know what would happen if I asked two men or two women to stop displaying, right in front of me and my children, that they live in sodomy.”

Ms Trasancos, a former research chemist, says her family has been threatened with kidnap, rape and murder since she wrote the comments.

Gay and bi teens more likely to binge drink

2011-09-13T23:26:00.005+12:00

13 September 2011
A report into young people and alcohol has found gay and bisexual high school students are significantly more likely to drink than their straight peers: and they are also more likely to binge drink, to drink alone, and to have unsafe sex and drink-drive as a result.

The worrying findings are derived from data from the Youth '07 survey; the ALAC-funded report provides a snapshot of over 9000 secondary school students in 2007.

While it has found that overall, young people in 2007 were less likely to be regular drinkers than their 2001 counterparts; 81.5 per cent of gay, lesbian and bisexual young people said they had drunk alcohol compared to 73.8 per cent of straight students.

They were also significantly more likely to be current drinkers (74.7%) compared with opposite-sex-attracted students (63.1%), and more likely to have friends who drink (80.5 per cent compared with 66.9 per cent).

The study finds gay and bi students are more likely to prefer spirits, at 30.3 per cent, than beer at 18.2 per cent, figures which are almost the exact reverse for teenagers attracted to the opposite sex.

It also shows that 24.2 per cent of glb youth said their family or friends had told them to cut down on their drinking, compared with just 15.5 per cent of straight students. They also reported drinking more often and binge drinking more often: “Same/both-sex-attracted students were significantly more likely to report binge drinking (47.7%) compared with opposite-sex-attracted students (35.7%),” the study reads.

Further to that, more than half of gay and bi high school students stated they believe it's okay for people their age to drink regularly, whereas just under 40 per cent of straight students feel the same.

Glb youth are more likely to take alcohol from home, or to get someone else to buy it for them. They are also less likely to drink with family, and more likely to drink alone.

Just over 28 per cent reported having unsafe sex as a result of drinking and 15.5 per cent admitted having unwanted sex for the same reason. They are also more likely to ride with a driver who has been drinking, or drive after drinking themselves.

The study's authors say drinking among gay and bisexual students is among the areas where more research is needed.

Lifestyle: Older gay people at risk of loneliness

2011-09-13T23:02:00.002+12:00

Stonewall report: Older gay people at risk of loneliness

A report by gay rights charity Stonewall says older lesbian, gay and bisexual people are at more risk of loneliness and isolation.

The findings, to be officially launched tomorrow, were reported by yesterday’s Observer.

A YouGov survey commissioned by the charity found that older gay and bisexual men are three times more likely than heterosexual men to be living alone.

While nine out of ten older heterosexual people have children, the same is true for just over a quarter of gay and bisexual men and half of lesbians and bisexual women.

LGB older people are more likely to be single and are less likely to see their families regularly, the research found.

Studies have found that loneliness in old age is linked to depression and poor health.

In January, a group of charities including Independent Age and Age UK Oxfordshire said “intense” loneliness was linked to problems with the immune and cardio-vascular systems and the onset of Alzheimer’s disease.

Ben Summerskill, chief executive of Stonewall, told the Observer: “This pioneering research confirms what we already knew intuitively, that there are hundreds of thousands of lesbian and gay people growing older without the same family and support structures that many straight people enjoy.

“Quite often, that’s because their own families have disowned them just because of the way they were born.”

The research found that older LGB people are more likely to rely on formal support services, rather than family and friends.

However, three out of five people questioned felt that services such as GPs, social services and housing providers could not meet their needs.

Half said they would be uncomfortable coming out to care home staff.

Mr Summerskill said older LGB people’s needs included being able to share care home rooms with same-sex partners or to be supported through partners’ terminal illnesses.

He added: “We’re facing a care time bomb of institutional ignorance about what a community that makes a £40bn a year contribution to public services will soon – quite properly – be demanding.”

The YouGov survey questioned 1,050 heterosexual and 1,036 LGB people over the age of 55.

NEWS: 3x gay men attacked in Utah in a fortnight

2011-09-12T18:51:00.002+12:00

US: Three gay men attacked in Utah in a fortnight

13 September 2011
Three gay men have been been attacked in the US state of Utah in the last two weeks.

Early on Thursday morning, 32-year-old Cameron Nelson was attacked in American Fork as he took out rubbish at a hair salon.

He was treated in hospital for minor injuries and says his attackers – two or three men – hurled anti-gay abuse at him.

Police in Salt Lake City are investigating another two separate attacks on the night of August 26th.

In the first, 20-year-old Dane Hall was set upon by four men as he left a club. He sustained a shattered cheekbone and lost six teeth after he was punched and stamped on.

On the same night, a group of men broke into a gay man’s home and attacked his boyfriend.

LGBT community activist Eric Ethington told the Salt Lake Tribune: “This is what happens when our legislature and our local government refuse to take the problems in our state seriously. Violence based on sexual orientation is not acceptable.”

In January, a report by the Williams Institute on Sexual Orientation Law at UCLA found significant homophobia and discrimination in the state, which is home to the Mormon Church.

The study of 939 LGBT Utahans found that 67 per cent of transgender and 44 per cent of lesbian, gay and bisexual Utahans say they have either been sacked or have been denied a job or promotion as a result of their LGBT status.

NEWS: Gays are more dangerous than terrorists

2011-09-12T18:44:00.005+12:00

US politician Sally Kern: Gays are more dangerous than terrorists

Ahead of the tenth anniversary of the 9/11 terrorist attacks on the United States, Republican member of the Oklahoma House of Representatives Sally Kern has renewed her claim that homosexuality has killed more people in the United States than terrorism.

In 2008, Mrs Kern was secretly recorded giving a speech where she said that homosexuality is “deadly and it’s spreading, and it will destroy our young people. It will destroy this nation. Studies show that no society that has totally embraced homosexuality has lasted more than, you know, a few decades.”

She became a nationally lampooned figure after lesbian chat-show host Ellen DeGeneres left her a voice mail and broadcast it on her television program.

Now promoting a book, The Stoning of Sally Kern, the politician says that as a result of HIV/ AIDS, homosexuality has killed hundreds of thousands of Americans.

In an interview given to Peter LaBarbera of anti-gay campaign group Americans for Truth, Mrs Kern said: “You know if you just look at it in practical terms, which has destroyed and ended the life of more people? Terrorism attack here in America or HIV/AIDS? In the last twenty years, fifteen to twenty years, we’ve had maybe three terrorist attacks on our soil with a little over 5,000 people regrettably losing their lives. In the same time frame, there have been hundreds of thousands who have died because of having AIDS. So which one’s the biggest threat?

“And you know, every day our young people, adults too, but especially our young people, are bombarded at school, in movies, in music, on TV, in the mall, in magazines, they’re bombarded with ‘homosexuality is normal and natural.’ It’s something they have to deal with every day. Fortunately we don’t have to deal with a terrorist attack every day, and that’s what I mean.

“It’s [homosexuality] more dangerous [than terrorism], and yes I think that it’s also more dangerous because it will tear down the moral fibre of this nation. We were founded as a nation upon the principles of religion and morality, if we take those out from under our society we will lose what has made us a great nation, we will no longer be a virtuous people, which we see happening already. And without virtue this nation will not survive.”

NEWS: Brazil moves to approve Heterosexual Pride Day

2011-08-04T18:49:00.002+12:00

The city council in Brazil’s largest city, Sao Paolo, has approved a law creating the official observation of “Heterosexual Pride Day.” It will be celebrated on the third Sunday of each December. The law must still be approved by the mayor of the city. The author of the law, Carlos Apolinario, says “Heterosexual Pride Day” is not anti-gay but a protest against what he says are the privileges the gay community enjoys.

Source: RT News

Had a guts full of Blogger

2011-08-02T01:46:00.002+12:00

not going to continue with Its-a-Gay-life since blogs seems to be going down the toilet...

Poll Results

2011-07-08T00:24:00.001+12:00

Do you feel you are informed enough about HIV/AIDS

Yes - 100% ... 2 (22%)

Yes - enough to keep safe ... 6 (66%)

I think so ... 0 (0%)

Not really ... 0 (0%)

No, and I'm worried about it ... 1 (11%)

eYe-CaNdY -- "Cute Couples"

2011-06-30T02:59:00.002+12:00

No Eye-candy due to issues with "blogger"
There are currently reported issues with Java scripts:Void(0) and internal errors with uploading images...

Anyone else having the same issues...?

DVD/Film Review

2011-06-29T00:14:00.007+12:00

A Lower Power

Cast:
Mathew Lotto
J. William McMichael
Terri J. Freedman
Rafe Morgan Kossak
Adrian Anchondo
Donald Joseph
Gigi Guizado

Director: Robert O'Geen

Synopsis: A young gay man is torn between his rejection of his hedonistic parents and his own emerging sexual desires.

Not everyone gets to watch a video of his conception... or wants to. Thibodeaux (Mathew Lotto) sure doesn't, but such openness is the exasperating norm for his parents, Hank (Donald Joseph) and Stormy (Gigi Guizado), whose nest he can't wait to leave. What this young man thinks he wants collides with the hard reality of desire in the idiosyncratic, unrepentantly sexual comedy-drama A Lower Power — a gay coming-of-age story where the coming-of-age isn't about being gay.

When neither the geeky sanity of his friend Steve (Rafe Morgan Kossak), nor the advice of torturously heterosexual stud buddy Mas (Adrian Anchondo) provide an easy answer, Thibodeaux sets off on his own to college - where he hangs with bubbly Emmy (Terri J. Freedman) and seeks a sexless social life. But Thibodeaux's chastity strategies meet their match in Todd (J. William McMichael), a cocksure biker and Old English scholar who teaches Thibodeaux the power of passion. Even as Todd unleashes Thibodeaux's appetites and old friends come back into his life in surprising ways, Thibodeaux's repressive reflexes connect sex to misfortune and humiliation - until his contorted logic drives away his friends and the mythic man of his dreams.

Year: 2009
Run time: 98 min

For the young guys that visit here...

2011-06-12T18:13:00.004+12:00

Get it On! - gay style

There are lots of ways gay men can have sex and really enjoy it. You will soon find out what you like and how you like to do it.

The first thing to do is to find out all about your own body. Get to know it and get to like it. Use a mirror for all those hard to see places. Don't get hung up about the size or shape of your penis, whether you think it's too big or too small. The size of your penis doesn't prove how much of a man you are in any way at all. The size of your penis has also got nothing to do with how much you enjoy sex or how much enjoyment you give your partner.

