Monday, September 28, 2009

Coming Out in Middle School

In their recent Schools Issue, the New York Times have a long article gathering testimonies of coming out stories at school.

Austin didn’t know what to wear to his first gay dance last spring. It was bad enough that the gangly 13-year-old from Sand Springs, Okla., had to go without his boyfriend at the time, a 14-year-old star athlete at another middle school, but there were also laundry issues. “I don’t have any clean clothes!” he complained to me by text message, his favored method of communication.
Read the full article here.

Saturday, September 26, 2009

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 26th September - 2nd October

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Graham Norton guests on the repeat of Jonathan Ross on Saturday at 1am. Demi Moore on Bio at 9am. Stephen Fry seeks out the nearest thing to a dragon in Indonesia in Last Chance to See on BBC2 at 8pm on Sunday. Christopher Biggins guests on Loose Women on ITV1 at 12.30pm Monday, and John Barrowman is there on Tuesday. Also on Tuesday, Sue Perkins joins Paul O’Grady at 5 on 4 and The Simpsons on 4 at 6 has a gay marriage in Springfield special. Ennio Morricone Special on Sky Arts 2 at 11pm.
On Wednesday Nigel Slater produces Simple Suppers on BBC1 at 7.30pm. Su Pollard on Loose Women at 12.30pm ITV1 Friday and Derren Browntells us how to beat a casino on 4 at 9pm. Ballet Boyz on Dance Sky Arts 2 at 10pm.

Ongoing
LGBT issues are often debated in The Big Questions on BBC1 at 10am Sunday. Will and Grace at 9am and Come Dine with Me every weekday at 5.30on C4, as well as Saturday at 4 and other repeatings on More4. Big Food Fight with Sue Perkins on C4 at 10pm Tuesday (repeated 8pm Friday). Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday. Paul O’Grady Show every day at 5pm on C4.

Films
Ian Mckellen as Gandalf in LOOR The Two Towers C4 7pm Saturday. Carry on up the Khyber at 3.10pm Film4. Mamma Mia on Comedy at 8pm Sunday. Jodie Foster in The Brave One at 10.10pm Drama Wednesday. Rocky Horror on Indie at 8.15pm Friday

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 26th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops. 74 and 93
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going Out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini US Hits
BBC Radio 4 - 6.07am: Ramblings. Clare Balding in north Northumberland
BBC Radio 4 - Saturday Live. Sarah Graham is intersex and explains how she found out. She is also a lesbian.
BBC Radio 4 - 12.30pm: The News Quiz. Sandi Toksvig presents. Sue Perkins guests
BBC Radio 4 - 1.10: Any Questions. Ben Bradshaw is on the panel
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Weekend Woman’s Hour
BBC Radio 4 - 5.30: the Bottom Line. Evan Davis
BBC Radio 4 - 10.15: Iconclasts. Debate on the age of consent and the subsequent criminalisation of children. Peter Tatchell features
BBC Radio 7 - 7.30pm: Daphne du Maurier – Frenchman’s Creek

Sunday 27th
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Paul O’Grady
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 11.15: Desert Island Discs. Barry Manilow
BBC Radio 4 - 12.04pm: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past
BBC Radio 7 - 7.30pm: The Frankie Howerd Show

Monday 28th
BBC Radio 2 - 11.30pm: Holloway Dreams: The Joe Meek Story. Tom Robinson presents a profile of the troubled gay sound engineer. Final part
BBC Radio 4 - 2.15: Afternoon Play: Hoffnung Drawn to Music. Bio with Matt Lucas as the eponymous etc.
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Just a Minute. Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Analysis: who’s Afraid of the BNP? Kenan Malik on how the mainstream should deal with a fascist party

Tuesday 29th
BBC Radio 2 - 10.30pm: Dick Emery: Comedy of Errors. David Walliams on the ‘comedian’ who ruined my childhood
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. With Matthew Parris. John Major on Rudyard Kipling

Thursday 1st
BBC Radio 4 - 9am and 9.30pm: In Our Time. British Museum curator Richard Parkinsontalks to Melvyn Bragg about ancient Egyptian revolutionary Akhenhaten
BBC Radio 4 - 3pm: Ramblings. Clare Balding in Northumberland
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: The Bottom Line. Evan Davies

