Pre-launch of LGBT History Month 2009 announced

The Pre-Launch of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans History Month 2009 will be taking place on the evening of Wednesday, the 19th of November, 2008, at The Hackney Free and Parochial Church of England School in London.

The event is sponsored by the Department for Children, Schools and Families and is a part of The National Anti Bullying Week.

Our theme in 2009 is Education and Youth and the Pre-Launch is taking place in a school for the first time (in previous years the pre-launch took place at Tate Modern (2004), the Metropolitan Police's Empress State Building (2005), The TUC's Congress House (2006) and The Royal Courts of Justice (2007).

The Education Minister Kevin Brennan will be the key speaker for the evening. He told LGBT History Month:

‘I want homophobia to become taboo…from the flippant use of homophobic language to the deliberate bullying of people because they’re gay or ‘different’. Both are wrong, both need to stop.

‘And when we say that ‘every child matters’, we mean that every young person – straight, lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender, black, white, disabled – boy or girl matters.’

All schools now have a duty now to promote all the equalities, in all their diversities, with the arrival of the Single Equality Act. LGBT History Month is a tool to support work within that duty.

As such, the 19th of November will be a celebration of work done by teachers, youth workers and young people. It will be a chance to view exhibitions that have been made specifically for LGBT History Month from around the country and meet with other educators, youth workers, and people interested in the work.

Co-chair of History Month, Sue Sanders, commented:

‘It is wonderful to see the DCSF logo alongside the Metropolitan Police, the NHS, the Crown Prosecution Service and the Ministry of Justice.

‘We are thrilled the education system is now coming on board. We are honoured that Kevin Brennan will be attending the prelaunch at the Hackney Free Parochial Church of England School in November, as part of Anti Bullying Week.

‘The month is a crucial tool in raising visibility of LGBT identities, and thus challenging prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination.’

February 2009 will be the fifth edition of LGBT History Month in the UK. It will also mark the tenth anniversary of the Stephen Lawrence Report; we are proud to be a player in the work to challenge all forms of prejudice, stereotypes and discrimination.

The Pre-Launch puts LGBT History Month on the education calendar and makes the point that all schools - faith and secular - can celebrate the achievements of Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans people, past and present, local and worldwide, famous and grassroots.

Also planned for the evening:

* a DVD of Students’ work
* pupils’ performances
* Two teachers demonstrating how to do LGBT History Month in schools
* No Outsiders work in primary schools.
* How to celebrate LGBT History Month within a religious context
* an exhibition by the Proud Heritage Museum Project
* a display by Gay Birmingham Remembered
* a Nottingham Heritage timeline
* Lesbian Gay Christian Movement resources

You will be inspired, and will take inspiration and support from others. You will be ready to design and develop your own events in February 2009!

LGBT Related Radio and TV Programmes, 13th - 19th 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.
Enjoy!

Some of the radio programmes listed below can be listened to again via the Listen Again facility of the BBC's website while some of the television programmes will remain available also for a week on the BBC's iplayer.

Radio
Saturday 13th
BBC Radio 2 - 5pm: Paul Gambaccini. US hits
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig presents
6 Music - 12midnight: BBC Introducing. Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 8pm & 3am: Horne of Plenty. Tribute to Kenneth Horne who would have been 100

Sunday 14th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops. ‘67 and ‘78
BBC Radio 4 - 8pm: For One Night Only. Paul Gambaccinin on Elvis Presley’s 1968 TV comeback
BBC Radio 4 - 11pm: And the Academy Award Goes to…Paul Gambaccini examines One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest
6 Music - 1am: BBC Introducing. Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 5.30pm: How Tickled am I? Mark Radcliffe on Beryl Reid; featuring the Sister George thing
Classic FM - 9pm: Paul Gambaccini’s Hall of Heroes

Tuesday 16th
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives. Presented by Matthew Parris
BBC Radio 4 - 9am and 9.30pm: The Choice. with Rabbi Roderick Young

Wednesday 17th
BBC Radio 7 - 8am, 12noon & 7pm: Beyond our Ken

Thursday 18th
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am Thoroughly Modest Mollie. Bernard Cribbins plays tribute to the comedy writer Mollie Millest, who wrote scripts for Round the Horne and lived another life as a Salvation Army member