Masturbation
You have probably jerked off, had a wank (masturbated). This is really just making love with yourself and it's a great feeling, isn't it? Masturbation is also a great way of finding out how good sex can be. Don't worry about pulling yourself off. It's absolutely harmless. Almost everybody masturbates, especially guys - gay, straight, teenagers and adults. People get uptight about it because they don't like the idea of young people enjoying sex at all, let alone with each other.

There are lots of different ways for gay and bisexual men to make love together. Here are a few examples:

kissing, cuddling, stroking and holding somebody else (no risk of getting an STI and no risk of HIV)
jerking each other off, either together or in turns (low risk of getting an STI and no risk of HIV)
sucking each other's penis, either at the same time or taking turns (definite risk of transmitting an STI but almost no risk of getting HIV).

Blowjobs
Mouths are soft and warm which makes having your penis sucked feel really good. If you are doing the sucking, hold the other person's penis with one hand and put it gently into your mouth. It feels nice and smooth. Run your tongue up and down his shaft towards the head, and try to keep your teeth out of the way... they're hard. Don't stress about swallowing semen, it just tastes salty. The thing to understand is that many STI's are passed on though oral sex, however HIV is NOT easily transmitted this way. The risk of getting an STI or HIV increases if you have cum in your mouth and have any cuts or sores in your mouth that it can get into.

Anal Sex
There is a lot of mystery and mis-information about anal sex, so we have dedicated a whole section to talk about it.

Relax
And try not to worry about when - or even if - you have an orgasm (cum)! After all, sex is still enjoyable even if you don't have an orgasm. You both have to feel relaxed to enjoy sex completely.

In the Headlines

2011-06-08T00:24:00.004+12:00

- Home Depot won’t cave in to anti-gay boycott

US retailer Home Depot has said that it will not cave into a boycott by the homophobic American Family Association (AFA) who object to the chain’s pro-equality workplace policies.

The AFA’s vice president Buddy Smith attended the Home Depot annual shareholders meeting to address the company’s chairman.

“We presented to the shareholders and to the chairman and the board of directors over 470,000 signature petitions asking them to remain neutral in the culture war, specifically when it addresses gay marriage and homosexual activist groups,” an AFA spokesman said.

- Homophobic groups banner warning families about Disney’s Gay Day

Today sees the end of the annual Gay Days event at Disney World in Orlando, Florida. But just in-case people didn’t notice thousands of LGBT customers, a homophobic group hired a aeroplane to fly a banner over the area warning families.

The Florida Family Association contracted the plane on Friday and Saturday to fly a banner that read: “Warning Gay Day At Disney.”

In a statement it said: “Thanks to the generosity of many supporters, Florida Family Association contracted this aircraft company to fly a seven foot high banner for ten hours the day before and ten hours the day of Gay Pride Day at Disney World.”

- Gay men verbally abused through PA by Trafalgar Square busker.

Two gay men were verbally abused by a busker using a PA system in Trafalgar Square last week.

At lunchtime last Thursday, Paul Jorgensen and Gareth McCallion were crossing Trafalgar Square in central London when a busker targeted and verbally abused them using homophobic language.

As the busker was using a Public Address System, his verbal abuse of the couple was heard by the crowds basking in the sunshine in one of the capital’s busiest squares.

- Westboro homophobes protest at national basketball finals in Dallas

Members of the Kansas-based Westboro Baptist Church yesterday protested outside the National Basketball Association (NBA) finals in Dallas, Texas, over the NBA’s new policy on hurtful language toward LGBT people.

The policy was put in place earlier this year by NBA commissioner David Stern. It says that using hateful language toward LGBT people is unacceptable.

Since then, professional basketball players Kobe Bryant and Joakim Noah have been fined for using gay slurs.

One of the protesters from Westboro, Steve Drain, said: “Now David Stern, the tyrant commissioner of the NBA is jamming a message down the throat of America that not only is it okay to be gay but you don’t even want to use the word gay in a negative connotation.”

NEWS: US survey finds LGBT teens prone to ‘risky behaviour’

2011-06-07T23:35:00.004+12:00

US high school survey findings conclude that LGBT teens are exceptionally prone to ‘risky behaviour’.

7/6/2011 PinkNEWS
A report released in the US yesterday found that LGBT teens are more likely to engage in “risky behaviour” including smoking, drinking alcohol and carrying guns, than their heterosexual counterparts.

The Centres for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) surveyed 156,000 high school students by collating information gathered from student surveys conducted between 2001-2009 from various school districts across the US.

Investigators asked about 76 types of “risky behaviours”, ranging from cycling without a helmet to attempting suicide.

Gay, lesbian and bisexual students reported indulging in riskier behaviour in 50 per cent to 90 per cent of the risk categories.

The study is the largest of its kind conducted by the federal government.

Laura McGinnis, spokeswoman for the Trevor Project – which seeks to prevent suicide among the teen LGBTQ community – said: “Gay, lesbian and bisexual youths are often driven to risky behaviour because they are rejected by their families and other support groups. We’ve known this for years but the research hasn’t been there to back it up.”

Ms McGinnis added that the new data should help increase awareness among policy makers and lead to better training for teachers and other school staff.

NEWS: 3 Years jail for being Gay

2011-06-07T23:30:00.003+12:00

Amnesty fights for man jailed for three years on charges of being gay.

7/6/2011 PinkNEWS
Thousands of Amnesty International supporters are appealing to the authorities in Cameroon for the immediate release of a man jailed for charges of “homosexuality and attempted homosexuality”.

Jean-Claude Roger Mbede was arrested in March by members of Cameroon’s security service while meeting an acquaintance. Prior to their meeting, the acquaintance had shown to the police text messages he had received from Mr Mbede.

Mr Mbede was then taken into custody on suspicion of being gay. He was held at the Gendarmerie du Lac detention centre in the capital, Yaoundé.

A week later he was charged with homosexuality and attempted homosexuality and transferred to Kondengui central prison on 9 March.

On 28 April, Mr Mbede was found guilty of the aforementioned charges and sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.

He is currently serving his sentence at Kondengui central prison where he is at risk of homophobic attacks from fellow inmates and prison staff owing to his sexual orientation, whether it is real or perceived.

Cameroon is an adamantly homophobic country and the arrests, prosecutions and trials of gay men occur regularly, say Amnesty International.

Section 347a of the Cameroonian penal code states: “Whoever has sexual relations with a person of the same sex shall be punished with imprisonment from six months to five years and with a fine ranging from 20,000 Francs CFA to 200,000 Francs CFA” (approximately £21 to £215).

This contravenes the international and regional human rights treaties (including the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights and the African Charter on Human and Peoples’ Rights) which Cameroon has signed and ratified.

Amnesty International’s LGBT Campaign Manager Clare Bracey said:

“Locking someone up for their real or perceived sexual orientation is a flagrant breach of basic rights and should not be allowed under any country’s penal code. Because of the state’s intolerance to homosexuality and the general social attitude, homophobia is rife in Cameroon and Amnesty International fears for the safety of Jean-Claude Roger Mbede while he is in prison.

“We’re urging the Cameroonian government to repeal this law under the penal code in accordance with its international human rights obligations, and to immediately and unconditionally release Mr Mbede.”

Prison conditions in Kondengui are harsh, with overcrowding, poor sanitation and inadequate food.

Mr Mbede’s lawyers are currently appealing against his sentence.

Film Review

2011-06-07T23:23:00.003+12:00

Ruckenwind

Two young men, Johann and Robin, take a trip into the countryside. The more they walk the forests of Brandenburg, the stranger their adventure becomes. Bikes disappear, maps prove useless - and each gets to know a new side of the other. Johann and Robin regard the new situation as a kind of sporting challenge. They allow themselves to just go with the flow. After several days of hiking, the two lads arrive at an old farmhouse inhabited by a woman and her adolescent son. The men receive a surprisingly warm welcome and soon begin to share the small family's daily routine and their secrets. For a while they enjoy an enchanted round of excursions and storytelling, flirting and games - until one day the new companions get too close for comfort. Johann and Robin are flung out of their refuge and back into the world at large. Light Gradient tells the story of a journey of two men, travelling light, searching for the truth beneath the facade, for fairy-tale moments in the heart of the countryside, and for a natural gay relationship far from the madding crowd.

Director: Jan Krüger
Cast: Sebastian Schlecht, Eric Golub, Iris Minich, Denis Alevi
Country: Germany
Runtime: 75 min
Genre: Drama

EyE-cAnDy

2011-06-01T23:54:00.003+12:00

NEWS: Outrage at capital’s HIV services funding cut

2011-06-01T23:25:00.003+12:00

Outrage at capital’s HIV services funding cut

1/6/2011 PINKnews
London HIV prevention groups have said they are outraged at the 20 per cent funding cut.

According to the BBC, the Inner North West London Primary Care Trust (PCT), which manages the Pan London HIV Prevention Programme, has cut the budget for 2011-12 by £516,000.

At the same time, the number of Londoners with HIV who contracted the infection in the UK has more than doubled since 2001 when the figure was 660, to 1,480 last year, according to latest figures.

The BBC’s Andy Dangerfield said: “In the capital, 28,000 people are living with HIV. This is about one in every 200 Londoners aged between 15 and 59 – a rate three times higher than any other region in England.”

According to the Terrence Higgins Trust, one in 10 gay men in the capital has HIV. Mark Delacour, from the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Consortium, said that the cuts were short-sighted and would cost the capital more in the long run.

Diane Abbott, shadow public health minister and MP for Hackney North and Stoke Newington, said: “This is an extremely worrying development. We should be stepping up HIV prevention in London where we have the highest rates in the UK. One in every 200 people aged between 15 and 59 is currently infected and it is morally wrong and strategically stupid to cut this budget.

“Investing in HIV information and education is absolutely essential to protect lives and prevention is considerably cheaper than treatment.”

Poll Result: Do you feel you are informed enough about HIV/AIDS

2011-06-01T23:02:00.003+12:00

Yes ....... 100% 2 (22%)

Yes ....... enough to keep safe 6 (66%)

I think so ........ 0 (0%)

Not really ........ 0 (0%)

No, and I'm worried about it ....... 1 (11%)

Brisbane gay safe sex campaign ads reinstated

2011-06-01T22:56:00.003+12:00

Brisbane gay safe sex campaign ads reinstated after uproar over their removal

1/6/2011 PinkNews

A safe sex campaign for gay couples in Brisbane, Australia, has been reinstated after it became clear the majority of complaints that led to its removal yesterday were orchestrated by the Australian Christian Lobby (ACL).

The campaign, which takes the form of posters on bus shelters, shows a same-sex couple holding a condom packet and features the tagline ‘Rip & Roll’.

But according to ABC News Australia, after Adshel, Brisbane City Council and the Advertising Standards Bureau received 30 complaints about the ads yesterday, they took steps to remove the posters.

However, their removal sparked an even bigger furore online, which ultimately led to the campaign re-appearing on the city’s bus shelters.

