Now before you strug this off as American, do you remember the case of a gay teenager Michael Causer in Liverpool (a city close to were I live)? He got murdered on his way home.

Homophobia is alive in every country of the world, and we should not forget it.

Related links:
http://news.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-11283.html
International Day Against Homophobia (IDAHO)
Matthew Shepard Foundation
Stonewall
Peter Tatchell

With love,

Antony

Adam Lambert is gay and the words in his song are indeed raunchy, so shouldn’t his act be? See the video of his performance below:

(Edit: Unfortunately the video’s been removed on youtube, but I’ve found it here: http://littleglitterlittleglam.blogspot.com/2009/11/adam-lambert-ama-performance-video-for.html have a loook. I don’t know why people are trying to supress it by claiming copyright.)

I quite like the song, actually. And my rebelious side loves the act and the gay kiss. Time to grow up American audience, we are now in the 21st centry. Would the same reaction of occured if Rihanna did a hetrosexual version of the song and performance? He comments on this performance:

So I’ve decided that I like Adam Lambert, especially with his boundary pushing. What do you think? Leave a comment.

Antony

Who I loved…
1. Jamie Archer – Loved the Jacket, his afro and his overall style. Liked the rock music, made a change for the X Factor. Like soft rock.

2. Danyl Johnson – Initally I thought it was going to be a load of crap on the VT with all the judges saying it was a womans song. But he pulled it off and very well indeed including the high notes at the end.

Mini rant about Danni Minogue’s comment….
I was pissed off with Danni Minogue who made a comment about not needing to change the gender in the words, implying that he was gay. He apparently (according to A Cheryl Cole fansite and AC) he’s come out as bisexual in one of the National Papers. Regardless of what his sexuality is, why all the questions about it? You know at one time (remember Will Young on PopIdol?) no one thought to ask about anyone’s sexuality. And to make an apparent “outing” comment about it by Danni Minogue has really annoyed me. What right as she to out anyone? Nobody should feel they have the right to out anyone else. I guess hetrosexuals don’t care about outing anyone in this hetrosexual world. Rant over, on to who I liked.

Who I liked…
3. Olly Mers – smart, shaven, sexy and superve singer.

4. Lloyed Daniels – He has a lovely smile, boyband blonde hair and had a fantastic voice. He is bound to do well and he is a heart throb who will be loved by teen girls.

5. Joe McElderry – Not sure about the song choice, but good voice and looked good (had really nice hair).

6. Lucie Jones – A beautiful and talented young woman.

Who was interesting…
7. John and Edward – I liked their entrance on to the stage. I also liked the “prep school boy” look. But not the best singing, there was even a point were one of them moved the mic away from his mouth before he’d finished singing.

Bland…
Thought the rest were very bland. Nothing really stood out about them. Just my opinion.

Blog TV-square-eyed soon,

Antony

Then about a week ago, I received an email stating I had comments on the video. I logged on and saw:

It was a reminder that homophobia still exsists in this hertrosexual world.

How would this person react if they met me face to face? Would they hide their homophobia or be verbally and physically abusive? I guess for them it would depend on the setting. I would react in the same way regardless of the setting, I would challenge their homophobia providing it was safe to do so.

My response to him: Yeah, I’m gay, and?

If I were him I would be concerned as to why he was on a video authored by a gay man? Perhaps some internalised homophobia towards himself?

Get a life! I shall be challenging this through Youtube. Not so much for me, but for any gay person that has ever experienced homophobia. If it’s not challenged, it will only continue.

Let you know how I get on with Youtube,

Antony x

As a gay man living in these times he was convicted of homosexuality in the hetrosexual world he lived in. He had a choice to under go chemical castration or go to prision. He choose to under go the chemical castration and later commited suicide.

Looking back now he is seen as a brilliant and intellegant man. Think what he could have achieved in his life, if he hadn’t cut it short as a result of british law at the time.

Gordon Brown according to Pink News apologised for his treatment after a petition signed by over thirty thousand people. There has been some debate on Gordon Brown’s apology amoungst the gay community. Peter Tatchell said to Pink News:

Peter Tatchell called the apology “welcome and commendable” but said an apology was also due to the estimated 100,000 British men convicted of similar offences.

He said: “Singling out Turing just because he is famous is wrong. Unlike Turing, many thousands of ordinary gay and bisexual men were never given the option of hormone treatment. They were sent to prison.

“All these men were criminalised for behaviour that was not a crime between heterosexual men and women.”
(Pink News, last accessed: 12th September 09)

However Zefrog said:

And this brings the next question, that of the worth of an apology. This is not a new debate. It is a particularly heated one, for example, in the black community around the issue of slavery, where it is complicated by the question of financial reparations.

An apology is, of course, a potent symbol…
(Zefrog, Last accessed: 12th September 09)

My opinion is that Gordon Brown could of better used his time and political influence to change the laws against homosexuality that still exist in the world. There are still places in the world were gay men (and sometimes lesbian women) are hung, shot or killed in some other way because of their sexuality. Because they have relationships and or sex with the same sex. You only need to look this world map below (provided by Wikipedia) to see how far spread homophobia still is in terms of governments laws against it.