Friday 2nd
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Desert Island Discs. Barry Manilow
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: The News Quiz. Sandi Toksvig presents. Sue Perkins guests
BBC Radio 4 - 10pm: The World Tonight. LGB people give their views on David Cameron.
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local and online

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Thursday, September 24, 2009

A Day In Hand launches same-sex hand holding Saturdays

Sshh! Saturdays will then occur on the last Saturday of every month as a way of encouraging and inspiring LGBT people to take responsibility for their equality and live their lives without fear or restraint. Everyone is invited to lock hands: gay or straight, all faiths, genders, races, abilities, single or in a relationship. Celebrities such as Brian Paddick, Boy George, Paul Burston, Michael Cashman MEP, Mayor Boris Johnson, 4 Poofs and a Piano, and activists Peter Tatchell and Cleve Jones (Harvey Milk’s aide) have already endorsed the A Day In Hand campaign

The first ever international same-sex hand holding (Sshh!) Saturday will take place on September 26th. On this day, same-sex couples and friends all over the world are encouraged to hold hands in public to support the visibility of lesbian, gay, bi, trans (LGBT) people.

The first same-sex hand holding Saturday is dedicated to the victims of the recent shootings at a Gay & Lesbian centre in Tel Aviv and those of the ongoing atrocities being committed in Iraq.

People taking part are encouraged to have their photo taken holding hands and send them to yourstories@adayinhand.com for inclusion on the Day in Hand website.

David Watkins says, “Sshh! Saturdays aim to ultimately create safer spaces for LGBT people. As the idea of Sshh! Saturdays grow in popularity and spread across the world, the last Saturday of every month will become a day of support for LGBT people who want to show their commitment in public.”

For more information, visit www.adayinhand.com

4 Poofs and a Piano recreating the Beatles famous hand-holding LP cover in Abbey Road.

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

Sun and Mail Show Transphobia is Alive and Well

The case of the child who has begun secondary school in her new gender has clearly whetted the appetites of the hacks in the right wing press who are looking for their marmalade droppers.

Schools OUT believes that forcing a child to go through puberty and adolescence when s/he is clearly unhappy in her/his body is child abuse. Furthermore, children are very receptive and understanding about sexual orientation and gender variance from primary school onwards.

Further, we believe that the pernicious influences on children’s understanding and ability to empathise comes from the wider culture, peers and, sometimes from parents themselves. And once again we would emphasise that children coming home and discussing what they have learned at school is what should be expected within a functionally successful family.

Tony Fenwick, co-chair of Schools OUT, said: “This child is under risk of being traumatised by media intrusion. The Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) will be publishing guidance for schools on transphobia this autumn and cases like this demonstrate how vital good advice is. Frankly, it won’t come a day too soon.”

The guidance should be on the DCSF website and TeacherNet soon. It is hoped that its official launch will be at the LGBT History Month 2010 Pre-Lanch at the British Museum on Thursday November 19th.

Monday, September 21, 2009

Tatchell to Open Dorian Aroyo Show at the Menier Gallery

Human rights campaigner Peter Tatchell will open gay painter Dorian Aroyo's latest portrait show at Menier Gallery in Southwark, on Tuesday 22nd September 2009 at 7pm.

The exhibition is open to the public. All welcome.

Mr Tatchell is one of the featured subjects in the exhibition, which also includes a selection from Aroyo's LGBT 'Heroes and Heroines' series of paintings:

Alan Turing, Bishop Gene Robinson, Martina Navratilova, Simeon Solomon, Radclyffe Hall, Oscar Wilde, Ian McKellen, Michel Foucault, Kenneth Williams, John Waters, Elton John, Quentin Crisp, Maggie Hambling and Justin Fashanu.

See the paintings online: www.dorianaroyo.co.uk/heroesandheroines.htm

Image: "Icon (Peter Tatchell)" by Dorian Aroyo, 2006, mixed media on canvas. 40x30cm, collection: Peter Tatchell.

Saturday, September 19, 2009

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 19th - 25th September

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Stephen Fry seeks out the aye aye in Last Chance to See on BBC2 at 8pm on Sunday. The Paul O’ Grady Show returns on C4 every weekday from 5pm, with guests Mika and Dame Edna on Monday and John Barrowman on Friday. Also onMonday, Robert Mapplethorpe is on Sky Arts 1 at 9.55pm.
Last Chance to See is repeated on BBC2 at 11.50pm Tuesday.
On Friday, Jonathan Ross has Graham Norton as a guest at 10.35pm BBC1. Jonathan Harvey scripts both editions of Corrieon ITV1 (7.30 and 8.30). Derren Brown glues us to our seats at 9pm on C4. Or rather, he did that last week.