Shortly after, the advertising company Adshel issued the following statement: “It has now become clear Adshel has been the target of a coordinated ACL campaign.

“This has led us to review our decision to remove the campaign, and we will therefore reinstate the campaign with immediate effect.”

A spokeswoman for ACL, Wendy Francis, said the issue was about the frank reference to condoms, not homosexuality.

“I’ve been labelled homophobic. This has absolutely nothing to do with gay couples,” she said.

“This has nothing to do with anything other than another condom ad in a bus shelter, where the children are catching buses to school and billboards where their parents are stopping at lights.

“I will continue to fight sexual imagery in our outdoor advertising until we can get it removed.”

One Twitter user said that the whole debate around the campaign would likely give it a boost, while another said they agreed with the ACL that the campaign was too candid for public space.

Michael O’Brien, one half of the couple featured in the advert, said: ”We are real people, and this campaign is about real people. We have been together for six-and-a-half years, we’ve been engaged since August last year, and just last week we were approved to become foster parents, which will now be happening very soon.

“We are real people, with a real life, in real love.”

NEWS: Men arrested for gay sex in Grenada

2011-05-30T01:01:00.008+12:00

Arrest for Gay Sex

30/05/2011 PinkNEWS
Two men on the Caribbean island of Grenada have been arrested for having gay sex.

The men, aged 41 and 17, could face up to ten years in prison – the maximum penalty for same-sex acts.

While the sex is understood to have been consensual and the age of consent is 16, the law bans “unnatural connections”.

However, the law is rarely enforced, Associated Press reports.

In 2007, reports said the country wanted to ban gay cruises from its shores. The tourism minister later denied this, although visiting cruises have been met with protests.

The tiny island nation, which has a population of 103,000, gained independence from the UK in 1974.

A number of other Caribbean countries have laws against homosexuality. Jamaica is one of the least tolerant countries and a gay rights campaigner was stabbed to death last year.

PinkNEWS

Eye-cAnDy

2011-05-30T00:41:00.005+12:00

Eye-Candy

Poll results

2011-05-12T00:39:00.001+12:00

Which term do you prefer for the Gay Community...?

GLBT Gay/Les/Bi/Trans ... 5 (33%)

Queer Community ... 1 (6%)

Gay Community ... 5 (33%)

Rainbow Community ... 0 (0%)

Pink Community ... 0 (0%)

None of them ... 4 (26%)

Study finds gay men are more likely to have had cancer

2011-05-12T00:36:00.002+12:00

A large US study has suggested that gay men are more likely to have had cancer than straight men.

The research, from California, found that gay men were almost twice as likely as straight men to have been diagnosed with this disease. On average, diagnoses happened a decade earlier for gay men.

It also found that lesbians and bisexual women are more likely than straight women to report poorer health after cancer.

Researchers are unsure whether gay men may be more likely to have cancer, or whether they are more likely to survive the disease. It is known that anal cancer is more likely to affect gay men and can be caused by HIV.

The study, of 120,000 people, was carried out by using data from the 2001, 2003 and 2005 California Health Interview surveys.

Out of 51,000 men, about 3,700 said they had been diagnosed with cancer as an adult. Just over eight per cent of gay men said they had a history of the disease, compared to five per cent of straight men. Researchers said the difference was not down to differences in race, age or income.

About 7,300 out of 71,000 women in the study had been diagnosed with cancer, but there was no difference between straight, lesbian or bisexual women. However, they were more likely to rate their health after treatment as ‘poor’ or fair’.

Liz Margolies, executive director of The National LGBT Cancer Network, told Reuters that more information is needed to plan care and prevention strategies.

She pointed to research which suggests gay men, lesbians and bisexuals are more likely to smoke and abuse alcohol than straight people and said that LGB people are less likely to visit doctors for health check-ups, partly because of stigma.

“Health care facilities and social service agencies – any organisation that addresses the needs of cancer survivors — must understand the extra challenges that lesbian and bisexual cancer survivors and gay men have,” she said.

Jason Warriner, clinical director for HIV and sexual health at the Terrence Higgins Trust, told BBC News: “We know that HIV can cause certain types of cancer, and that gay men are at a greater risk of HIV than straight men.

“Another factor potentially having an impact is Human Papilloma Virus, which can lead to anal cancer in gay men.

“The government currently runs a national vaccination programme for young girls, but we think recent figures on oral and anal cancers justify taking another look at whether the programme should be extended to include boys.”

NEWS HEADLINE

2011-04-18T20:44:00.004+12:00

London gay men warned about ‘aggressive’ new chlamydia strain

Gay and bisexual men in London are being warned about growing rates of an “aggressive” strain of chlamydia. LGV (lymphogranuloma venereum) arrived in the UK in 2004, health experts say. New figures from the Health Protection Agency show that cases in London increased from 135 in 2009 to 350 in 2010, the highest number to date.

Hundreds protest outside John Snow pub that kicked out gay couple for kissing A large protest of hundreds of people gathered outside the John Snow pub in Soho, central London earlier this evening in reaction to a gay couple being ejecting from the venue for kissing.

eYe-CaNdY - mini-set -

2011-04-14T02:20:00.001+12:00

Gay Austrailian soldiers outed on Facebook

2011-04-14T01:43:00.005+12:00

13/04/2011 PinkNEWS ---- The Australian Defence Force (ADF) has been accused of failing to discipline soldiers who were involved in an online hate campaign against their gay colleagues. The Sydney Morning Herald reports that eight months after complaints were received about the Facebook group, an investigation has been shelved and no one involved has been disciplined. More than 80 soldiers were named on the Facebook group, which claimed “It is your right to know who is biting the pillow.” The group called homosexuality a “filthy lifestyle” and urged Facebook users to name “bum bandits”. It was closed last year but reports say the ADF did nothing to discipline the dozens of troops who were reportedly involved. The Herald said that the investigation apparently stalled because of inadequate resources, with no one assigned to the task at various stages in the last eight months. A Defence spokeswoman said the matter ”is still the subject of ongoing investigation”. ”The attitudes and behaviours described are contrary to everything that the Australian Defence Force stands for and has achieved in welcoming and supporting diversity across the organisation.” she added. One of those named in the online campaign, Major Paul Morgan, an army psychologist who has served in Iraq, told the newspaper: “I have sacrificed my whole adult life to the army and the inaction in this case is soul-destroying.” His friends said he had received death threats and intimidation since the campaign was reported to the ADF. The ADF has allowed openly gay and lesbian soldiers since 1992.

UK: Gay man attacked at London cruising spot

2011-04-12T01:26:00.006+12:00

12/04/2011 PinkNEWS Police are investigating after a man’s nose was broken in a homophobic attack on Clapham Common. The 42-year-old victim was at the popular south London cruising spot on Sunday April 3rd shortly before midnight when he was approached by three men who attacked him. He was left with a broken nose and other head injuries. The men were described as black, aged between 18 and 21, all about 5ft 7ins tall and wearing hooded tops and jeans. Police say the attack is an isolated incident but are urging members of the public to be vigilant. They are asking anyone who may have seen the attack or suspects to come forward. Last August, officers visited the common to warn gay cruisers that they may be at risk of attack. Anyone with information about the assault can call Wandsworth Community Safety Unit on 020 8247 8482 or Crimestoppers (anonymously) on 0800 555 111.

3.8 per cent of Americans are gay, bi or transgender

2011-04-09T20:48:00.003+12:00

A study suggests that 3.8 per cent of Americans are openly gay, bisexual or transgender. At nine million people, this number is equivalent to the population of New Jersey.

However, the number of those who say they have engaged in same-sex relationships or sexual behaviour is twice as high as 8.2 per cent – or 19 million people. Eleven per cent – 25.6 million people – have reported feeling attraction to the same sex, the study said. The study was carried out by the Williams Institute at UCLA in California.

Researchers cross-referenced five national and state popular surveys. Slightly more people (1.8 per cent) identified as bisexual than lesbian or gay (1.7 per cent). Approximately 700,000 people said they were transgender – 0.3 per cent. Last September, a survey of 450,000 UK adults found that just 1.5 per cent were willing to identify themselves as lesbian, gay or bisexual. Of the five per cent who did not say they were heterosexual, one per cent said they were gay or lesbian, 0.5 per cent said they were bisexual and 3.5 per cent refused to answer the question, described themselves as “other” or said they did not know.

Gay rights charity Stonewall and the UK government both use a figure of six per cent of the population being lesbian, gay or bisexual, which works out at 3.6 million people.

eYe-CaNdY "like the view"

2011-04-09T20:40:00.004+12:00

Get outdoors to see it...

UK: Gay socialite attacked in central London

2011-04-05T23:40:00.007+12:00

Gay socialite Philip Sallon attacked in central London

5/4/2011 PinkNEWS

Gay socialite and event organiser Philip Sallon is recovering in hospital after being assaulted in central London on Saturday morning. Friends said Mr Sallon suffered a fractured skull and broken bones in the attack, which took place in Piccadilly. His cousin Joshua Sallon told PinkNews.co.uk that witnesses reported hearing the attackers shout anti-gay abuse. He said: “Philip was walking past the Gap store on Piccadilly when someone started on him.

Philip told him to leave him alone but the man beat him up and stole his watch.” A police spokesman said: “Officers from Westminster Serious Violence Team are investigating an assault after a 49-year-old man was attacked and left unconscious in Piccadilly Circus in the early hours of Saturday April 2nd. “The victim was outside the Gap store at approximately 03:30am when officers believe he was approached by two suspects who kicked him repeatedly in the head and subsequently ran off. “The victim was taken to a Central London Hospital where he was treated for concussion and a cut to his left eyelid. He remains in hospital in a stable condition.” Police are keeping an open mind as to the motive for the attack.

Mr Sallon, who has been a fixture on the London club scene for decades, is a good friend of Boy George and Jodie Harsh and was one of the original Blitz Kids. Both tweeted of their shock at the attack. George said he had visited Mr Sallon in hospital and that he should make a “complete recovery”.

