I can't remember ever having been so relieved to see the Conservative Party win a seat in a bye-election. It's not that I wouldn't have preferred a different party to have won, but my relief is due solely to the British National Party coming last. They mounted an ugly and intimidating support campaign in online forums and I spent more time than I wanted to just trying to get some kind of balance in the discussions I saw over the past few days. One of them even had the gall to misquote Martin Niemoller's poem by starting it with the line "When they came for the BNP I remained silent ..." Serious, serious, serious lack of judgement there, boys.

Had they won, I don't suppose we'd have seen them at Norwich Pride this weekend ... just imagine

:mad:

Nothing to do with anything much, but I've just seen the news that John Ryan has died in hospital at the age of 88.

John was the creator of the Captain Pugwash stories and television animations of my childhood. I had the great privilege of working alongside him several times, particularly during the 1980s/1990s and he was a lovely man, a real gentleman, and I am the proud owner of a sketch he once did for me of his famous pirate character.

Some people may have heard of the sexually suggestive spoof characters that somehow found their way into public consciousness. These were apparently invented by musician/entertainer Richard Digence and perpetuated by The Guardian until a court injunction and a libel case sorted it out. I know that John was very upset that everyone thought that he had created such smutty innuendo. To have done so would have been utterly out of character.

Anyway, for years of reading pleasure for generations of younger and older people ... cheers, John. Suffering seagulls!

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/bible.jpg[/img2]A number of fundamentalist Christian churches in Britain are thought to be performing 'exorcisms' on gays and lesbians to cure them of homosexuality.

In June, a video of a 16-year-old boy in America being "exorcised" of gay demons appeared on the internet. It provoked calls for a police investigation.

However, the practice is also happening in Britain.

According to the Metro, a Pentecostal church in north-west London offers the controversial 'cure'. It is one of hundreds of fundamentalist churches in the UK.

Rev John Ogbe-Ogbeide, who runs the United Pentecostal Ministry in Harrow, said he carried out exorcisms on gays four or five times a year and that the procedure always worked.

He said: "The evil spirits are telling you what's wrong is right, the opposite sex is not attractive."

He cited a recent case where he exorcised a young man who was about to get married but was in love with a man.

Rev Ogbe-Ogbeide added that the procedure could be carried out at any age, as demons could take hold of a person at any time.

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell has called for protest against the practice and a thorough police investigation.

He said: "The exorcism rituals involve the casting out of alleged demons and witches that supposedly possess a gay person's soul and turn them away from heterosexuality.

"There are claims that gay teenagers and young adults are being subjected to exorcisms at the insistence of their parents and pastors, in an attempt to rid them of same-sex attraction.

"The exorcisms can include traumatic emotional scenes where the victims are surrounded by a group of church elders who scream at them to drive out the evil spirits and who sometimes shake their bodies.

"When this is done to youngsters under 18, it is a form of child abuse and the police should intervene to stop it.

"Some gay adults have been pressured into exorcisms by their family members or faith communities. Other victims are people with learning difficulties or mental health problems. They have been preyed upon when they are in a vulnerable state and are not capable of giving fully informed consent."

Tatchell called for gays and lesbians to write to Rev Ogbe-Ogbeide and their local MP to complain.

A Metropolitan Police Service spokesman said that police would consider investigating the church if complaints were received.

Peterson Toscano, a gay rights activist who spent 17 years in ex-gay therapy, has been subjected to three exorcisms.

He said, "The premise of these was that foreign demonic forces infiltrated my body and manipulated me so that I could not turn from being gay."

"I felt desperate for a cure especially after trying so hard to change through other means. I could not comprehend why I was still gay especially after all the promises."

"In one case in New York, " he said, "the exorcist and her team yelled and screamed at me in English and in 'tongues' for over an hour touching me all over my body, jabbing me in my gut, getting close into my face, peering deeply into my eyes in hopes of provoking these evil spirits. It got so loud and out of control that a neighbour called the police who, when they came, broke it up.

"This is a form of religious abuse and spiritual violence. I found the experienced traumatised me."

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/queeny.jpg[/img2]Buckingham Palace has ordered a copy of Bruno, the 18-certificate film about a gay Austrian journalist.

According to the Sun, Universal Studios received an email request from the palace this week asking for a copy of the controversial movie to show at a private screening at Balmoral.

As the Queen and Prince Phillip are to be the next guests at the retreat, it is thought they will be viewing the film, which shows graphic nudity and a cage fighting scene that leads to gay sex.

Bruno has been banned in Ukraine after the government feared it would "damage the moral upbringing" of citizens.

It has also come under fire from US gay groups, who claim the depiction of the gay journalist is homophobic.

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/ruperteverett.jpg[/img2]Family, friends, A-listers across the globe and millions of fans are still mourning Michael Jackson's death but actor Rupert Everett, for one, is not.

The star of St Trinian's and My Best Friend's Wedding became the first celebrity to break the taboo on criticising the late singer, whom he described as a 'freak'.

‘I think it was fortuitous that he died,’ he said.

‘He was supposed to be doing 50 concerts in London. It wouldn’t have mattered how good or bad he was.

Speaking ill of the dead: Rupert Everett says it was good job Michael Jackson the 'freak' died before his concert dates in London

‘He wouldn’t have managed to do all of them and the press would have destroyed him.’