Ongoing
Will and Grace at 9am and Come Dine with Me every weekday at 5.30 on C4, as well as Saturday at 4 and other repeatings on More4. Big Food Fight with Sue Perkins on C4 at 10pm Tuesday (repeated 8pm Friday). Ugly Betty on C4at 10pm Wednesday.

Films
Carry on Matron on BBC2 at 6pm Saturday. Rocky Horror on Indie at 11am. Rupert Everett as headmistress in St. Trinians on Comedy at 9.35pm Monday. La Vie en Rose at 2pm and 2.25am Wednesday on Indie.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 19th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops. 67 and 80
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going Out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Paul Gambaccini US Hits
BBC Radio 4 - 6.07: Ramblings. New Series with Clare Balding
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Weekend Woman’s Hour
BBC Radio 7 - 7.30pm: Daphne du Maurier – Frenchman’s Creek

Sunday 20th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Elaine Page. Guests Richard O’Brien
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Paul O’Grady
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 11.1: The Reunion. The Creation of Stonewall
BBC Radio 4 - 12.04pm: Just a Minute. Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past
BBC Radio 7 - 7.30pm: The Frankie Howerd Show

Monday 21st
BBC Radio 2 - 11.30pm: Holloway Dreams: The Joe Meek Story. Tom Robinson presents a profile of the troubled gay sound engineer
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45: Book of the Week. Elizabeth’s Women. Tracy Borman’s biography examines the role of women in the life of Elizabeth I - Repeated at 12.30am every weekday
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins

Tuesday 22nd
BBC Radio 2 - 10.30pm: The Stanley Baxter Story. Told by Eddie Izzard
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. With Matthew Parris. Paul Daniels on Harry Houdini

Wednesday 23rd
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Chain Reaction. Eddie Izzard interviews Alistair Campbell
BBC Radio 4 - 8: Iconclasts. Edward Stourton chairs a moral debate on the age of consent

Thursday 24th
BBC Radio 4 - 2.15pm: Afternoon Play: Good Evening. An affectionate look at the birth of the Beyond the Fringe team, featuring Alan Bennett as a character
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: The Bottom Line. New series presented by Evan Davies

Friday 25th
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: The Reunion. The Birth of Stonewall. Repeat from Sunday
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: The News Quiz. Wahey! Sandi Toksvig presents
BBC Radio 4 - 8: Any Questions. Minister of CMS Ben Bradshaw speaks
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local and online

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Friday, September 18, 2009

Noël Greig Dies

Noël Antony Miller Greig
25/12/44-09/09/09

The playwright, actor, director, teacher and gay activist Noël Greig has died.

Philip Osment writes:

On a stiflingly hot April day in a religious centre in Qom, Iran, an English "professor" is leading 21 mullahs through a writing process. He is visiting under the auspices of the University of Tehran where the lecturers have been working from his book Playwriting, A Practical Guide for the past two years.

They are using the occasion to forge links with liberal young clerics in the religious city and there are seven women participating - the first time females have ever been allowed into this particular building. The heat is overpowering and the teacher is thin and tired - he is in fact in the latter stages of cancer but he is determined not to let the illness define him in
the remaining weeks of his life. This is the second trip of the month - ten days before he was in Palestine helping emerging young writers to find their voices and in between the two foreign trips he found the time to direct a performance of pieces written by elderly writers in Newark and lead a workshop for playwrights in the East Midlands.

The "professor" is Noël Greig - playwright, actor, director, teacher, mentor, dramaturg, animateur and gay activist - although this latter element of his cv was certainly not to the fore in Qom.

Noël was born on Christmas Day in 1944 in Winchester. His father was a drummer and comedian in the Jan Ramsden Band which played throughout the summer on the end of the pier. He attended Skegness Grammar School and later studied history at the University of London, Kings College.