UK: Police release image of man wanted for anti-gay stickers

2011-04-05T23:21:00.009+12:00

" Police release CCTV image of man wanted for anti-gay stickers " - 05/04/2011 PinkNEWS - Police have released a CCTV image of a man wanted in connection with homophobic stickers placed around London’s east end. The stickers, which have been found in Brick Lane, Poplar, Bow and Canary Wharf, show a red line through a rainbow flag and the words ‘gay-free zone’ British Transport Police Detective Constable Elaine Sexton, of the Public Protection Unit, said: “We are working together with the Metropolitan Police, and have been conducting local enquiries across east London in a bid to identify those responsible for these stickers. “These stickers are offensive and we are keen to identify the man in the images as we believe he has information which may assist the investigation.” Superintendent Mark Wolski, from Tower Hamlets Police, said: “These stickers are divisive in nature and so we would encourage anyone with information to contact our colleagues at BTP to help identify the perpetrators.” Last month, PinkNews.co.uk reported that an 18-year-old man had been arrested and then released after police found him with stickers in his possession. Police first received reports of the stickers in February and around 70 have been spotted in east London. Anyone who recognises the man in the image or who has any information which may assist the investigation is asked to contact British Transport Police on 0800 40 50 40, quoting background log number B13/LUA of 29/03/2011. Alternatively, call Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111. Sorry about the posting lay-out, for some reason its seems impossible to edit the lay out scripting... Bloody Blogger...

Article: A little Gay pornography history

2011-04-04T00:13:00.006+12:00

Gay pornography is the representation of sexual intercourse between men with the primary goal of sexual arousal in its audience. There is also a tradition, and continuing considerable output, of lesbian pornography.

Early modern Gay Pron in the United States

Homoeroticism has been present in photography and film since their invention. During much of that time, any kind of sexual depiction had to remain underground because of obscenity laws. In particular, gay material might constitute evidence of an illegal act under sodomy laws in many jurisdictions. This is no longer the case in the United States since such laws were ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court in 2003 in Lawrence v. Texas. However, hardcore pornographic motion pictures ("stag films," as they were called prior to their legalization in 1970) were produced relatively early in the history of film. The first known pornographic film of any kind appears to have been made in Europe in 1908. The earliest known film to depict hardcore gay (and bisexual) sex was the French film Le Menage Moderne Du Madame Butterfly, produced and released in 1920. Most historians consider the first American stag film to be A Free Ride, produced and released in 1915. But in the United States, hardcore gay sexual intercourse did not make it onto film until 1929's The Surprise of a Knight. Nevertheless, legal restrictions meant that early hardcore gay pornography was underground and that commercially-available gay pornography primarily consisted of pictures of individual men either fully naked or wearing a g-string. Pornography in the 1940s and 1950s focused on athletic men or bodybuilders in statuesque poses. They were generally young, muscular, and with little or no visible body hair. Those pictures were sold in physique magazines, also known as beefcake magazines, allowing the reader to pass as a fitness enthusiast. The Athletic Model Guild (AMG) founded by photographer Bob Mizer in 1945 in Los Angeles, California, was arguably the first studio to commercially produce material specifically for gay men and published the first magazine known as Physique Pictorial in 1951. Tom of Finland drawings are featured in many issues. Mizer produced about a million images, and thousands of films and videos before he died on May 12, 1992. During the late 1960s and early 1970s, the advent of 16mm film cameras enabled these photographers to produce underground movies of gay sex and/or male masturbation. Sales of these products were either by mail-order or through more discreet channels.

Some of the early gay pornographers would travel around the country selling their photographs and films out of their hotel rooms, with advertising only through word of mouth and magazine ads. The 1960s were also a period where many underground art film makers integrated suggestive or overtly gay content in their work. Kenneth Anger's Scorpio Rising (1963), Andy Warhol's Blow Job (1964) and My Hustler (1965), or Paul Morrissey's Flesh (1968) are examples of experimental films that are known to have influenced further gay pornographic films with their formal qualities and narratives. Tyler Gajewski is a noted actor and model of the period who appeared in Warhol's and Morrissey's films, as well as in Mizer's work at the AMG. Also of note is Joe Dallesandro, who acted in hardcore gay pornographic films in his early 20s, posed nude for Francesco Scavullo, Bruce of L.A. and Bob Mizer, and later acted for Warhol in films such as Flesh. Dallesandro was well-known to the public. In 1969 Time magazine called him one of the most beautiful people of the 1960s, and he graced the cover of Rolling Stone magazine in April 1971.

Dallesandro even appeared on the cover of The Smiths' eponymous debut album, The Smiths.

eYe-CaNdY Random

2011-04-04T00:06:00.003+12:00

UK: Parents of ‘Gay rumours’ suicide boys urge youths to seek help

2011-04-03T23:20:00.006+12:00

Parents of ‘gay rumours’ suicide boy urge youths to seek help

3/04/2011 PinkNEWS The parents of a 15-year-old boy who killed himself after rumours circulated that he was gay have urged young people to seek help if they feel suicidal. Dominic Crouch, a pupil at St Edwards School in Cheltenham, threw himself from a six-storey block of flats last May after returning from a school trip. An inquest in Cheltenham this week heard that pupils played spin the bottle on the four-day art trip and there were rumours that Dominic had kissed a boy. In suicide notes found in his pockets, Dominic wrote that he had been bullied a lot and that fellow pupils had been making up rumours about him. Speaking after the inquest, his father Roger Crouch said his son, who was straight, had been “deeply upset” by the gossip. He and his wife Paola said: “Can we repeat what we said at Dom’s funeral to young people – if you ever find yourselves in a similar position then talk to someone before you make a mistake from which you, your family and friends will never recover. “We now want to rebuild our shattered lives, support our daughter Giulia through university, even though we know that we will never again know the joy that Dom’ brought to all of us for the 15 years of his life.” Dominic, a keen rugby player, left school at lunchtime on the day of his death and went to a nearby block of flats. He gained access to the roof through a trapdoor. Mr and Mrs Crouch said that more should be done to restrict access to high spaces and criticised his school for failing to notice he was missing from afternoon classes. The couple added that schools must look out for signs of depression or bullying in pupils. They said: “Dom was clearly upset by rumours he believed were being spread about him and we need to recognise that what may seem like a laugh to one young person can be deeply upsetting to another. “We feel that schools need to be much more watchful to the spreading of rumours or gossip about their pupils and teachers need to intervene when pupils seem upset or distracted.” The couple also called for better monitoring of youth suicides to help prevent future tragedies. They said: “We have been struck since Dom’s death by the number of young people in this county who for whatever reason feel driven to take their own lives. “Yet the deaths of young people who take their own lives are not systematically monitored or even recorded by the NHS and other agencies. If we don’t know the scale of the issue then it is very hard to have strategies in place to prevent future deaths. The Gloucestershire Safeguarding Children Board needs to look seriously at the issue of suicide by young people and what can be done to prevent it. “We believe that more needs to be done to educate young people about the reality of early death by suicide and the impact that it will have on them, their family and friends.” The 15-year-old had sent a text to emergency services warning that he was going to kill himself shortly before he jumped from the roof. However, the service is designed for deaf people who have registered and his message did not go through to an operator. Mr and Mrs Crouch described this as the “single most upsetting thing to come from the inquest”. Dominic’s family are raising money in his name for the Nelson Mandela Children’s Fund which supports children in South Africa.

Editors note: This is such a sad case, everyone needs to take responsiblity.

New York: Young gay man brutally beaten at McDonald’s

2011-04-01T02:00:00.011+13:00

Young gay man brutally beaten at New York McDonald’s 1/04/2011 PinkNEWS

A young gay man has posted pictures of his injuries on Facebook after he was set upon in an anti-gay attack outside a McDonald’s restaurant in New York. Damian Furtch, 26, was sitting in the West Village fast food restaurant with a friend on Sunday evening when two men began to harass him. Mr Furtch, who had just finished work at the nearby Pink Tea Cup Restaurant, says he and his friend then left but were followed by the attackers, who began punching him while yelling anti-gay slurs. His friend was not hurt. He reported the attack to police and posting disturbing images on his Facebook page showing severe cuts and bruising to his face. Mr Furtch wrote: “I thought I was safe in the city I loved but apparently wearing fluorescent colored clothing and pink shoelaces really bother some f**king g assholes to blind side me and hit me.” He captioned the images:” Four Stitches, Thanks Bitches!” His employer at the Pink Tea Cup Restaurant, Lawrence Page, told the New York Daily News that Mr Furtch was a 6ft 4 “gentle giant” and called the attackers “cowards”. Mr Furtch’s injuries required four stitches and reports said he had to have his nose broken and re-set. Police are searching for the assailants. Earlier this month, a New York teenager was allegedly killed in a homophobic attack. Anthony Collao, 18, was attacked at a party in Queens by a gang who allegedly shouted anti-gay slurs before kicking, punching and beating him with a metal pipe. He was not gay but reports said the party was hosted by two gay men. The college graduate died in hospital two days after the attack. No images able to be uploaded - Blogger has issue

Smooth... eYe-CaNdY

2011-03-28T01:56:00.004+13:00

UK: 11yr olds could be quizzed on their sexuality

2011-03-28T01:30:00.007+13:00

UK: Equality watchdog recommends that children as young as 11 could be quizzed on their sexuality 28/03/2011 PinkNEWS Children as young as 11 could be asked if they are lesbian, gay, bisexual or questioning accordance to guidance issued by the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC). The UK’s equality regulator is advising organisations including schools, health care and youth groups to create pilot schemes to monitor the sexuality of young people. The watchdog is keen to ensure that LGB young people are not told that their sexuality is a “phase” that will pass. Although the children involved in the study will be informed of the nature of the survey, parental consent for them to take part will not necessarily be required. The proposals are included in a paper published by the EHRC, ‘Researching and monitoring adolescence and sexual orientation: Asking the right questions, at the right time’, authored by Dr Elizabeth McDermott of the University of York. The paper argues that “evidence suggests that young people can experience disadvantage due to their sexual orientation, such as homophobic bullying, mental health issues, rejection from family and friends and increased risk of homelessness. The extent and impact of this disadvantage has not been systematically captured to date and constitutes a major evidence gap.” Dr McDermott argues that the Equality Act 2010 requires the public bodies to protect people of all ages from discrimination as a result of their sexuality. But the lack of evidence based research into the sexuality of children and young people hampers the ability for this protection to properly occur. The paper says that: “Evidence suggests that by the age of 12 young people are dealing with emerging sexual feelings and attraction to others. Through the teenage years, some young people do begin to identify their sexual orientation, and others do not, or are just unsure. Young people also begin to identify the actual/perceived sexual orientation of others and this underpins homophobic bullying. Existing studies suggest that it is practically and ethically possible to capture evidence on sexual orientation in adolescence through research and monitoring, in order to better understand disadvantage.” Young people could be asked if they can define themselves as lesbian, gay, bisexual, questioning, queer, pansexual, genderqueer, a sexual, pan-romantic or trisexual. The EHRC argues that while it is generally good practice to obtain parental consent for children to be part of research studies, this may not be practical in the case of this piece of research. The body argues that as many young people are unlikely to be out to their parents, it may be problematic to obtain consent. Graham Stuart, Conservative chairman of the education select committee told the Sunday Times that the plans for the survey are “invasive, sinister and threatening.” He added: “School should be a place of safety, not a place where they are picked over for the purposes of some quango; and many children won’t understand what they are talking about.” However, reducing homophobic bullying is a key education policy commitment of the coalition government. The EHRC argues that reducing incidents of homophobic bullying within schools may be hard to achieve without credible research into the sexuality of young people.

