Tag Archives: UK

Gay Rugby Stud Keegan Hurst Comes Out Of Retirement to Combat Homophobia.

Gay Rugby Stud Keegan Hirst Comes Out Of Retirement to Combat Homophobia.

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Keegan Hirst, who became the first British professional rugby league footballer to come out as gay in 2015, and retired in 2020 has announced he will return to the sport, joining the Batley Bulldogs to increase visibility of gay players and also to combat homophobia in the sport.

“COVID, added to my own personal circumstances, made me lost tough with some of the things I hold dearest to me – friends and rugby league, After the recent thinly-veiled homophobia over a rainbow shirt I thought: ‘How can I help with visibility and inclusion?’ By lacing up my boots, putting on a playing shirt and getting back out there, that’s how. I still have plenty of games in me and am looking forward to help Batley continue their incredible season as they ready for their playoff campaign.” – via Pink News

Thanks Keegan.

Oh and by the way it’s alright by us if you leave your “playing shirt” off.

6ft 4 and 260 lbs if you were wondering
REMINDER: COVID Is Not Over! - 12,500 Americans Died Of COVID-19 In July.

Gay Men Banned From Participating in Covid-19 Plasma Trial

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Gay and bisexual men in the UK have been told they cannot donate their plasma to a trial hoping to provide a treatment for Covid-19.

Via itv.com:

Doctors at London’s Guy’s and St Thomas’s Hospital are aiming to use the plasma from recovered coronavirus patients to treat others with the disease.

It is hoped that the possible treatment, known as convalescent plasma, will help Covid-19 patients whose bodies are not producing enough antibodies to fight the disease.

But any man who has had sex with another man within the past three months is excluded from donating their plasma, in line with the current rules for donating blood.

Those guidelines explain that “men who have sex with men are at an increased risk of acquiring certain infections through sex”, which could be passed on during a transfusion

The guidelines around donating blood are set by the Department of Health on the recommendation of the Advisory Committee on the Safety of Blood, Tissues and Organs. Under the current guidelines, men must wait three months after having oral or anal sex with another man.

A spokesperson for the upcoming COVID-19 trial stated  : “The guidelines are there to protect the health of the donor and the recipient.

Laura Russell, Director of Policy at UK Stonewall, said: “It’s really upsetting that gay and bi men who want to help in the fight against coronavirus are being prevented from doing so. The decision on whether people should be able to give blood or plasma should be based on individual risk assessments, not on people’s sexual orientation.”

NIVEA Dropped by Longtime Ad Agency After Saying ‘We don’t do gay’

NIVEA Dropped by Longtime Ad Agency After Saying ‘We don’t do gay’

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FCB, one of the world’s leading ad agencies, has dropped Nivea Skincare as its client after a 100-year long relationship after a senior employee allegedly said ‘we don’t do gay’ when shown a new ad of two men touching hands.

FCB CEO Carter Murray, said the decision came after ‘much reflection and discussion on our creative ambitions’. He added: ‘There comes a point in every longterm relationship when you reflect on what you’ve accomplished together and set your sails for where your journey will take you next. ‘Sometimes that journey ahead demands tough choices that lead down different paths.’

In the UK where FBC is located Nivea spends more than £225 million on advertising a year.

A spokesperson for Beiersdorf stressed that such behavior was not tolerated at the company.

“We wish to express our concern on the reported allegations as they do not reflect the values of Beiersdorf, Nivea and our employees worldwide. No form of discrimination, direct and indirect, is or will be tolerated. We are strongly committed to diversity, mutual respect, equal opportunity and tolerance.’



Bi-Sexual Neo-Nazi Found GUILTY In Anti-Gay Terror Plot In the UK

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Via The Guardian:

A 20-year-old man has been convicted of preparing an act of terrorism after he planned to carry out a machete attack on a gay pride event in Cumbria. Ethan Stables showed no reaction as the verdicts were returned at Leeds crown court on Monday morning and he was remanded in custody before sentencing later in the day.