Friday 19th
BBC Radio 4 - 11pm: Great Lives. Repeat from Tuesday
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson. New acts

Local
BBC London 94.9 and online
Sunday 9am-12noon Lesley Joseph and Christopher Biggins
Monday – Friday 3-5pm Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard

Gaydar Radio 24/7
Brighton, London DAB and online

BBC Three Counties (and online), Cambs, Essex, Norfolk, Northants., Suffolk
10pm-1am Ern and Vern. Kenny Everett meets Round the Horn in a bucketful of innuendo

Television

Entertainment and documentaries
Saturday 13th
BBC1 - 1pm: Clare Balding introduces The World Paralympics
BBC1 - 6.30pm: Strictly Come Dancing. New series
BBC2 - 7.30pm: Maestro Finale. Sue Perkins is favourite to win. Repeat from last Tuesday
BBC2 - 9.10pm: Have I Got Old News for You? Clare Balding guests
ITV1 - 9.25am: Corrie Omnibus. Sean is still beside himself
ITV1 - 8.30pm: All Star Family Fortunes. Christopher Biggins and family guest
ITV1 - 9.15pm: Everybody Dance Now! A look at dance crazes. LGBT content unknown
ITV2 - 6am: Corrie Omnibus
ITV3 - 5.20pm: Cadfael
E4 - 10.05pm: Matt Lucas and David Walliams’ Perfect Night in
Living - 9am: Grey’s Anatomy
Living - 3.55am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy

Sunday 14th
BBC2 - 10.45pm: Russell Brand on the Road. Following in the footsteps of Jack Kerouac
ITV1 - 4.45pm: All Star Family Fortunes. Repeat from last night
ITV1 - 7pm: For One Night Only. Variety Show presented by Joan Rivers and Vernon Kay
ITV3 - 8.30pm: Celebrating-The South Bank Show. 1978-1987 highlights of ITV’s flagship art show
C4 - 8pm: Wife Swap. A gay father from Milton Keynes swaps with an anti-gay mother
E4 - 11pm: Shameless
More4 - 4.30pm: Come Dine with Me. Omnibus
Sky 1 - 7pm: Hairspray: The Schools Musical. An Enfield school takes the Broadway musical on. Presented by Denise van Outen
UKTV Gold - 11am & 7pm: The Thin Blue Line
UKTV Gold - 12.45am" Dr Who
Living - 9am: The Golden Girls
Living - 3.55am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Living - 4.40am: The Golden Girls
Sky Arts - 9.15am: Liberace. Rare chance to see the late closet case
Biography - 6pm: the Real James dean
Biography - 8pm: Lindsay Lohan off the rails

Monday 15th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby
BBC1 - 10.35pm: The Dark Side of Fame with Piers Morgan. Morgan interviews Jim Davidson who expresses his views on homosexuality. Sounds like one to watch and then complain about
BBC2 - 8.30pm: What to Eat Now. Valentine Warner is the hunky new chef who spends more time standing in rivers and crawling under hedges than he does in the kitchen
C4 - 8.20am: Will and Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
Dave - 9pm: QI
Sky2 - 8pm: Hairspray The Schools Musical
Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
Living 2 - 11am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Sky Arts - 5.30pm: Simoan Callow’s Classic Destinations
Biography - 6am: The Real James Dean
Biography - 2pm: Lindsay Lohan off the Rails

Tuesday 16th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby gets persuasive
BBC HD - 11.30pm: Neil Diamond at Glastonbury
C4 - 8.25am: Will and Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
C4 - 6.30pm: Hollyoaks. Craig and John Paul have something. It’ll end in tears
C4 - 8pm: The Sex Education Show. Part 2 of 6
E4 - 11pm: Skins. Series one
Living - 7pm and 1am: Will and Grace
Sky Arts - 8.30pm: Simon Callow

Wednesday 17th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby
BBC2 - 12.50pm: Beijing Paralympics. Closing ceremony with Clare Balding. Highlights at 7pm
BBC2 - 8pm: The Restaurants - two gay couples compete
C4 - 8.30am: Will & Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
C4 - 6.30pm: Hollyoaks. There’s still something
Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
UK TV History -10pm: I, Claudius. Derek Jacobi plays the unlikely emperor. Last one
E4 - 10.30pm: Rick And Steve: The Happiest Gay Couple In All The World