Personally I feel that 11 yrs old is a little too young to be dealing with sexual issues, maybe certain eduction options, or information.

Key note: In Germany, sex education is compulsory for pupils aged eight upwards, and opting-out on religious or cultural grounds is not allowed. While some parents deem it is right, others say such classes should be abandoned.

UK: I'm from the Church of 'Lesbian'...

2011-03-25T22:19:00.003+13:00

"Lesbian" becoming a religion in Census campaign

25/03/2011 PinkNEWS
A campaign is growing in the UK calling for people to list their religion as "lesbian" in the Census to protest the lack of a question on sexual orientation.

Lesbian broadcaster Amy Lamé and Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill are backing the move, with Summerskill saying, “The census is designed to ‘help allocate public spending fairly' and gay people contribute more than £40 billion a year to the cost public services. Our deliberate exclusion by the civil servants responsible is gratuitously offensive.”

The online campaign calls on everyone, including men and straight people, to say they are lesbian to “send a message” to census organisers when they fill out the forms on Sunday.

In 2009, the Equality and Human Rights Commission asked government ministers to include a question in the 2011 census on sexual orientation but the idea was ruled out.

Such a question was also shot down for New Zealand's now-postponed Census, with Statistics New Zealand looking at other ways to gather information such as a standalone survey.

US: God Hates Fags church to protest at Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral

2011-03-24T23:54:00.005+13:00

...An all new low reached by the Westbro (Cult) Church

24/03/2011 PinkNEWS
The Westboro Baptist Church, home of the ‘Gods Hate Fags’ fundamentalist movement, is to protest at the funeral of Elizabeth Taylor, who died on Wednesday.

The group, which is more accustomed to picketing the funerals of US service personnel killed abroad, blames the ills of the United States on the country’s decision to decriminalise homosexuality.

Now the church says it will picket Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral because of her association with the struggle for LGBT rights.

One tweet from Margie Phelps, daughter of the church’s leader Fred Phelps, said: “She [Taylor] was a proud whore! Now she’s in Hell Version Final.#WBC will picket funeral!”

Another said: “Her whoredoms enabled filthy fags! She now answers for her gr8 sin in hell! #WBC will picket funeral!” While a third said: “No peace for whore who taught proud sin! Too late for her to repent! #Westboro will picket funeral.”

Earlier this month, the Supreme Court, with a majority of eight to one, ruled that the church should be allowed to picket funerals by relying on their First Amendment rights to free speech.

The tweets were sent by one of the daughters of Mr Phelps. Earlier this month, the son of Fred Phelps claimed that his father beat his family until they bled. Nate Phelps, who has been estranged from his family for more than 30 years, is writing a book about his experiences growing up in the Kansas church.

Elizabeth Taylor has died aged 79, her publicist has confirmed.

The London-born gay icon died of heart failure at the Cedars-Sinai Medical Center in Los Angeles early this morning surrounded by her family.

She had been suffering from a congestive heart problem since 2004 and had endured years of poor health.

Taylor, who was known as one of the most beautiful women in the world during her prime, was married eight times to seven husbands.

eYe-CandY - MIX (G-Rated)

2011-03-24T09:56:00.002+13:00

US: California new rules for condoms in adult films

2011-03-23T22:56:00.003+13:00

California to create new rules for condoms in adult films
23/03/2011 PinkNEWS
Health and safety officials in California are drafting new rules on the use of condoms in adult films.

Officials for California’s Department of Industrial Relations, Division of Occupational Safety and Health (Cal/OSHA) met last week and it was announced that new safety amendments to the state’s Bloodborne Pathogens Statute are being drafted.

The new rules would strengthen workplace safety requirements, although the wording of the proposed amendments has not yet been released. They are expected to be presented at a Cal/OSHA advisory meeting in June.

In October, 24-year-old porn actor Derrick Burts contracted HIV after working on gay and straight adult film sets. He has since called for condoms to be made compulsory across the industry.

The straight porn industry currently requires performers to be tested regularly and checks them against a database called AIM but this is not a requirement in gay porn.

Condoms are normally used but there is still a market for bareback films.

According to the AIDS Healthcare Foundation, Los Angeles public health statistics say that workers in the adult film industry are ten times more likely to be infected with a sexually transmitted disease than the general public.

Up to 25 cases of HIV are said to have been found in adult film actors since 2004.

Michael Weinstein, president of AIDS Healthcare Foundation, commented: “This is the first time the public has heard of Cal/OSHA’s plans to draft and introduce what [we see] are much-needed safety amendments to California’s Bloodborne Pathogens Statute in order to better protect workers and performers in the adult film industry.

“As a global HIV and STD medical care provider, we’ve seen it as our duty to pursue action on this issue of safety in the workplace.”

Being gay under Gaddafi

2011-03-23T22:40:00.002+13:00

Libya: Gay live in Libya under Gaddafi
23/03/2011 GayNZ
As popular uprisings sweep the Middle East, what is the situation of LGBT Libyans?

In Libya, lesbian and gay sex are both illegal. Under Section 407.4 of the Libyan Constitution, both can be punished by five years imprisonment. There seem to be no established Libyan LGBT organisations, and any expatriates able to do so depart for Britain, Spain, the Netherlands, France or the United States.

As with so many other aspects of Libyan life, tyrant Muammar Gaddafi is seemingly out of touch with reality insofar as HIV/AIDS is concerned. In 2003, he stated that he believed that it was 'impossible' to contact it through unprotected heterosexual vaginal sex. In 1999, five Bulgarian nurses and a Palestinian doctor were accused of infecting 426 Libyan children with HIV and sentenced to death in 2004. However, they were pardoned and then deported in 2007 due to international pressure on the regime.

As for general human rights, the situation is equally dire. The regime is universally deplored for its absence of independent media, independent trade unions, freedom of association and assembly, widespread surveillance of opponents, and continued arbitrary arrest, detention and execution of political prisoners and regime opponents. Ethnic and tribal communities face routine land confiscations and experience habitual institutional racism.

How did this ghastly situation arise? The (Turkish-ruled) Ottoman Empire ruled Libya from the sixteenth to early twentieth centuries, although the weakness of that great power gave its rulers considerable autonomy if they remained in the metropolitan coastal areas. Habitual anarchy and even piracy prevailed in the rest of the countryside. From 1911, Italy ruled that section of North Africa, dividing it into administrative regions, until Britain occupied it in 1943. It governed under mandate until 1951, whereupon anti-fascist King Idris assumed power within a constitutional monarchy after the nation won independence and was accountable to a democratic assembly. In 1959, oil reserves transformed the situation. Throughout the sixties, there was growing internal resentment at King Idris' wealth.

In September 1969, headed by Captain Muammar Gaddafi and other junior officers, a republican military coup unseated Idris, and Libya's brief democratic interlude ended. Independent trade unions and political parties were banned, and Gaddafi began to operate a bizarre cult of personality comparable to that of China's Mao Tse-Tung, Iraq's Saddam Hussein and North Korea's Kim Jong-Il. Due to OPEC price rises, Libyans experienced a growing standard of living during the seventies and eighties. In terms of foreign relations, Libya has fought short-lived wars with Egypt and Chad, and assisted murderous adjacent tyrants like Bokassa (the Central African Republic), Idi Ami (Uganda) and Haile Mengistu (Ethiopia). Indeed, Zimbabwe's tyrannical ruler, Robert Mugabe, has sent the Zimbabwe National Army to provide assistance to this faltering regime.

It had considerably chillier relations with Britain and the United States. In 1980, the Thatcher administration broke off diplomatic relations after Libyan covert operatives opened fire on anti-Gaddafi dissidents outside the London Libyan Embassy, killing WPC Yvonne Fletcher. During the eighties, the regime was said to have armed and funded the IRA, German Red Army Faction and Italy's Red Brigades in retaliation for perceived assistance to expatriate anti-Gadaffi dissidents. Following the firebombing of a Berlin nightclub, the Reagan administration bombed Tripoli and Benghazi in 1986. In 1988, Libyan covert operatives were implicated in the terrorist attack on Pan Am Flight 108 over Lockerbie in Scotland.

Opportunism led Gadaffi to relinquish the responsible parties to the west in 2003. During the last decade, Gadaffi has positioned himself as a western ally against al Qaeda. In 2003, the Bush administration normalised relations, overlooking the regimes dire human rights and civil liberties record.

On February 15 2011, simmering antagonisms related to the Abu Salim political prisoner massacre (1996) led to a popular uprising. Police and renegade military units have defected to the insurgents, who now control much of Eastern, Northeastern and Northwestern Libya despite brutal reprisals from Gadaffi's mercenaries, elite army units and the Libyan Air Force. The United States, UN Security Council and International Criminal Court have condemned what appears to be a disintegrating regime. However, it would be foolish to write off the Libyan dictator yet, no matter how embattled his forces currently are.

Recommended:

Dirk Vandewalle: The History of Modern Libya: Cambridge: Cambridge University Press: 2006.

Dirk Vandewalle: Libya Since 1969: Qaddafi's Revolution Revisited: New York: Palgrave: 2008.

UK: Daniel Radcliffe to be honoured

2011-03-22T20:17:00.002+13:00

Daniel Radcliffe to be honoured for gay rights work

22/03/2011 PinkNEWS
Daniel Radcliffe is to be honoured by LGBT helpline the Trevor Project for his support.

The Harry Potter actor, 21, will receive the helpline’s ‘hero’ award for raising awareness of its work.
He has filmed public service announcements for the Trevor Project and given the charity sizable donations.

Radcliffe told AP: “It’s fantastic. The fact that they think of what I’ve done by promoting awareness of the Trevor Project itself and the issues that it works to promote and help is a great honour.

“The people that are doing the heroic things are the people answering phones 24 hours a day in the Trevor call centres. I think that out of everything that I’ve done so far in my career, I think this is absolutely one of the most important, if not the most important, thing that I’m associated with.”

The star will receive the award at a ceremony in June. Past recipients include screenwriter Dustin Lance Black and former Miss America and Ugly Betty actress Vanessa Williams.

Radcliffe, who is straight, has brushed off rumours about his sexuality, saying he doesn’t mind what people think.

Son of anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps claims he abused family

2011-03-22T20:10:00.003+13:00

US: Son of anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps claims he abused family

22/03/2011 PinkNEWS
(I just have to share this article, show's I'm not bias)
The son of Fred Phelps, the pastor of Westboro Baptist Church, has claimed that his father beat his family until they bled.