He was one of the new breed of Grammar School boys from humble homes who reaped the benefits of post-war social policies going on to become leading figures in the counter culture of the sixties. After a brief spell acting in rep he formed the Brighton Combination with friends. Conceived as a commune with a cafe, a bookshop and an experimental theatre studio which Noël singlehandedly created from a warehouse, this was one of the very first "Arts Labs". The work was artistically innovative, politically radical and broke all conventions.

At the same time, with the emergence of the Gay Liberation Front, Noël began to feel a sense of dislocation, that his work was not reflecting his true self. After the Combination moved to London in 1971 he worked for a while at the Royal Court, at Inter Action's Almost Free and in the West End where he was assistant director on Jesus Christ Superstar. But he did not feel at home in these settings. He was too much of an outsider perhaps, too much of a rebel certainly, to fit into any conventional theatre context.

To escape what he saw as an inward looking theatre scene in London he moved to Bradford to work with the General Will. It was in Bradford that he became more involved in radical gay theatre, encouraging local lesbians and gay men to produce work with the company. When he left Bradford he joined Gay Sweatshop, writing or directing many of their groundbreaking productions notably As Time Goes By (1977), The Dear Love of Comrades (1979) and Poppies (1983).

In the eighties Noel decided that if theatre was going to have any real impact on people's lives then it had to address itself to younger audiences.

Through his plays and his mentoring he became key to every new advance in playwriting for and by young people. He has been a role model and inspiration for budding writers from all over the world and in 2001 he conceived the biennial Contacting the World Festival hosted by the Contact Theatre in Manchester, bringing together young theatre artists from across the world, a process described in his book Young People, New Theatre.

Noël consistently eschewed career-driven paths in order to stay true to his belief that theatre has to have a context - that there has to be a reason for putting on a play, that the best work comes out of collective collaboration, that the audience has to emerge from the theatre - whether it is the Olivier or a room with a strip light in Brighton - feeling in some way larger. It is fitting then, that in the tributes that have been pouring in over the past few days, many have used words like "titan"and "giant" to describe him.

For the past two years he has lived in Deal returning from frequent trips abroad to cultivate the allotment in front of his home where he entertained friends sitting on rickety chairs talking of everything from the election of Obama to the most effective and ecological ways of dealing with slugs. It has been a remarkably happy and fulfilling time for him.

His death was as brave and uncompromising as his life. Until his last few days he was receiving visitors, taking a characteristic lively interest in their lives and opinions. When he did decide to leave us, he did so with the minimum of fuss as was his stated intention but also with serenity. In his living room hangs a letter of appreciation in an ornate frame which was given to him by the Islamic School of Arts when he left Tehran in April. It thanks him for his presence at the gathering of seminary students and ends: "It is hoped that God causes the breeze of your grace to blow to our souls, and let us improve our knowledge under your constant auspices." Sentiments which many of us can echo.

He is survived by his mother, Dorothy and by a legion of people by whom he was loved and to whom he was comrade, friend, mentor and inspiration.

David Edgar also remembers Noël:

The General Will was one of the left-wing theatre groups which toured agit-prop shows in the heady days of the early 1970s. Noel joined the group to direct my play The Dunkirk Spirit, and ended up in the cast. A cartoon history of British capitalism, the play's high point was Noel's performance, deliciously costumed, as the Gold Standard, in a scene whose other characters were the Deutschemark, the Dollar and the Pound. Some way into the run, Noel mounted an coup d'etat (during a performance) against a company which, he argued, shared no common oppression, claiming
the General Will for gay rights. More about the temper of the times than the spirit of the man, this action was a protest against a left which dismissed gay liberation as unserious. Noel was the gentlest of people: but he was militant for the causes he believed in, and knew that emancipation is never handed anyone on a plate.

Later, Noel amassed an impressive canon of plays, along with his Playwriting: a Practical Guide. But his legacy also embraces the hundreds of playwrights he taught, tutored and inspired, including over 300 young people who worked on the Birmingham Rep's pioneering Transmissions programme, through whose work his work will live on.