Thursday 18th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. With Kristian Digby
BBC1 - 10.35pm: Question Time. No details at time of going to press
BBC2 - 8pm: The Restaurants - two gay couples compete
BBC2 - 9.30pm: The Cup. The coach is seen going into a gay bar
ITV1 - 9pm: Anne Widdecombe Versus Girl Gangs. Whose side will you be on?
C4 - 8.30am and 1.30pm: Will & Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
C4 - 6.30pm: Hollyoaks. Time for tears. John Paul’s drink is spiked
C4 - 11.40pm: Alan Carr’s Celebriy Ding-Dong
Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
Living - 10pm: Grey’s Anatomy
Biography - 8pm: Barry Manilow

Friday 19th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby
BBC1 - 10.35pm: Jonathan Ross. Paul O’Grady guests
BBC2 - 10pm: QI (rpt)
C4 - 8.25am: Will and Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
C4 - 6.30pm: Hollyoaks. More tears
C4 - 11.05pm: Derren Brown in the US
E4 - 9pm: Wife Swap. Gay parents and homophobic housewife
Sky 1 - 9.30pm: Hairspay; The School Musical
Living - 7pm and 1am: Will and Grace
Living 2 - 11am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Biography - 8am & 4pm: Barry Manilow

Film and drama
Saturday 13th
C4 - 7.30pm: Fellowship of the Ring. Hail Gandalf
Film 4 - 9pm: Brokeback Mountain
UKTV Gold - 9pm: Philadelphia
Sky Movies Premiere - 11.45pm: Factory Girls. Guy Pierce as Warhol
Sky Arts - 9pm: Ziggy Stardust and the Spiders from Mars

Monday 15th
five - 11.05pm: Boogie Nights. Wahlberg as porn star. Burt Reynolds as director
TCM - 9pm: Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Newman and Taylor in Tennessee Williams’ dysfunctional family

Tuesday16th
Film4 - 1.35am: Prick Up Your Ears. Gary Oldman does Joe Orton in Stephen Frears’ biopic
Sky Movies Classics - 9pm: In Cold Blood. Murder mystery that intrigued Truman Capote

Wednesday 17th
Film4 - 11.20pm: Personal Services. Julie Walters in a sympathetic portrayal of Cynthia Payne, who served up something special in return for Luncheon Vouchers.

Thursday 18th
Film4 - 9pm: Brokeback Mountain
Sky Arts - 10.30pm: This Filthy World. Documentary about John Waters
Sky Movies - 10.40pm: The Innocents. Based on The Turn of the Screw
Sky Indie - 12.25: Infamous. Biopic of Truman Capote

Friday 19th
Sci-Fi/Horror - 9pm X-Men;The Last Stand

Hollywood Recognises our History with Milk

A film celebrating the life and achievements of an openly gay Californian politician is about to be released in the US. Milk is a biopic of the eponymous Harvey Milk, the USA’s first elected out politician, who became supervisor of San Francisco until he was shot dead in 1978. The role of Harvey Milk is played by Sean Penn and the movie is directed by Gus Van Sant.



Milk had been a teacher before entering politics and he campaigned against homosexual teachers being sacked from California schools under a law proposed by California Senator John Briggs. However he is probably more famous for outing the closet gay who saved President Gerald Ford’s life when he took a bullet in 1975.

Milk, and San Francisco Mayor Moscone were both murdered by arch rival anti-gay conservative Dan White. He turned himself in but his trial was a fiasco and his lenient sentence caused riots among the LGBT community.

Although the film follows the bleak Hollywood tradition that rules all LGBT lives end in tragedy, it’s a very sympathetic portrayal of a man whose life and achievements must be kept alive in history.

Milk is released in Germany and San Francisco next month and is due for release in the rest of the US in December. The date of release in the UK is unknown but it is most likely to be February.

Find out more about Harvey Milk here.

Updated 14 September 2008

New Website for Immigrants Goes Live

The Terrence Higgins Trust, the UK largest HIV and AIDS charity, has launched a new website in an attempt to reach the large migrant part of the LGBT community. In addition to sexual health advice, the site features advice on the gay scene in the UK, how to get visas, work, accommodation and other tips for a successful time in the UK.