Nate Phelps, who has been estranged from his family for more than 30 years, is writing a book about his experiences growing up in the Kansas church.

The church believes that soldier deaths abroad are caused by God as a punishment for America’s tolerance of homosexuality. It regularly pickets soldiers’ funerals with placards declaring ‘God hates fags’.

Speaking to HLN’s Issues with Jane Velez-Mitchell, Phelps, who is the family’s seventh son of 13 children, claimed his father abused his children and wife.

He said: “He used his fists. He used his knees and he used … the handle of a mattock [a pick-like digging tool]. He used that in such a way that it split the skin on the back of the kid’s legs so they bled.”

“If they want to call that discipline, that’s fine. But I call it abuse,” Phelps said. He also said that Fred Phelps beat his wife, although not with the mattock.

His sister, Westboro spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper, refuted the claims as “lies”.

She said: “Nothing he can say will change the fact that God hates [homosexuals] and their enablers and therefore God hates America and America is doomed.”

Phelps, who responded that his sister was lying, added: “My father can make any connection to anything that anyone has done or hasn’t done in their life and point to that to say that that’s evidence they’re damned and going to hell.

“He’s convinced that homosexuality is the ultimate sin against God.”

Petition to remove iPhone "Gay Cure"

2011-03-18T23:44:00.004+13:00

A petition has been started to ban a ‘gay cure’ group’s iPhone app.

Christian group Exodus International claims that people can find “freedom from homosexuality” through prayer and practises conversion therapy.

Its iPhone app, which is free and available in the iTunes store, is “designed to be a useful resource for men, women, parents, students, and ministry leaders”.

It has received a 4+ rating from Apple, meaning it is deemed to have no objectionable content.

More than 6,500 people have signed a Change.org petition to call on Apple to remove it.

The campaign, started by Truth Wins Out, says: “Exodus’ message is hateful and bigoted.

Petition Click here

‘Biggest ever gay men’s health survey’ to be launched

2011-03-18T23:40:00.002+13:00

Stonewall to launch ‘biggest ever gay men’s health survey’

Gay rights charity Stonewall has launched a survey into gay and bisexual men’s health.

The organisation says the study will be the largest of its kind in Britain and will cover mental health, diet, fitness, long-term health conditions and illnesses like heart disease and cancer.

Respondents will also be asked about their experiences of visiting doctors and hospitals.

Stonewall chief executive Ben Summerskill said: “We know quite a lot about the sexual health of gay and bisexual men, but very, very little is known about their wider health needs. This is an opportunity for gay men to have their say, contributing to the biggest ever health survey of its kind.”

In 2008, the charity published a study into the health needs of lesbian and bisexual women, Prescription for Change, which surveyed over 6,000 women.

It found that thousands of lesbians were being denied smear tests for cervical cancer, despite requesting them.

Click here to fill to take part in the survey.

eYe-CaNdY

2011-03-17T00:58:00.006+13:00

Just plain cute guys... well not so plain...

Health: 1 in 5 unaware that HIV transmitted through unprotected Sex

2011-03-16T02:06:00.004+13:00

One in five unaware that HIV can be passed though unprotected gay sex

16/3/2011 PinkNews
A survey suggests that one in five people do not know that HIV can be passed on through unprotected gay sex.

The poll of 1,944 people, by the National AIDS Trust, also found that the same number did not realise that unsafe heterosexual sex could lead to transmission of the virus.

African and Caribbean people were least likely to know that unprotected gay sex was a route of transmission – 49 per cent compared with 20 per cent overall.

This is the fourth year that the charity has published the annual survey ’HIV: Public Knowledge and Attitudes’.

Researchers said it was particularly concerning that more people now wrongly believe that HIV can be caught through kissing (nine per cent) and spitting (ten per cent). These figures have doubled from 2007′s survey from four per cent and five per cent respectively.

Less than half of the public (45 per cent ) believe HIV can be passed from person to person by sharing needles or syringes. Only 30 per cent were able to correctly identify all the ways HIV can and cannot be passed on.

Sixty-seven per cent of people said they had sympathy for those with HIV and 74 per cent believed they should have the same level of support and respect as people with cancer.

Eleven per cent had no sympathy, rising to 30 per cent towards those infected with HIV through unprotected sex.

Almost half of people (47 per cent) thought that there are no effective ways of preventing a pregnant mother with HIV from passing HIV on to her baby.

Evidence shows that the right treatment gives an HIV-positive mother a 99 per cent chance of having a healthy baby.

Deborah Jack, the chief executive of National AIDS Trust, said: “It is certainly positive to see the majority of the public have supportive attitudes towards people with HIV, but there are still huge gaps in awareness of what it means to live with HIV in the UK today.

“It is extremely important that inroads are made in terms of educating the general public so we can eradicate the prejudice which still exists around HIV. In addition to improving knowledge of HIV, intensive work also needs to go into tackling the often deep-seated judgments and beliefs held about HIV and the people affected.

“The government made a concerted and effective effort to tackle this stigma in mental health, and now it is time for HIV to be addressed in the same way.”

Malaysia: Hunt for gay Facebook casanovain

2011-03-16T02:00:00.003+13:00

Facebook gay casanova con artist being hunted in Malaysia

16/3/2011 Pink News
A gay casonova in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, is believed to have conned nearly 200 young men of money and valuables after having sex with them following Facebook hookups.

The man is known only as ‘Alvin’ is understood to be HIV positive and has potentially infected a number of his victims.

193 young men in the city have told police that they were conned by ‘Alvin’ who stole money, laptops, wallets, credit cards and other valuables.

The incidents have come to light after one victim posted a photograph of the man onto Facebook and other victims recognised him.

Some of the victims claimed that they fell in love with him before he stole from them.

One who identified himself as ‘Lee’ told the The Star newspaper in Malaysia that he fell in love with the man, who stayed at his house for three days before stealing around £1000 of belongings including a laptop as well as his credit cards.

Another, ‘Kor’ said that the man: “said he loved me and wanted me to be his boyfriend,” before stealing his wallet. “‘I want him to be stopped before he harms more people.”

US: bill introduced to protect LGBT students

2011-03-16T01:51:00.004+13:00

US bill introduced to protect LGBT students

16/3/2011 Pink News
A bill was introduced in both the US House and Senate yesterday to protect LGBT students from discrimination, including harassment “based on actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity” in public elementary and secondary schools.

The Student Non-Discrimination Act (SNDA), introduced by Sen Al Franken and Rep Jared Polis, would help put an end to the abuse of LGBT students in American public schools by extending federal civil rights laws to cover sexual orientation.

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is strongly supporting the bill and is calling for “swift action” from both chambers.

A school in Texas recently banned all extracurricular clubs in a bid to stop a gay-straight alliance forming to encourage understanding between students.

“The Student Non-Discrimination Act would have a profound impact in improving the lives of LGBT students in our schools,” said Ian Thompson of the ACLU.

“As a country, we must do a better job of protecting LGBT students and ensuring their right to an education free of intolerance and harassment.

“So many LGBT students face daily discrimination and, too often, violence in our schools. It’s time to make a positive difference in their lives. The House and Senate should make passage of this bill a priority.”

LGBT campaigners say that recent suicides of young gay students from across the country demonstrate the need for the bill that would protect students struggling with their sexuality.

Thirteen-year-old Seth Walsh was one of those students. He had endured years of homophobic bullying at school before he hanged himself in September, dying nine days later.

He left a note expressing love for his family and friends, and anger at the school for bringing them “this sorrow.”

Seth’s mother, Wendy Walsh, and close friends report that teachers and school administrators were aware that Seth was being harassed and, in some cases, participated in the harassment, but brushed aside her complaints.

“Seth was a wonderful, loving child, and I loved him for who he was. I can’t bring my son back. But schools can make a difference today by taking bullying seriously when students and parents tell them about it. It’s time for change. We have to create better schools for everyone,” said Ms Walsh.

Ms Walsh attended the White House Conference on Bullying Prevention on Wednesday and spoke in support of the SNDA at its introduction.

While federal laws currently protect students on the basis of their race, colour, sex, religion, disability or national origin, no federal statute explicitly protects students on the basis of actual or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity.

The SNDA legislation would not only deal with discrimination when it occurs, but also help prevent it from occurring in the first place, supporters say.

HumOuR

2011-03-15T00:28:00.001+13:00

NZ sees high number of gay/bisexual HIV diagnoses

2011-03-09T01:40:00.000+13:00

New Zealand sees high number of gay/bisexual HIV diagnoses

9/03/2011 PinkNEWS
New Zealand has seen an alarming number of gay and bisexual men diagnosed with HIV last year.

According to the AIDS Epidemiology Group at the University of Otago, 90 of the 149 new infections diagnosed last year were found in men who have sex with men.

HIV campaigners said that rates of the disease in gay and bisexual men were the worst they had ever been, surpassing even the 1980s.

The last highest rate was in 2008, when 93 gay or bisexual men were diagnosed with HIV.

Of this year’s total 149 infections, the source of 23 has not been confirmed but more than half are thought to have been transmitted through gay sex, which would make 2010 the worst year on record for gay/bisexual infection rates.

New Zealand Aids Foundation director Shaun Robinson said he had grave concerns for the safety of gay and bisexual men.

He said: “This epidemic has never been worse in New Zealand for gay and bisexual men.

“In addition to the 90 gay and bisexual men that we know about, there are another 15 men for whom the method of HIV transmission is unknown. It’s highly likely that most of them will be gay or bisexual men, which means that this will be the worst year on record.

“Not even in the early days of AIDS in the 1980s were rates of infection for gay and bisexual men this bad in New Zealand.”

He called for more HIV testing to catch the disease early.

“These men may have had HIV and been sexually active for a long time before they were diagnosed which means they missed out on treatment and were also likely to be more infectious.

“This situation could have been avoided by regular HIV testing.”

An estimated 1,800 people – most of them gay or bisexual men – are thought to be living with HIV in New Zealand.

eYe-CaNdY - Special

2011-03-09T00:54:00.003+13:00

Guys With Pets

eYe-CaNdY

2011-03-09T00:51:00.002+13:00

‘Someone will get shot’ - God hates Fags

2011-03-08T00:07:00.004+13:00

‘Someone will get shot’
warns father whose son’s funeral was picketed by God Hates Fags church

The father who fought the God Hates Fags church all the way to the US supreme court after his son’s funeral was picketed has said that someone will get shot if the church resumes its action.

Earlier this week, by a majority of eight to one, the supreme court ruled that the church has the right to picket the funerals of US soldiers killed abroad by relying on their First Amendment rights to free speech. The group target dead soldiers because they claim that army casualties are a punishment from God for homosexuality being legal in the United States.