Saturday, September 12, 2009

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 12th - 18th September

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Christopher Biggins presents The National Lottery Draws on BBC1 at 8pm Saturday. Big Brother’s Big Mouth Reunion(two weeks after it ended?) 11.20pm C4. Dr Who’s Greatest Moments on BBC3 at 7.15 and Stephen Fry in Americaon Dave at 7. Stephen Fry in America and two repeats of QI on Dave from 7pm. Coronation Street Omnibus on ITV1repeats the Jonathan Harvey editions where Sean’s seduction plans go awry and Jason ends up winning Mr Gay Weatherfield. Dave Lynn appears as herself. Starts 10.55 Sunday. Also on Sunday the ubiquitous Fry is on again, seeking out the white rhino in the Congo in Last Chance to See on BBC2 at 8pm. Jackie Kaye’s play Mind Away has an airing onTheatre Live on Sky Arts 2 at 11.05pm.
On Thursday Alan Cunning presents Scotland on Screen, an examination of Scotland’s contribution to the film industry, as part of the BBC4 This is Scotland Season, at 9pm. The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron, presented by Rupert Everett, is repeated on C4 at 1am. Part two is repeated at 12.45am the following evening. Also on Friday, QI is repeated on BBC2 at 10pm and Jools Holland’s Later…features Gossip with Beth Ditto. Five’s Brighton Beach Patrol at 8pm is in Brighton, so there must be some gay content.

Ongoing
Will and Grace at 9am and Come Dine with Me every weekday at 5.30 on C4, as well as Saturday at 4 and other repeatings on More4. Big Food Fight with Sue Perkins on C4 at 10pm Tuesday (repeated 8pm Friday). Ugly Betty on C4at 10pm Wednesday. Derren Brown : How to Control the Nation at 9pm, repeated at 11.40 on C4 Friday. Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am.

Films
Roddy MacDowell in Overboard on ITV1 at 3.25pm Saturday. X-Men – the Last Stand on C4 at 8pm Sunday. James Dean classic East of Eden on Classics at 9pm Wednesday. The original X-Men on Action/Thriller at 6.10pm Thursday. Carry on Abroad on C4 at 1.45pm Friday. Jodie Foster in Silence of the Lambs on Premiere at 9.45pm Friday andHairspray on Comedy at 6pm. Lindsay Anderson’s extraordinary O Lucky Man at 11pm on TCM.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 12th
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 72 and 82. Soft Cell
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going Out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 7.30: Proms in the Park. Features Barry Manilow
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig and Stephen Fry!
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Weekend Woman’s Hour
BBC Radio 4 - 8pm: Archive on 4. Agatha Christie tapes with Val McDermaid
BBC Radio 7 - 7.30pm: Daphne du Maurier – Frenchman’s Creek

Sunday 13th
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Paul O’Grady
BBC Radio 2 - 6.30: Thank You for the Music – A Celebration of Abba. Star spangled extravaganza live from Hyde Park
BBC Radio 3 - 8pm: Drama on 3: Edward II by Christopher Marlowe
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Broadcasting House - Ian McKellen reflects on the Alan Turing apology
BBC Radio 4 - 12.04pm: Just a Minute. Stephen Fry
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past

Monday 14th
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Just a Minute. Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: Femme fatale: The Story of Nico

Tuesday 15th
BBC Radio 2 - 10:30pm: Titter Ye Not: The Frankie Howerd Story
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. With Matthew Parris. Kate Humble on Miriam Makeba
BBC Radio 4 - 11: Heresy. Panel game with Sue Perkins

Wednesday 16th
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Midweek. Featuring gay actor, director and priest James Roose-Evans, author of Opening Doors and Windows: A Memoir in Four Acts
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Chain Reaction. Frank Skinner interviews Eddie Izzard. Next week Eddie Izzard interviews Alistair Campbell

Thursday 17th
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am: The A to Z of Dr. Johnson: Words, Words, Words Sue Perkins on the house of Samuel Johnson

Friday 18th
BBC Radio 3 - 9.15: The Verb. Literary quiz featuring Alan Hollinghurst
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30: The Pickerskill Reports. Crispin Biggerstaffe is in the throws of "pubescent agape" at his boarding school for boys.
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local and online

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Thursday, September 10, 2009

Gordon Brown Says Sorry to Alan Turing

Campaigners, including Schools OUT are celebrating victory after Prime Minister Gordon Brown made an apology on the part of the State for the shameful treatment of maths genius and war hero Alan Turing.

Over 30,000 people signed an online petition prepared by John Graham-Cumming and supported by Richard Dawkins, Ian McEwan, Stephen Fry and Peter Tatchell, and endorsed by Schools OUT's Nigel Tart in a press statement last week. It received further support following an LGBT History Month bulletin article by Tony Fenwick which described restoring the reputation of Turing - as well as other LGBT people in our history - as one of the founding principles of LGBT History Month.