Officers had received a tip-off from a member of a far-right Facebook group where Stables posted a message saying he was “going to war” and that he planned to “slaughter every single one of the gay bastards”.  After he was arrested, police found Stables had made internet searches for “how to make chemical poison”, “what is prison like for a murderer”, “I want to go on a killing spree” and “do you get haircuts in prison”.

The jury was shown a video of him burning a rainbow flag and posing next to a swastika hanging on his bedroom wall. He swapped messages with fellow extremists, blaming the fact that he was jobless on “faggots, niggers, spastics” and the Equalities Act.

Last week we reported here that Stables shocked the jury at Leeds Crown Court when he told them that he is actually bisexual and was ‘utterly ashamed’ of what he had done.

UK Pride Terror Suspect Ethan Stables Comes Out As Bisexual In Court

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Ethan Stables, the man accused of planning to attack an LGBT PRIDE event at the New Empire pub in Barrow, Cumbria,. has told a jury at Leeds Crown Court that he is actually bisexual. 

Stables made the shocking revelation after a jury saw a video of him saying ‘gays look nicer on fire’ as he burned a rainbow flag. However he said that he had previously been too scared to reveal his sexuality because his parents ‘would be disgusted’ saying he was ‘utterly ashamed’ of what he had done

Stables, denies preparing an act of terrorism and threats to kill in June last year.

Prosecutors claim the “white supremacist” had a “deep-seated hatred” of minorities, especially gay people.

The court heard Mr Stables was planning to use an axe and machete during the attack, but the plan was foiled after he told people about it on Facebook.

The court previously heard told Mr Stables was a neo-Nazi who had tried to obtain guns and the means to make an improvised explosive device.

Jurors were told he posted a series of messages in a Facebook chat group which included: “I’m going to war tonight.”

Stables was arrested on his way to a reconnaissance visit to the pub before returning to his home for the machete and axe, Mr Sandiford said.

Mr Stables claimed he had forgotten he owned a machete when writing online that he was going to kill gay people with one, the court heard.

Source: BBC

British Marine Claims He Was ‘Forced to Masturbate to Gay Porn” As Punishment

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Corporal Danny Foster

 

Corporal Danny Foster, and corporal Philip Beer,  are on trial at Portsmouth Military Court in England for ill-treatment of a subordinate after a lower ranked service member stepped forward and claimed that the two forced fellow marines to watch gay porn and masturbate in front of others as part of a bizarre punishment.

The “punishment” incidents are alleged to have happened between May and August 2014 at Faslane and Coulport naval bases in Argyll.

“You could be punished for anything starting from just leaving a pen lid on the floor up to operational things like not turning on your radio while on patrol. ‘A senior marine would stand at the front and would ask if there were any integrity shouts – which meant you would own up to a mistake you had made.” said one Marine.

According to testimony on the first occasion, there had been a map reading test which was made too hard and so a number of people failed. ‘We got lined up at the front of the room during family time and the corporals, who were at the back, were talking about what they would make us do. ‘They all laughed when Corporal Foster said we should wank to gay porn.  “I told Foster I wasn’t going to do it but he said to me ‘you fucking are’. ‘The porn was military themed porn, the men had berets on and people were watching us – we were told the last person to ejaculate would get another punishment. ‘I felt disgusted and degraded having to do it, it was massively degrading, I had no power against it; I could not say no.’

Foster denies the ill treatment of a subordinate.

 

 

 

 

England To Reduce Restrictions On Gay Men Giving Blood from 1 Year to 3 Months of Celibacy

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Great Britian To Reduce Restrictions On Gay Men Giving Blood from 1 Year to 3 Months of Celibacy

Gay men in England will be allowed to donate blood three months after having sex instead of a year, under equality reforms announced by the government yesterday.

Fears over infections being passed on through donations from gay men led to an outright ban at the height of the Aids epidemic but that was cut to 12 months in 2011. Medical advances mean the time limit will be reduced again under plans for the NHS in England.

Education Secretary Justine Greening said the government was building on the progress made on tackling prejudice in the 50 years since the partial decriminalization of homosexuality.

