[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/gaytory.jpg[/img2]A Tory-affiliated gay group has been officially launched at Manchester Pride.

LGBTory had a stall during the bank holiday festivities, while members marched in the parade to showcase the new rainbow Tory logo and the slogan 'Conservative and Proud'.

Matthew Sephton, the chairman of LGBTory, said: "The weekend was a tremendous success. We had an excellent team in the parade and had loads of fun doing it.We were flying the flag for the modern Conservatives and for the LGBT community and had lots of attention from the many thousands of people who lined the parade route through the city.

"On our stall, we had a great deal of interest in both LGBTory and the Conservatives generally. People were positive about us being there and were very happy to see us. As a group we are looking forward to working with all LGBT groups and other Conservative groups to continue the change needed to stamp out homophobia at all levels of society, once and for all."

The launch of the group follows news that a gay event is to be held at the party's annual conference next month.

Conference Pride will be held at Spirit Bar in the heart of Manchester's gay village on Tuesday October 6th.

Guests will include shadow equalities minister Theresa May, Conservative Party vice chair Margot James, shadow environment secretary Nick Herbert, chief executive of Stonewall Ben Summerskill and political blogger Iain Dale.

I will be there with my two gay cousins and a troupe of "performance artists"
I would invite every gay American to be there too.


What the National Equality March Is About

This isn't about one small legislative item or one Congress person's vote. It's about the culture shift - the new demand for equality that sees us as entitled to all of our rights instead of weakly asking for them.
This is about the interweave between our community and immigrants; some of us have partners currently caught in the bi-national trap.
This is about how we treat people of color, women, the disabled, and the ill - both inside and outside of our own LGBT community.
This is about workers and not just queer ones; we all have the same employers and how has corporate America treated you lately?
This is about police brutality, crimes meant to scare whole communities, and racial, ethnic, and gender identity profiling and stereotyping.
This is about taking our place at the table instead of fighting for scraps. This is about bringing us all up to the same place instead of narrowly advancing one small agenda at the cost of another.
I'm marching because my rights are bigger than a march. I'm marching because I want to see equality across America and not just for me. I want to see women, people of color, immigrants, workers, the LGBT community, and everyone else stand up and say, "Enough."
The wild conspiracy theories, breathless reporting and baseless accusations don't empower us. It's time we lifted ourselves out of the muck of "That's mine. This is yours.", and realized that to win true equality across America we have to step outside our usual boundaries.
No, this march isn't about Prop 8. It's not about ENDA. It's not about hate crimes, DADT, or Maine's marriage fight.
It's about all of that and then some. It's about saying, "I'm entitled to all of these rights. I'm not asking you to give them to me. I'm demanding them. I'm a human too and I'm just as worthy as you are."


-Bill Browning

The Bilerico Project | Daily experiments in LGBTQ

Read this.


BBC NEWS | Wales | South West Wales | Blind man arrested over protest

I am really angry at this. The Police are obviouslys setting up some sort of special task force as the guy got 50 feet from his house and was arrested. Guys serioulsy thats the fastest call out in history, the Guiness world record guys should add it. Am i just angry or is this pathetic. They did nothing to help him against the many law breaking motorists who have put him in harms way but when he says hes gonna brake the law they had him in the station within 5 mins!!

"Dyfed-Powys Police said the force had held a crackdown on illegal parking in Narberth last month" - Oh so you couldnt do anything about it now as you were looking into illegaly made jam donughts, or the entire force was on leave, no seriously WTF??




"A spokesperson added: "It is unfortunate Mr Duckfield decided to take matters into his own hands on this occasion."" -Well you obv were not going to do anything you lazy arsed police chief.



RANT OVER

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/edwestwick.jpg[/img2]The upcoming series of teen drama Gossip Girl will see one of the male leads lock lips in a gay kiss.

The third series is currently in production in New York, and sources have revealed that Ed Westwick, who plays Chuck Bass, will have an encounter with a new gay character, university student Josh Ellis, played by Neal Bledose.

Gossip Girl has proved popular with gay fans on both sides of the Atlantic.

In 2008 Westwick's decision to share an apartment with co-star Chace Crawford led to rumours about their relationship.

Gossip blogs Perez Hilton and Queerty dot com claimed they had been contacted by reporters at NY Daily News and The New York Post claiming to have proof the heartthrobs were a couple.

Crawford's publicist has issued a statement to Us Weekly confirming that he is "100 percent straight."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/tedkennedy.jpg[/img2]America's leading LGBT rights organisation has paid fulsome tribute to Senator Ted Kennedy, who died yesterday aged 77.

"The nation has lost its greatest champion and strongest voice for justice, fairness, and compassion," said Human Rights Campaign President Joe Solmonese.

"The loss to our community is immeasurable."

"There was no greater hero for advocates of LGBT equality than Senator Ted Kennedy."

"From the early days of the AIDS epidemic, to our current struggle for marriage equality he has been our protector, our leader, our friend."

"He has been the core of the unfinished quest for civil rights in this country and there is now a very painful void."

"Our hearts go out to the Kennedy family."

Senator Kennedy was the last of one of the most famous sets of brothers in US history.

Two were assassinated: President John F Kennedy in 1963 and former Attorney-General and Presidential candidate Bobby Kennedy in 1968. His oldest brother Joe was killed in action in World War Two.

Edward Kennedy had represented Massachusetts in the US Senate since 1962 and was a strong supporter of gay rights, most recently he had been calling for an end to the ban on gays in the military.

He also introduced legislation to expand federal hate crime laws to include crimes where the victims were targeted on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, gender, and disability.