The full statement by the PM is reproduced below.

2009 has been a year of deep reflection - a chance for Britain, as a nation, to commemorate the profound debts we owe to those who came before. A unique combination of anniversaries and events have stirred in us that sense of pride and gratitude which characterise the British experience. Earlier this year I stood with Presidents Sarkozy and Obama to honour the service and the sacrifice of the heroes who stormed the beaches of Normandy 65 years ago. And just last week, we marked the 70 years which have passed since the British government declared its willingness to take up arms against Fascism and declared the outbreak of World War Two. So I am both pleased and proud that, thanks to a coalition of computer scientists, historians and LGBT activists, we have this year a chance to mark and celebrate another contribution to Britain’s fight against the darkness of dictatorship; that of code-breaker Alan Turing.

Turing was a quite brilliant mathematician, most famous for his work on breaking the German Enigma codes. It is no exaggeration to say that, without his outstanding contribution, the history of World War Two could well have been very different. He truly was one of those individuals we can point to whose unique contribution helped to turn the tide of war. The debt of gratitude he is owed makes it all the more horrifying, therefore, that he was treated so inhumanely. In 1952, he was convicted of ‘gross indecency’ - in effect, tried for being gay. His sentence - and he was faced with the miserable choice of this or prison - was chemical castration by a series of injections of female hormones. He took his own life just two years later.

Thousands of people have come together to demand justice for Alan Turing and recognition of the appalling way he was treated. While Turing was dealt with under the law of the time and we can’t put the clock back, his treatment was of course utterly unfair and I am pleased to have the chance to say how deeply sorry I and we all are for what happened to him. Alan and the many thousands of other gay men who were convicted as he was convicted under homophobic laws were treated terribly. Over the years millions more lived in fear of conviction.

I am proud that those days are gone and that in the last 12 years this government has done so much to make life fairer and more equal for our LGBT community. This recognition of Alan’s status as one of Britain’s most famous victims of homophobia is another step towards equality and long overdue.

But even more than that, Alan deserves recognition for his contribution to humankind. For those of us born after 1945, into a Europe which is united, democratic and at peace, it is hard to imagine that our continent was once the theatre of mankind’s darkest hour. It is difficult to believe that in living memory, people could become so consumed by hate - by anti-Semitism, by homophobia, by xenophobia and other murderous prejudices - that the gas chambers and crematoria became a piece of the European landscape as surely as the galleries and universities and concert halls which had marked out the European civilisation for hundreds of years. It is thanks to men and women who were totally committed to fighting fascism, people like Alan Turing, that the horrors of the Holocaust and of total war are part of Europe’s history and not Europe’s present.

So on behalf of the British government, and all those who live freely thanks to Alan’s work I am very proud to say: we’re sorry, you deserved so much better.

Gordon Brown
View our posts here and here for some background on the campaign.

Wednesday, September 9, 2009

Bulletin No 64

The latest edition of the LGBT History Month bulletin is now available, as usual packed-full of news, information, notices of upcoming events and quotations.

To access the latest bulletin please click on one of the links below:
word document
pdf file
(you can also right click on the links and "save target as")

You can view all previous bulletins here or register to our mailing list here.

Methodist Minister Comes Out as Trans after 27 years

Just months after telling his own children that he was not their biological father, The Rev. David Weekley, who is in his late-50s, came out to his congregation of 221 members at the Epworth United Methodist Church in the Sunnyside neighborhood in inner Southeast Portland, on Sunday, Aug. 30, Weekley.

Until now, there has been just one openly transgender Methodist clergyman in the U.S. to retain his ordination (That man, Drew Phoenix, 50, had his ordination challenged by members of the church after coming out publicly in 2007 to his congregation in St. John’s of Baltimore United Methodist Church in Maryland.)

Read the full article in the Westlinn Tidings here.

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

The 5 Genders of the Bugis

The Bugis are the most numerous of the three major linguistic and ethnic groups of South Sulawesi, the southwestern province of Sulawesi, Indonesia's third largest island.

As shown in the National Geographic clip below, they recognise not two but five different genders, some of them endowed with magical powers. In addition to men and women, the bissu, calabai and calalai can also be found.