The site also offers downloadable leaflet in 6 European languages: English, French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish and Polish

The website can be view at www.gaybritain.chapsonline.org.uk

Find out more here.

Bulletin No 50

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

LGBT Related Radio and TV Programmes, 6th - 12th 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.
Enjoy!

Some of the radio programmes listed below can be listened to again via the Listen Again facility of the BBC's website while some of the television programmes will remain available also for a week on the BBC's iplayer.

Radio
Saturday 6th
BBC Radio 2 - 5-7pm: Paul Gambaccini. US hits
BBC Radio 4 - 10am: Excess Baggage. Sandi Toksvig presents
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30pm: Alphabet Poems. With Wendy Cope
6 Music - 12midnight: BBC Introducing. Tom Robinson

Sunday 7th
BBC Radio 2 - 2pm: Dale Winton’s Pick of the Pops. ‘73 and ‘95
BBC Radio 4 - 12noon: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins and Julian Clary guest
BBC Radio 4 - 2.45pm: History of Home. Laurence Llewelyn Bowen on David Hicks
BBC Radio 4 - 4pm: Bookclub. Gore Vidal
BBC Radio 4 - 8pm: For One Night Only. Paul Gambaccinin on Miles Davis
BBC Radio 4 - 11pm: And the Academy Award Goes to…Paul Gambaccini examines Lawrence of Arabia
6 Music - 1am: BBC Introducing. Tom Robinson
BBC Radio 7 - 5.30pm: How Tickled am I? Mark Radcliffe on Beryl Reid; featuring the Sister George thing
Classic FM - 9pm: Paul Gambaccini’s Hall of Heroes

Monday 8th
BBC Radio 4 - 9am: Fry’s English Delight. Third of a three-parter for language lovers by Stephen Fry. Cliché
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45pm: Book of the Week. Evan Davis introduces Greed
BBC Radio 4 - 6.30pm: Just a Minute. Sue Perkins
BBC Radio 7 - 12noon & 7pm: The Navy Lark

Tuesday 9th
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am: Book of the Week. Evan Davis with Making Money
BBC Radio 4 - 4.30pm: Great Lives presented by Matthew Parris

Wednesday 10th
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am: Book of the Week. Evan Davis with Making Money
BBC Radio 4 - Big Bang Day. Cern’s Large Hadron Coller is to be switched on. This means nothing to me, but all the programmes are special.
BBC Radio 4 - 11am: Big Bang Day: Physics Rocks. A team discuss the Universe. Includes Eddie Izzard and John Barrowman
BBC Radio 4 - 11.30am: Kicking the Habit. Comedy, written by Christopher Lee
BBC Radio 4 - 2.15pm: Torchwood: Lost Souls. Special radio edition
BBC Radio 7 - 12noon & 7pm: Beyond our Ken

Thursday 11th
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am: Book of the Week. Evan Davis with Making Money

Friday 12th
BBC Radio 4 - 9.45am: Book of the Week. Evan Davis with Making Money
BBC Radio 4 - 1.30pm: For one night only. Paul Gambaccini on Elvis’ return to TV in 1968
BBC Radio 4 - 11pm: Great Lives presented by Matthew Parris (rpt)
6 Music - 7pm: Tom Robinson. New acts

Local
BBC London 94.9 and online
Monday – Friday 3-5pm Danny Baker. With Amy Lamé or Baylen Leonard
Sunday 9am-12noon: Lesley Joseph and Christopher Biggins

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

BBC Three Counties (and online), Cambs, Essex, Norfolk, Northants., Suffolk - 10pm-1am Ern and Vern. Kenny Everett meets Round the Horn in a bucketful of innuendo

Television

Entertainment and documentaries

Saturday 6th
BBC1 - 12.50pm: Clare Balding introduces The World Paralympics
BBC1 - 8pm: Eurovision Dance Contest. Presented by Graham Norton. How gay can BBC1 on a Saturday night get?
BBC2 - 9.10pm: Have I Got Old News for You? Clare Balding guests
BBC2 - 11.30pm: Comedy Connections. Little Britain
ITV1 - 9.25pm: Corrie Omnibus. Sean is beside himself
ITV2 - 6am: Corrie Omnibus
ITV2 - 9pm: Ghosthunting with Paul O’Grady and Friends. In Palermo!?
E4 - 11.50pm: Alan Carr: Tooth Fairy Live
Living - 9am: The Golden Girls
Living - 10pm: Hotel Babylon
Living 2 - 2am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Biography - 6am and 12noon: Shirley McLaine