Everett, who also provided the voice of Prince Charming in the Shrek sequels, compared Jackson to a character in the animated films.

He also claimed it was the 2005 sex abuse charges – which Jackson was cleared of – which killed the singer.

‘He was a freak. He looked like a character from Shrek. He was a black to white minstrel,’ Everett told the Daily Mirror.

‘He was crucified by that court case when he was accused of child molestation – that killed him.

‘He personified the pain and anxiety of a black man in a slave country. We all watched as he changed from black to white. He was living performance art.’


Sombre tribute: Friends, family and fans turned out for Michael Jackson's memorial earlier this month

Jackson’s death, which came just weeks before the former King of Pop was due to begin a 50-date residency at London’s O2 arena, is still shrouded in mystery.

The singer, who died aged 50, suffered a heart attack at his rented California mansion on June 25 and was pronounced dead when he arrived at hospital.

He is understood to have been addicted to a cocktail of prescription drugs, but the results of toxicology tests on his body have not yet been released.

Everett predicts that Jackson’s death could spell the end of modern day celebrity.

‘You cannot divide the music from the person,’ he said.

‘I think his life – and death – is a great lesson. I think we are going to see the end of celebrity as we know it. Showbusiness is not an honest profession.’

The 50-year-old actor likened the extremities of today’s fame to the debauched Versailles court of Marie Antoinette, which sparked the French Revolution.

‘It’s like the last days of Versailles,’ he said. ‘I do wonder how much more bullsh*t people can take about celebrities.’

He added: ‘We’re living in very strange times. We have Michael Jackson, a black man who has gone white, and we have President Barack Obama, who is a half white man gone black. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch.’

But Everett, who is openly gay, confessed that he could understand the attraction people had to Jackson in his heyday.

‘I would have leapt at the chance of sleeping with Michael Jackson when I was 14,’ he joked.

Everett is known for his outspoken nature and controversial remarks.

He has openly spoken about how he worked as a rent boy, to fund his drugs habit, when he was at stage school in London.

He also admitted sending some of his pubic hair to a woman who criticised one of his stage performances.

The actor is set to star in Channel 4’s two-part documentary, The Scandalous Adventures Of Lord Byron, which starts next week.

My mum loves all the old Ray Harryhausen films like Sinbad, Clash of the Titans, Jason and The Argonauts etc.

The old Sinbad movie was on TV last time I visited her. Just out of curiousity she asked about the main actor (Kerwin Mathews) so I looked him up on Wikipedia... he was also in Jack The Giant Killer and The Three Worlds of Gulliver!



He is dead now but it turned out he was gay and had a partner for 46 years!

Two other old time actors that were secretly gay were Cary Grant and James Dean. Guess it was hard for them in the old days when things were so old fashioned. It was said to be common knowledge amongst Hollywood insiders but kept all hush hush.


Must have seemed so scary back in 1958!

Okay I am referring to the ones from 2008 or earlier...

As people are obsessed with opening old old threads (GRRRR).. I read replies often given by myself... and I kinda think woah who is that :eek:

I sounded well weird and like... I don't think im like that now :eek:

So yes if you read my old posts DO NOT JUDGE ME ON IT.

Thank you

I don't know quite what to make of this. If we believe the campaign it sounds like Bryce Faulkner, a 23 year old man living at home with his parents in Arkansas, was presented with an ultimatum on coming out to his religious family. His car and mobile phone were apparently confiscated and he was told he could either leave the family home or go into "treatment". It seems that he freely entered an Exodus International treatment centre and looks like he will be spending about 14 months isolated from anyone his parents don't wish him to see. On the other hand the parents claim that he begged them to help him ...

Bryce's boyfriend, Travis Swanson, has enlisted support to mount a campaign to secure Bryce's release from the clutches of the ex-gay people. Some of the imagery and rhetoric used in the campaign seems horribly tacky, but who knows what is really going on? I was contacted through a campaign group on FaceBook about this.

What do you think is happening here?

Hmm one of my all time faves....





And the great Gene Kellys dancing....

[img2=left]http://www.gayspeak.com/forum/images/news/brunoholdingoj.jpg[/img2]Ukraine is planning to ban the film Bruno because is likely to offend conservative and religious opionion, reports suggest.

The film, about a gay Austrian journalist, features full-frontal nudity and sexual acts, although another version has been edited down in order to win a 15-certificate. It will become the first film in Britain to show two versions concurrently.

According to Ukraine reports, the country's culture and tourism ministry will prevent it from going on general release next week.

The ministry has not yet explained the decision, but it is thought that the subject of the film will cause offence.

A Ukrainian diplomat told The Guardian: "Ukrainian society is a conservative one. The topic is not discussed, but in reality public attitudes are exactly the same as in Russia.

"The west of Ukraine, especially, is very conservative on family issues. They are devoted Catholics, and Greek Catholics."

Since 1991 Ukraine, formerly part of the Soviet Union, has had an equal age of consent and homosexuality was decriminalised at that time.

However, there are no specific protections for LGBT minorities, and the deeply socially conservative country is generally dominated by the Orthodox church.

MPs from the governing party have said that the "propaganda and expansion of homosexuality in the country form a threat to national security, contradict national interests and undermine the authority of rights and freedoms of human being and family."

The Ukranian parliament's Committee on the Issues of Freedom of Speech has also attacked the "increasing propaganda" about gay and lesbian issues.