“Something is going to happen,” Albert Snyder, father of Matthew Snyder, a Marine lance corporal killed in Iraq whose funeral was picketed told CNN yesterday. “Somebody is going to get hurt.”

He added:”You have too many soldiers and Marines coming back with post-traumatic stress syndrome, and they [the God Hates Fags protesters are going to go to the wrong funeral and the guns are going to go off.”

“And when it does, I just hope it doesn’t hit the mother that’s burying her child or the little girl that’s burying her father or mother. It’s inevitable.” He added that the judgement lacked “common sense”.

The church believes that God is punishing America for tolerating homosexuality by killing soldiers in conflict abroad.

Matthew Snyder’s father was originally awarded compensation of $11m following the church’s picket. This was reduced to $5m, before the award was annulled altogether because of the church’s constitutional right to voice its conviction.

The tactics employed by the organisation were described by their detractors as “psychological terrorism”.
While numerous organisations have condemned the church’s messages, many have been forced to recommend that their rights are upheld for fear of creating a precedent at odds with the concepts of freedom of expression.

Sarah Palin slams US Supreme Court decision on ‘God Hates Fags’ church

Hours after the ruling, Ms Palin, who is reportedly considering running for president, Tweeted: “Common sense & decency absent as wacko ‘church’ allowed hate msgs spewed@ soldiers’ funerals but we can’t invoke God’s name in public square”.

Yesterday, the court voted 8-1 in favor of the church, based in Topeka, Kansas, which has demonstrated at thousands of military funerals across the US, declaring that the deceased are examples of God punishing America for the country’s tolerance of LGBT people.

Justice Samuel Alito was the sole dissenter in the case of free speech versus privacy rights. He argued the First Amendment did not protect Americans indulging “vicious verbal attacks that make no contribution to public debate” during “a time of intense emotional sensitivity.”

The majority of the court ruled that the protests, while insensitive, are protected under the Constitution.

Ms Palin was quickly criticised for her apparent about-face on the issue, given her history on gay rights and her fierce defence of the First Amendment, which she invoked last year after David Letterman had make fun of her and her daughter on his show. She said: “Letterman certainly has the right to ‘joke’ about whatever he wants to, and thankfully we have the right to express our reaction.”

Also following the decision, members of Westboro pledged to “quadruple” their presence at military funerals. Albert Snyder, who sued the church after they protested at his son’s funeral told the New York Daily News: “Nobody’s going to sit here and tell me that this is what our forefathers meant by free speech.

“[If] they’d have done this to soldiers back during our forefathers’ time, they probably would have been lined up and shot for treason.”

Texas school bans all clubs

2011-03-07T23:57:00.002+13:00

Texas school bans all clubs to prevent gay-straight alliance being formed

7/3/2011 PINK NEWS
A school in Texas has banned all extra-curricular clubs in a move to block a student’s request to form a Gay-Straight Alliance that would bring together straight and LGBT students. The group would provide support and promote understanding between students.

In a 2009 survey by the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Network, 1 in 9 American LGBT students reported experiencing harassment at school, proving a need for GSAs in schools to help combat bullying and prejudice.

The principal of Flour Bluff High School, James Crenshaw, denied the request to found the GSA by student Nikki Peet, 17, in November, despite her fulfilling all the requirements to start a student club.

With no other reasons left to prevent the GSA from forming, Flour Bluff has now banned all extra-curricular clubs, asking existing clubs to meet off campus for the time being. The Flour Bluff Independent School District has backed the decision of the high school.

“I am shocked and disappointed that my school district would rather punish students by eliminating extracurricular clubs than allow the formation of a club whose entire purpose is to promote tolerance,” said Ms Peet. “It’s going to bring a lot of hate and animosity to the school because now people are going to be like [sic], the people who are for the GSA, they’re the ones who stopped the other clubs. So we’re kind of being blamed for it.”

Activists say the decision is in contravention of the federal Equal Access Act 1984, which requires schools to offer fair opportunities for students to form their own extra-curricular groups without discrimination, which the school has done until now. Christine Sun, senior counsel with the national American Civil Liberties Union’s (ACLU) LGBT and AIDS Project said: “Officials from Flour Bluff School District deny they are subject to federal law, but in fact, they are held to the same standard as other schools and must treat extra-curricular groups equally, regardless of their students’ religion, political affiliation or sexual orientation.”

Superintendent of the Flour Bluff Independent School District, Dr Julie Carbajal claims the school is exempt from the Equal Access Act 1984 thanks to a district approved policy forbidding student clubs meeting on campus if they are not tied to the curriculum.

NEWS: Gay outings on Indian TV

2011-02-28T00:53:00.003+13:00

Indian TV report outs gay men

24 February 2011
Several gay men have been outed by a TV news report in an Indian city.

Channel TV9 Telugu, which is broadcast in Hyderabad, carried out a ‘sting’ on gay internet dating profiles.

The programme, Gay Culture Rampant In Hyderabad, saw a reporter logging on to gay website planetromeo.com.

Users were labelled ‘deviants and their names and photos were clearly shown.

Extremely personal information about one man – including his penis size and preferred sexual position – was revealed by the programme.

The reporter also telephoned two men from the site to ask intimate questions about their sex lives and where they live and work.

The covertly-recorded conservations were broadcast with images of the men taken from their online profiles.

Footage was also secretly recorded inside a gay club.

According to an English translation of the script, programme-makers said that students and white-collar employees were becoming “slaves to [a] lifestyle which is against the natural way”.

NDTV reported that one young man attempted suicide after his parents saw him on the programme.

Gay campaigners and bloggers in India have condemned TV9 and called on gay people to complain to the channel.

An open letter to the channel from gay rights activist Aditya Bondyopadhyay accuses producers of “hunting down” gay people for the “titillation” of viewers. It added that this was a “clear case of entrapment”.

The letter asks for a public apology and warns that legal action may be taken.

eYe CaNdY

2011-02-28T00:44:00.002+13:00

NZ Quake Update

2011-02-24T00:51:00.003+13:00

Police say more than 100 people may have been lost in Christchurch's quake-ravaged Canterbury TV building, which they say is "unsurvivable".

The confirmed death toll from yesterday's devastating magnitude 6.3 quake stands at 75, with 300 reported missing.

But police expect the death toll to climb and it will do so appreciably if the estimates about those missing in the CTV building are correct.

Fifteen CTV staff and a number of Japanese students from a foreign language school that operated in the building are believed to be among those in the rubble.

Canterbury police district commander Superintendent Dave Cliff gave the estimates of between 80 and more than 100 for those missing in the CTV building, soon after a colleague said that rescue work at the site had been halted by safety concerns. Inspector Dave Lawry said he was "100 percent sure" there were no survivors in the building.

CTV chairman Nick Smith told NZPA the television channel had 24-25 fulltime staff.

NZ Earth Quake

2011-02-23T04:11:00.009+13:00

Spare a thought for the many effected here in NZ by the 6.3 earth quake on Tuesday at 12:51pm (NZ time).

The TV station I once worked at is now raised to the ground.

_______________

Before and after

Entertainment: Justin Bieber: On being gay and abortion

2011-02-22T01:23:00.002+13:00

Justin Bieber: being gay is a decision and abortion is wrong

Fresh from winning a Brit award, teenage pop sensation Justin Bieber has suggested that homosexuality is a choice and that abortion is wrong even when pregnancy is caused by rape.

In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine, he appeared to label homosexuality as a choice rather than something that is uncontrollable.

He also spoke out against abortion even when pregnancy is caused by rape, saying “everything happens for a reason.”

The interview for next month’s Rolling Stone magazine has been distributed via blogs.

When asked what his views on homosexuality are, Bieber responded: “It’s everyone’s own decision to do that. It doesn’t affect me and shouldn’t affect anyone else.”

It is not clear whether he intended to label homosexuality as a lifestyle choice.

Bieber’s position stands in contrast with that of Lady Gaga who last year said: “there are some people in this world that believe being gay is a choice. It’s not a choice, we’re born this way.” Her single ‘Born This Way’ has been described as the new gay anthem by Sir Elton John.

In his interview with Rolling Stone magazine, Bieber went on to say “I think you should just wait for the person you’re … in love with,” when asked about abstinence.

Despite his strong Christian background he did not argue against pre-martial sex.

“I really don’t believe in abortion,” he told the magazine “I think [an embryo] is a human. It’s like killing a baby.”

He added that while it is “really sad” for a woman to become pregnant after being raped, he claimed that “everything happens for a reason.”

“I don’t know how that would be a reason,” he added. “I guess I haven’t been in that position, so I wouldn’t be able to judge that.”

NEWS: Civil union added to Facebook

2011-02-22T01:12:00.002+13:00

Facebook adds ‘civil union’ status to profiles

22/02/2011 PINK NEWS
Gay and lesbian Facebook users can now state whether they are in a civil union or domestic partnership on their profile pages.

Groups had been set up to call for the change and the new options are being rolled out in the US, UK and several other countries today.

“This has been a highly requested feature from users,” Facebook communications manager Andrew Noyes said.

“We want to provide options for people to genuinely and authentically reflect their relationships on Facebook.”

LGBT rights groups said the move would help inclusion of gay couples.

Michael Cole-Schwartz, spokesperson for the Human Rights Campaign, said: “As LGBT people face a patchwork of relationship recognition laws, this gives people more tools to adequately describe their relationship.

“Facebook has been a company that has tried to be inclusive of the LGBT community and this just one sign of it.”

GLAAD said: “Today, Facebook sent a clear message in support of gay and lesbian couples to users across the globe.

“By acknowledging the relationships of countless loving and committed same-sex couples in the US and abroad, Facebook has set a new standard of inclusion for social media.”

The changes were developed with the help of gay groups such as GLAAD and the Human Rights Campaign and are available to users in the US, UK, Canada, France and Australia.

Civil unions have been law in New Zealand for about 4 years.

NEWS: Tax credits for straight marrieds only

2011-02-13T13:01:00.003+13:00

NZ: Ex-MP wants credits for straight marrieds only

GayNZ 13/01/11
A former MP who is now the President of political minnow the Kiwi Party says the Government's income splitting tax credits legislation should be restricted to heterosexual married couples.

Gordon Copeland's made a submission on legislation currently before select committee hearings that would allow couples to split their income for tax purposes allowing them to pay less tax.

Newstalk ZB reports he said it should be limited to married couples only because it takes a man and a woman to raise children.

He reportedly said the tax splitting needs to have material evidence and that's best done via a marriage certificate.

Copeland is a former United Future MP who ditched the party in 2007 over leader Peter Dunne's support of the so-called "anti-smacking" legislation. After a failed attempt to create a political party with the Destiny Church's political wing, he eventually helped form the Kiwi Party in 2008.