(Click on the map for full size readable version)

Blog politically again soon,

Antony x

I do think a lot of the gay community have forgot what it used to be like to be gay and what pride is suppose to be about. 10 Years ago there were no gay people in the media and we had significantly less rights. Less rights included Section 28 being law, sexual consent age 18 and no rights to marry (no society recognition of our relationships therefore meaning no legal recognition of our relationships). We also had label of HIV being a gay disease and lost many of our friends to this hidden disease.

And as if this wasn’t enough there was a lack of tolerence and respect for diversity. It was a hetrosexual world with many gay, lesbian and bisexual people experiencing homophobia and sometimes even hate crimes. We often felt isolated and those who were brave enough to come out of their closet were often made homeless. There was one gay pub now on Manchester’s highly populated gay village (the New Union), it required a secret knock to gain entry and was regularly raided by the police.

We have come along way, but are still fighting for true equality and to change some people’s values. Some people still believe it’s a “choice” and that according to their religion or moral values it’s “wrong” or “unnatural” (god I hate that phrase – homosexuality has been seen in almost every animal species, so how can it be unnatural?). There are even people who turn their views in to physical violence towards homosexuals.

Yes pride is a celebration of how far we’ve come (and gays know how to throw a party!), but we must not forget that we still have to keep the aim of true equality.

Take Care,

Antony x

It was good to see more gay people in this hetrosexual world on the programme too. It shows the culture is changing. Believe it or not at one time there just weren’t gay people on the tele. Some were good and some were bad, not unlike our straight counter parts.

I also realised that Manchester has talent! Well mostly but we got quite a few yeses. I’d like the winner to be from Manchester.

Finally there was a feel-good end with Daniel, a teacher 27 years old. He seemed to be a born performer and also had nice deep brown eyes. Simon Cowell called him a “great performer,” My god Simon, have you had a personality transplant?

I want to use this opportunity to say I also quite like the new JSL song:

Write sooner than you think,

Antony

Mask: Found in a box
Smile: Style Smile (see Teeth)
T-Shirt: Made with the help of a machinist named Anne
Hot Pant Shorts: Made using the machinist named Anne’s pants as a template
Socks: Topman

I don’t think he is, I am sure when I went seeing him (see Russell Howard, Campness & Heating) he said he had a girl friend. But I did find this funny clip of him talking about teaching about gay relationships to children:

Very funny. He makes a good point though, kids don’t care about who you have relationships with. Why is it so important when we become adults?

Write soon,

Antony

Amazon
You can buy: Russell Howard – Live Collection (2 Live Performance DVD’s)

I was walking towards the entrance were a tall, slim guy stood smoking. He had spider long legs and long blonde hair held back with a hair band. He was wearing light blue jeans, a camp blue vest and prada sun glasses covered his eyes.

He entered the chippy before I did and continued a conversation with the owner and his rough-looking friend. As he spoke I noticed that he had a London accent. He talked with the owner about fashion and music. His friend (the rough-looking one) asked the owner for his last name. I managed to gather that the owner had lived and had family in London. The rough-looking guy asked to borrow camp guy’s phone in order to call someone down in London to see if they knew of the chip shop owner.

I overheard camp guy saying to the chip shop owner “We are going to be followed by Living TV. It should be on in June.”.

I was smiling, happily enjoying listening to the conversation. Nice to see such a camp guy in the hetrosexual world we live in (particularly in the homophobic area I currently live in). Another of his friends came in (again rough-looking) stated that he had been ID-ed in the shop. I couldn’t help myself and became involved in the conversation saying: “You should take it as a complement, I do. I don’t get asked anymore”
To which the camp guy replied:
“Tell me about it….you get past 20 and then you never get ID-ed.”

Their food was nearly ready and mine was on it’s way. I observed that this camp guy had such confidence in his aura and charisma in his personality, almost like a celebrity. The rough-looking guy confirmed to the owner that the person on the other end of the phone knew his family.

They took their food. Camp guy looked over to the owner and said “see you later”. He made eye contact with me (or I assume he did – because I couldn’t see his eyes with his sun glasses on), touched my arm briefly and repeated the same sentance again. I replied: “Yeah, see ya.”

Once they had left (camp guy and the two rough-looking friends) I quized the owner about them. Apparently they are a band, perhaps a tribute band (not that they looked like any band I had ever seen). He said that their manager is up here and that one of the members of the band is from up here.

So there we go, what an odd experience eh?

Driving home afterwards thinking about what I had just experienced. I was impressed by his confidence and charisma (something maybe I’ve lost? But maybe will get back after I’ve moved?). His confidence to be himself in such an oppressive area and to hold his own in conversation knowledgeable and experienced on a variety of topics (or at least that’s the impression he gave).

So even though I don’t have living TV, I must check the website in June to see if it’s for real!

Write soon (probably after the up-coming move!),

Antony