“This government is committed to building an inclusive society that works for everyone, no matter what their gender or sexuality and today we’re taking the next step forward,” she said. “We will build on the significant progress we have made over the past 50 years, tackling some of the historic prejudices that still persist in our laws and giving LGBT people a real say on the issues affecting them.”

In 2015 the United States changed its lifetime ban on gay men donating blood to the  1 year ban well behind that of the UK and and other parts of Europe.

ISIS Claims Responsibility For Ariana Grande Concert Bombing Attack In Manchester

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ISIS has claimed responsibility for the deadly explosion at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester, England, Monday that killed 22 people and injured 59 others.

In a statement translated from Arabic, ISIS said that a soldier of the caliphate placed explosives among a gathering of crusaders — meaning Christians — at the Manchester Arena. The statement said about 30 were killed and about 70 were wounded.

The man believed to. be the lone attacker died at the scene after using an improved explosive device, officials said, but police are still determining if the attacker acted alone or as part of a wider group, said United Kingdom Prime Minister Theresa May. Greater Manchester Police said a 23-year-old man has been arrested in South Manchester in connection with the attack  – ABC NEWS

“…[A] soldier of the caliphate placed explosives among a gathering of crusaders — meaning Christians — at the Manchester Arena.

Yes,  because gum-chewing tweens are clearly the largest enemy. Seems like the most logical and cowardly move.

Turing Law: Britain To Formally Pardon 65,000 Gay Men Convicted Over Sodomy Laws

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Turing Law: Britain To Formally Pardon 65,000 Gay Men Convicted Over Sodomy Laws

 

The Guardian reports:

Gay and bisexual men convicted of now-abolished sexual offences in England and Wales are to receive posthumous pardons, the government has announced. Thousands of living men convicted over consensual same-sex relationships will also be eligible for the pardon.

Lib Dem peer Lord Sharkey, who proposed the amendment to the Policing and Crimes Bill, said it was “momentous”. It follows the pardoning of World War Two code-breaker Alan Turing for gross indecency in 2013.

Under the amendment – dubbed “Turing law” – deceased people who were convicted of sexual acts that are no longer deemed criminal will receive an automatic pardon. Anyone living who has been convicted of such offences could already apply through the Home Office to have the offence wiped from their criminal records.

But now, if the Home Office agrees that the offence is no longer an offence under current law, they will automatically be pardoned. Justice Minister Sam Gyimah said it was “hugely important that we pardon people convicted of historical sexual offences who would be innocent of any crime today”.

Over 15,000 men convicted under the law are still living.

George Montague, who was convicted in 1974 of gross indecency with a man, welcomed the decision, but says he wants an apology, not a pardon.

“To accept a pardon means you accept that you were guilty. I was not guilty of anything. I was only guilty of being in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Britian’s Sexual Offences Act decriminalized private homosexual acts between men aged over 21 in England and Wales, in 1967.

The law was not changed in Scotland until 1980, or in Northern Ireland until 1982.

WATCH: The EXCLUSIVE Trailer For “London Road” The UK Serial Killer Musical Starring Tom Hardy – Video

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Tom Hardy in London Road

 

London Road, is an adaptation of the award-winning National Theatre production about the arrest of Steve Wright, an Ipswich man who was convicted of murdering five sex workers in 2008. Rufus Norris’s film uses the dialogue from the real townsfolk who were interviewed by author Alecky Blythe as they came to terms with the fact that a serial killer had been living in their community.  The movie  is written in verbatim style, meaning the spoken text is reproduced by the performers exactly as recorded in interviews, in this case conducted by Blythe with the residents of London Road and some of the women who worked as prostitutes there, as well as members of the media who gathered in the area to report the news. The lyrics in the musical segments are similarly derived from the interviews as recorded, with the meter, pitch and rhythm of the music following the patterns of the original recorded speech as closely as possible.

Produced by the National Theatre, BBC Films and Cuba Pictures, the movie features Tom Hardy and Olivia Colman in roles of Mark, a taxi driver and Julie, the organizer of Ipswich´s Neighborhood Watch.