He stood in the Rongotai electorate, where he received just 515 votes, while the Kiwi Party did not cross the five per cent threshold to enter Parliament.

Copeland is socially conservative and is strongly opposed to same-sex marriage and civil unions. In 2005 he introduced his colleague Larry Baldock's Marriage Amendment (Gender Clarification) Bill, which failed to win support. The bill sought to define marriage in New Zealand as heterosexual.
- Ed: These guys never get very far in NZ, Show ponies I think is the word.

FCK BULLIES by FCKH8.com

2011-02-13T00:52:00.001+13:00

Well worth watching (Not that I condem Kids swearing)...

Too many Cooking shows on TV

2011-02-12T00:33:00.002+13:00

But if some of the chefs looked like this
I'd be happy to watch...

LUCKY BARSTARD

2011-02-12T00:28:00.001+13:00

Next time you think your job sucks...

QwA: Do you remember the first time you masturbated...?

2011-02-11T01:00:00.002+13:00

Question: Do you remember the first time you masturbated, and if so, what was it like?

Answers:

The first time I masturbated was 2 years ago (i'm 13) and it was fantastic
Age: 13 Location: MO Sexuality: Bi

I was 12 and waiting for the tub to fill and I just started playing with myself a bit and then all of the sudden I came all over the floor. From that point on I started masturbating 4-5 times a day
Age: 30 Location: Ottawa, Canada Sexuality: Straight

It was kind of scary at first, wasnt really sure what was happening and it was with a friend.I remembering quiting and doing it in private later just to see if it would happen again. And every since then almost a daily routine.
Age: 36 Location: Nebraska Sexuality: Bi

I was thirteen years old and I was stroking my erection with soap in the bathroom while looking at a Victoria's Secret catalogue. I didn't know that I was masturbating, to me it just felt good. I also didn't know what an ejaculation was. I kept stroking and stroking until suddenly I ejaculated all over the magazine. I remember my knees gave and I fell over because the sensation was so powerful and unexpected.
Age: 16 Location: USA Sexuality: Bi

It was the best orgasm I have ever experienced, my whole body went hot and I groan as warm cum dribbled out my penis.
Age: 15 Location: Australia Sexuality: Straight

15, I think, I just watched porn and i do exactly what they did
Age: 17 Location: MS Sexuality: Unsure

I was 13 or 14, and i had researched Masterbation days before hand, i had tried with vaseline before hand, but that didn't do anything for me, then one night i decided to have another go, using my hand and no lubrication. This time i ejaculated and it felt incredible. I've masterbated many times since and very few times have i gained that amazing feeling.
Age: 19 Location: England Sexuality: Straight

Yes, I 12 and at boarding school. My dorm mate and I both had throat infections and were in the same room in the sick bay (rooms away from the rest of the dorms). He would have a tossing 10 minutes every night, but I was not sure what to do. As we were both ill and in the same room together all day I plucked up the courage to ask him how to do it. He explained graphically and then we both had a wank at the same time. It felt great, but I did have some friction issues that I later solved using spit as a lube.
Age: 37 Location: Scotland Sexuality: Straight

Yes, when I was 12. Oh, how haphazard I was...those were the days. It seems when one lacks experience, there is a lot more to play for: it's the reason I'm always open to try new things since that "new experience" feeling is fantastic!
Age: 18 Location: UK Sexuality: Gay

I remember just playing with myself when I was 13 not knowing anything would happen then all the sudden white stuff shot out of my penis and I was shocked. I quickly cleaned up and didn't say anything to anyone. It felt amazing!
Age: 24 Location: SD Sexuality: Gay

And the winner is... Authur

2011-02-11T00:22:00.012+13:00

Sorry its back to front... last first, first last...

NEWS: Seven-year-old donates to Gay centre

2011-02-09T23:37:00.004+13:00

Seven-year-old donates to LA gay centre because he thinks inequality is unfair
9/02/2011 PinkNEWS
A seven-year-old has donated $140 to the Los Angeles Gay and Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation (HRC) because he doesn’t think it’s right for gay people not to be treated equally.

The child, Malcolm, was given $140 by his parents to donate to the charity of his choice. He chose to split the money between the gay centre and the HRC.

The cheque was accompanied by a hand written note that read: “I am sending you this money because I don’t think it’s fair that Gay people are not treated equally.”

A note from the boy’s mother said: “To teach the importance of improving the world around him, Malcolm was given $140 to give away to the charity of his choice. After hearing a story on the radio about the mistreatment of gays and lesbians, Malcolm became both upset and curious about the issue…to help, he chose to split his money between the L.A. Gay & Lesbian Center and the Human Rights Campaign Foundation.”

GUY VOTE

2011-02-03T01:12:00.002+13:00

Arther - Guy One

Danek - Guy Two

Vote for the guy you want to see
(complete set waitting...)
Voting on the left hand bar.

New Kids on the block singer confirms he’s gay

2011-02-02T02:05:00.005+13:00

New Kids star Jonathan Knight confirms he’s gay
PinkNEWS 01/02/2011

New Kids on the Block star Jonathan Knight has confirmed he is gay.

He appeared to have been outed by 90s popstar Tiffany last week but said he had “never been outed by anyone but myself”.

Tiffany revealed on a late night TV show that she had once dated “the quiet one, the shy one” in New Kids on the Block, then added, “He became gay later.”

She was criticised for speaking on his behalf, but Knight said: “I have never been outed by anyone but myself! I did so almost twenty years ago.”

Writing on the band’s members-only section of their website, he added: “I never knew that I would have to do it all over again publicly just because I reunited with New Kids On The Block!

“I have lived my life very openly and have never hidden the fact that I’m gay,” he said.

He said he did not want to use his sexual orientation for publicity.

The band is to begin a joint tour with the Backstreet Boys this summer.

eYe-CaNdY

2011-01-30T18:38:00.003+13:00

Weekender

In the NEWS: ‘God hates fags’ church furious at film about anti-gay murderer

2011-01-28T00:35:00.002+13:00

‘God hates fags’ church furious at film about anti-gay murderer
28/01/11 PINK News
The anti-gay Westboro Baptist Church picketed the Sundance Film Festival yesterday over a film about a homophobic preacher who begins murdering people he thinks are gay.

The church, best-known for its slogan of ‘God hates fags’, took issue with film Red State for “mocking God”.

Red State, directed by Kevin Smith, satirises the anti-gay movement.

Westboro Baptist Church members travelled to Park City, Utah, to protest the film’s premiere.

They were met with a counter protest of mainly students, some of whom held signs bearing message such as “God hates signs”.

Another, in reference to church spokeswoman Shirley Phelps-Roper, said: “Shirley you can’t be serious”.

Mr Smith was photographed holding signs made by his supporters and carried some of the placards into the theatre with him.

World In the NEWS: Ugandan gay rights activist beaten to death

2011-01-28T00:14:00.001+13:00

Ugandan gay rights activist beaten to death

28/01/11 - PINK News
A Ugandan gay rights campaigner who sued a newspaper for publishing the names and photos of gay people has been beaten to death.

David Kato’s death is being investigated by police and activists say he was attacked in his home near Kampala yesterday afternoon.

His name, photograph and address were published by the tabloid newspaper Rolling Stone last year and he is said to have received death threats.

Mr Kato, along with a few others, complained to a judge about Rolling Stone’s anti-gay campaign and the newspaper was ordered to cease outing gays and lesbians.

Sexual Minorities Uganda called him a “dear friend, colleague, teacher, family member and human rights defender”.

Frank Mugisha, of the group, said: “No form of intimidation will stop our cause. The death of David will only be honored when the struggle for justice and equality is won. David is gone and many of us will follow, but the struggle will be won. David wanted to see a Uganda where all people will be treated equally despite their sexual orientation.”

The Human Rights Campaign has called for a full investigation into his death.

Homosexuality is illegal in Uganda and an MP introduced a bill last year to punish “aggravated” cases with the death penalty.

Giles Muhame, the editor of Rolling Stone, told Reuters he condemned the murder but still wanted the government to hang gay people.

He said: “If he has been murdered, that’s bad and we pray for his soul.

“There has been a lot of crime, it may not be because he is gay. We want the government to hang people who promote homosexuality, not for the public to attack them. We said they should be hanged, not stoned or attacked.”

News of Mr Kato’s death came as a Ugandan lesbian being held in Yarl’s Wood detention centre said she would be killed if sent home.

Brenda Namigadde is expected to be deported today. Her asylum claim was rejected partly because it was judged that there was not enough evidence to show she is gay.

She told the Guardian: “I’ll be tortured or killed if I’m sent back to Uganda. They’ve put people like me to death there. Most of my friends in Uganda have disappeared.”

Its a Gaylife

Blog tip...

Short Film: STAND UP

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Boyfriend Jerkoff!

eYe-CaNdY | Mini-series

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eYe-CaNdY II

eYe-CaNdY

NEWS: Murdered gay teen ‘exposed himself to killer’

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Gay and bi teens more likely to binge drink

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Had a guts full of Blogger

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For the young guys that visit here...

In the Headlines

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EyE-cAnDy

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eYe-CaNdY - mini-set -

Gay Austrailian soldiers outed on Facebook

UK: Gay man attacked at London cruising spot

3.8 per cent of Americans are gay, bi or transgender

eYe-CaNdY "like the view"

UK: Gay socialite attacked in central London

UK: Police release image of man wanted for anti-gay stickers

Article: A little Gay pornography history

eYe-CaNdY ~~Random~~

UK: Parents of ‘Gay rumours’ suicide boys urge youths to seek help

New York: Young gay man brutally beaten at McDonald’s

Smooth... eYe-CaNdY

UK: 11yr olds could be quizzed on their sexuality

UK: I'm from the Church of 'Lesbian'...

US: God Hates Fags church to protest at Elizabeth Taylor’s funeral

eYe-CandY - MIX (G-Rated)

US: California new rules for condoms in adult films

Being gay under Gaddafi

UK: Daniel Radcliffe to be honoured

Son of anti-gay pastor Fred Phelps claims he abused family

Petition to remove iPhone "Gay Cure"

‘Biggest ever gay men’s health survey’ to be launched

eYe-CaNdY

Health: 1 in 5 unaware that HIV transmitted through unprotected Sex

Malaysia: Hunt for gay Facebook casanovain

US: bill introduced to protect LGBT students

HumOuR

NZ sees high number of gay/bisexual HIV diagnoses

eYe-CaNdY - Special

eYe-CaNdY

‘Someone will get shot’ - God hates Fags

Texas school bans all clubs

NEWS: Gay outings on Indian TV

eYe CaNdY

NZ Quake Update

NZ Earth Quake

Entertainment: Justin Bieber: On being gay and abortion

NEWS: Civil union added to Facebook

eYe-CaNdY Random