Monday, September 7, 2009

Turing relatives recall 'Uncle Alan'

The growing petition (now nearing 30000 signatures) aimed at securing a posthumous apology for computing pioneer and code-breaker Alan Turing is gaining media coverage.

On Thursday, Newsnight dedicated a report by Susan Watts on the innitiative by Dr John Graham-Cumming. also traced relatives of Turing for interview.

You can read a blog post by Susan Watts about this and view the report on the BBC website here.

Extra material from the interviews is available here.

Exhibition: Ethnic Minorities Coming Out


Coming out can be painless for some but stressful and even traumatic for others, including friends and family. A new exhibition to open in East London documents the experiences of ethnic minority individuals coming out, allowing them to express their experiences and difficulties with culture and traditions through the medium of visual arts.

The project involves the production and exhibition of photographic images of ethnic minority lesbian, gay and bisexual people, accompanied by text describing their experience -both positive and negative- of coming out.

To find out more and view some of the images of the exhibition, visit www.sonalle.com

Ethnic Minorities Coming Out
Fri 11 September – Sun 4 October
admission free
Rich Mix
Mezzanine
35 - 47 Bethnal Green Road
London E1 6LA
www.richmix.org.uk

Image: Sonalle Photography

Sunday, September 6, 2009

JFK and His Gay Best Friend of 30 Years

John F. Kennedy is one of the most studied and written-about presidents of the 20th century. Aside from the remaining mysteries surrounding his assassination, there is little that is unknown about the life of the thirty-fifth president of the United States. Or so we thought.

In Jack and Lem, published by Avalon, writer David Pitts sets about uncovering the story of Jack Kennedy and his closest and dearest friend in the world for 30 years, Lem Billings — a gay man.

Read the full article on Woolf and Wilde here.

The video below shows more images of JFK and Lem Billings:

Saturday, September 5, 2009

LGBT related Radio and TV Programmes, 5th - 11th September

We seek them out so you don't have to. This is our weekly non-exhaustive round up of upcoming LGBT programmes on the radio and television. Inclusion of a programme is not a recommendation.

Some of the programmes listed below will be available online on the respective network's websites.

Enjoy!

Owt on’t’telly?

A round up of LGBT progs and personalities on British TV.

TV
New
Clare Balding guests in As Seen on TV on BBC1 at 5pm Saturday. Handel and Mendelssohn in The Proms at 5.40 onBBC2. Come Dine with Me omnibus at 4pm C4. Dr Who’s Greatest Moments on BBC3 at 7.15 and Stephen Fry in America on Dave at 7.
On Sunday Gay Icon Neil Diamond performs from Madison Square Gardens on BBC1 at 10.20pm. More Come Dine with Me on C4 at 8. An Audience with Kenneth Williams at 7.25 on ITV3.
On Monday there’s QI repeated on Dave at 9.40pm. RuPaul’s Drag Race on Tuesday at 11pm on E4. Sue Perkins chairsThe Big Food Fight on C4 at 10pm Tuesday, which she talks about on This Morning on ITV1 at 10.30am Wednesday,after Jason Donovan (who is not gay) talks about Priscilla, Queen of the Desert on GMTV at around half 8.
Also on Wednesday, Derren Brown does something amazing at 10.35pm in what is called The Event at 10.35pm on C4.At 10.45 there’s a repeat of his live show with celebs.
On Friday, both episodes of Corrie on ITV1 are written by Jonathan Harvey. C4 trots out the Celebrity Come Dine with Me edition that includes Christopher Biggins and Edwina Currie drooling all over an appreciative Philip Olivier for the third time in so many months at 8.30. This is followed by a repeat of Tuesday’s Big Food Fight at 8.30. At 9pm in The Events, Derren Brown explains how he did whatever he did on Wednesday. Don’t worry if you’re in the pub; it’s repeated at 11.35. Then Placebo perform live at 12.40am.

Ongoing
Will and Grace at 9am and Come Dine with Me every weekday at 5.30 on C4. The Wire 11.20pm Tuesday,Wednesday and Thursdayon BBC2. Ugly Betty on C4 at 10pm Wednesday and Skins at 11 on Wednesday. Usually there’s some LGBT content on The Big Questions on BBC1 on Sunday morning at 10am.