Senator Kennedy, who ran for President in 1980, is also remembered for his unrelenting fight for funding into AIDS research, at a time when conservatives were painting it as a "gay plague."

Gay & Lesbian Victory Fund, a group that works to increase the number of LGBT people in elected office, mourned his death.

"Good men serve others but great men take care to serve the least fortunate," Victory Fund President and CEO Chuck Wolfe said.

"Senator Kennedy was a great man."

"He made a career of fighting for the poor, for women, for racial minorities, and for basic human rights for LGBT Americans."

"Senator Kennedy’s life was marked by generosity and a legendary tenacity that earned him the respect of his colleagues and the affection of the public he served."

"But he will always occupy a special place in the hearts of LGBT Americans, who saw in him a fierce champion for their full equality."

The first opportunity for the Anchorage Assembly to override Mayor Dan Sullivan’s veto of an ordinance banning discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation went by Tuesday night without action. Sullivan vetoed the anti-discrimination ordinance a week ago. Under city law, the Assembly has 21 days from that time to consider an override. The measure would guarantee equal rights in employment, housing, finance and public accommodations for gays, lesbians and transgender people.

We were having a debate on respecting other people's opinions.

I am sure mayor Sullivan's point of view harms no one, right?

Should we just respect his opinion and right to think as he chooses?

Not sure if anyone has shown this..but a video of Gaga with something odd down there.. Watch around 55 seconds... What do you thing?

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/rabbi.jpg[/img2]A Jewish initiative may see gay men marrying women to have children while continuing relationships with their male partners.

It was introduced by Rabbi Menachem Burstein, head of the prestigious Orthodox Puah Institute, at a conference titled 'Parenthood at any cost?'.

Rabbi Burstein said he has been approached by a number of gay Jewish men who want to have children but also want to keep within halachic law, which is Jewish religious law.

The idea would involve a gay man marrying a woman with both parties aware the union would be solely to produce children. The man would continue his relationship with his male partner, although it would have to be non-sexual. The man would also have to receive counselling about his homosexuality from religious psychologists.

According to TheJC.com, Rabbi Burstein said: "I explained to them that one thing I, or any other rabbi, could never do was to alter the prohibition on mishkav zachar [penetrative sex between men], as it is from the Torah. When they accepted that, and clarified that they wanted a solution within halachah, we could go forward."

He added: "Although this is certainly not an ideal marriage, if both sides are prepared, then it does not really matter if they conceive through artificial insemination or relations that are aimed solely at conception."

Rabbi Burstein said that although having desires for other men was not a sin, acting on them is.

"There is nothing wrong with two men having a close relationship without intimate relations and we should not penalise people who are not attracted to members of the other sex," he said.

"Of course we believe it is a problem and that the solution should be therapy, but there are always going to be a certain number of religious homosexuals who have tried and failed to change. What about them?" A number of senior rabbis are consulting on the issue and the next step is to discuss what the effect of such an arrangement might have on children born within it.

Despite its limitations, the move has been heralded as revolutionary, as it is a recognition from that Orthodox establishment in Israel that homosexuality does exist.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/hudsonchihuaha.jpg[/img2]A Chihuahua with pink earrings was allegedly stolen from a south Florida gay bar by a man with 'Britney Spears' tattooed on his arm or neck.

The theft was reported by owner Brian Dortort, 48, who says he has spent weeks trying to track down his beloved pooch, called Hudson Hayward Hemingway.

Dortort told the Sun-Sentinel he had let another man briefly hold the dog at a birthday party held at gay bar Georgie's Alibi on July 28th. He said the man disappeared with the dog when he briefly turned his back.

Hudson, who is four months old, is described as light-cream colored with a pink belly, pink ears and pink earrings.

Wilton Manors police say they have identified a suspect but have not been able to track him down.

Dortort said the thief was around five feet ten inches tall, weighed around 160 pounds, had short brown hair and a tattoo of Britney Spears' name.

The twins, named Valentino and Matteo, were born through a surrogate mother last August.

The pictures show the Latino heartthrob juggling a child in each arm as they relax on the beach in Miami.


Happy family: Ricky Martin on the beach in Miami with his twin sons Matteo (left) and Valentino, who were born through a surrogate a year ago

The 37-year-old looked to be taking fatherhood in his stride as he lay on the sand with the adorable toddlers.

He says the boys have very distinctive personalities: 'Valentino loves to sleep. I call him 'Mr. Peace and Love' because he's so chill and serene. Matteo is more alert and active.'

Martin, whose decision to become a father via surrogate has heightened rumours over his sexuality, claims he cares for the boys single-handedly.

He says: 'I don't have a nanny. I'm doing this on my own because I don't want to miss a moment. I'm the one who changes the diapers, the one that feeds them, the one that bathes them, the one that puts them to sleep.'


Baby love: Martin looks at ease as relaxes with his sons

The Twitter post also shows him shortly after the birth giving one of the babies their first bath.

Constantly questioned about his sexual orientation, Martin has not been in a relationship since splitting from Mexican television presenter Rebecca de Alba in 2005.

Since then, he has remained resolutely single.

In June this year he told Hispanic magazine TV Agui that his 'heart could belong to a woman or a man.'

In another interview on the subject, he is quoted as saying: 'I am a modern man, live a full life, do not feel any barriers inside myself.'

Since the birth, Martin has sold his Miami home in order to raise his sons in his native Puerto Rico.

After becoming a father he announced he was taking a career break, but is since rumoured to be working on a bilingual album due out next year.