Films
X-Men on Action Thriller Sunday at 10.50pm (and 6.10pm Friday). Rocky Horror on Indie Monday (and Thursday) at4.35pm and Lindsay Lohan in Mean Girls at 9pm Film4. St. Trinians Wednesday at 8pm on Comedy.

Radio
Please also note that Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour contains a lot of relevant content and is generally LGBT friendly, but a lot of its output is not available to us before we put this on the site. For the latest Woman’s Hour stuff, subscribe to the programme's newsletter here.

Saturday 5th
BBC Radio 2 - 10am: Jonathan Ross. John Barrowman guests
BBC Radio 2 - 1pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops 81 and 92. Soft Cell
BBC Radio 2 - 6: Going Out with Alan Carr
BBC Radio 2 - 8: Radio 2 Live in Blackpool. Featuring Will Young and Mika
BBC Radio 2 - 11: Bob Harris. With Sarah Jane Morris ex-Communards
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Weekend Woman’s Hour

Sunday 6th
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Paul O’Grady
BBC Radio 4 - 7.05am: Sunday. Religious programme that often deals with LGBT issues
BBC Radio 4 - 12.02pm: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins
BBC Radio 4 - 8.30: Last Word. Weekly obituary that has included LGBT figures in the past

Monday 7th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30: Just a Minute. Stephen Fry

Tuesday 8th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 1.30pm: Soul Music. The Look of Love, performed by Dusty Springfield amongst others
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. With Matthew Parris. Boris Johnson on Samuel Johnson

Wednesday 9th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Graham Norton

Thursday 10th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am: Ena. Sharples that is. Mark Radcliffe’s assessment of the character and the actress and performer who played her – Violet Carson – features Tony Warren

Friday 11th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Graham Norton
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Last Word
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 7pm: Round the Horne

Local and online

For a global classification of queer radio on line:
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=gay&so=26,52,78 and
http://radiotime.com/Search.aspx?query=Lesbian
Gay Internet Radio Live (G.I.R.L.) is on the air 24 hours a day with dance music from the US at www.gayinternetradiolive.com.

Wythenshaw 97.2 FM, a community radio station, airs a lesbian and gay radio magazine programme once weekly, according to Out North West Magazine published by the Lesbian and Gay Foundation in Manchester. Podcast http://www.tuesdaynightout.co.uk/

GayRadio-UK is a new online radio station in Blackpool and promises a variety of LGBT programming. The audio stream is at www.gayradiouk.com. Guests iunclude lesbian actress Amanda Barrie, gay icon Su Pollard and radical actor Richie Tomlinson. Daily programmes are uploaded at the most popular gay podcast site on the net, Feast of Fun www.feastoffools.net, with a speech based programme of LGBT guests, news digest and light-hearted discussion.

Galaxy North East
Monday-Friday 4-7pm: James Barr

BBC Radio Manchester - 95.1 and online
Every Monday 8pm: The Gay Hour, Ashley Byrne and Andrew Edwards

BBC London - 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm: Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio - Brighton, London DAB and online 24/7

Manchester’s gaydio www.gaydio.co.uk

FYI Radio (gay youth radio) - online (currently only podcast but soon to grow to a fully fledged station) www.fyiradio.net

www.pinkeradio.com

Last Tuesday of the month - 6pm
Out in South London - local LGBT radio show with Rosie Wilby and guests
Listen online at www.southcityradio.org

Thursday, September 3, 2009

TS Eliot a Champion of Lesbian Literature

Poet-playwright TS Eliot will be shown as a champion of lesbian fiction and compassionate father figure to struggling writers, when a new exhibition opens at the British Library next month.

According to reports, letters written by him as a publisher at Faber and Faber suggest that he risked the wrath of the British authorities to bring out Nightwood, one of the first lesbian novels ever written.

The previously unseen correspondence shows that Eliot thought the 1936 book, by Djuna Barnes, was “the last big thing to be done in our time”.

Also to be exhibited are excerpts from a diary that Ted Hughes wrote in the 1960s, which refer to the poet as “the Guru-in-chief” and describe the older Eliot as a “father figure”.

Media reports are suggesting that Eliot’s letters to his three-year-old godson, descriptions of his role as a fire warden during the Blitz, and stories about his wartime problems with paper and ink shortages all paint a striking new image of a man with a benevolent, compassionate side.

Eliot's reputation has previously suffered because of his apparent anti-semitism.