Sunday 7th
Sky 1 - 7pm: Hairspray: The Schools Musical. An Enfield school takes the Broadway musical on. Presented by Denise van Outen
E4 - 11pm: Shameless
More4 - 4.30pm: Come Dine with Me. Omnibus
UKTV Gold - 11pm: AbFab
Living - 9am: The Golden Girls
Living - 3.50am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Living - 4.35am: The Golden Girls
Sky Arts - 1.30pm: Kylie: Cultural icon

Monday 8th
C4 - 8.25am: Will and Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
UKTV Gold - 7am & 4pm: Dr Who
UKTV Gold - 3.20 & 8.20pm: The Thin Blue Line
UKTV Gold - 11pm: Gimme Gimme Gimme
Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
Living 2 - 2am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Sky Arts - 4pm: Liberace. Profile of the closet queen
Biography - 9 & 10.30pm: The Duchess. Chi?

Tuesday 9th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby gets persuasive
BBC2 - 8.30pm: Maestro. Sue Perkins is favourite to win
BBC2 - 11.20pm: The Supersizers Go…Restoration. Sue Perkins again
BBC HD - 8.30pm: Maestro. As BBC2
C4 - 8.30am: Will and Grace
More4 - 9pm: Come Dine with Me
UKTV Gold - 11pm: Gimme Gimme Gimme
Living - 7pm and 1am: Will and Grace
Sky Arts - 12.10am: Derek Jarman: Life as Art
BBC Parliament - 6.30am: TUC Conference

Wednesday 10th
C4 - 8.30am: Will & Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
UKTV Gold - 11pm: Gimme Gimme Gimme
UK Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
UK Living - 3.55am: Queer Eye for the Straight Guy
Biography - 11pm: Being the Campest Men
UK TV History - 10pm: I, Claudius. Derek Jacobi plays the unlikely emperor

Thursday 11th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. With Kristian Digby
BBC4 - 11pm: Maestro
BBC Parliament - 6.30am: TUC Conference
C4 - 8.30am and 1.30pm: Will & Grace
C4 - 11.40pm: Alan Carr’s celebrity Ding Dong (rpt)
UKTV Gold - 11pm: Gimme Gimme Gimme
Living - 7pm & 1am: Will and Grace
UK TV History - 10pm: I Claudius

Friday 12th
BBC1 - 11am: Open House. Kristian Digby in Bristol
BBC2 - 10pm: QI (rpt)
C4 - 8.30am: Will and Grace
C4 - 5.30pm: Come Dine with Me
Sky 1 - 6pm: Hairspay; The School Musical
UKTV Gold - 11pm: Gimme Gimme Gimme
Living - 7pm and 1am: Will and Grace

Film and drama

Tuesday 9th
10.35am My Favourite Wife. 1940 romcom stars Cary Grant

Wednesday 10th
TCM - 1pm: the Picture of Dorian Gray (1945) Repeated on TCM2 at 7pm

Sir Cliff Richard reveals details of ‘close friendship’ with former priest

Cliff Richard has just released his autobiography. The most reported bit of information the book is offering is that, after decades of speculations, Richards seems to finally be coming out in it, telling how he has lived for seven years with his "companion", a former Catholic priest.

He also offers his view on same-sex marriage and how the Church should view them.

Find out more in this Times article

Catholic Church's plan to move Cardinal's body is "homophobia"

The process started by the Catholic Church to create the first new English saint in over forty years have recently hit controversy. Canonisation is a complex and lengthy process with involve many hurdles and stages. One of them is the exhumation of the body of the intended saint for the collection of relics.

John Henry Cardinal Newman, an influencial figure of the 19th century who died in 1890, is apparently set to be exhumed and reburied in a different location before the end of the year. The problem lies in the fact that Newman has explicitly and in several occasions expressed the wish to remain buried alongside Father Ambrose St John, the man he shared the last years of his life.

The exact nature of the relationship between the two men is not completely clear, although Newman's biography indicates a strong interest in male frienships. The headstone of the two men bear a latin expression meaning "out of shadows and phantasms into the truth", which many consider as a coming out.

The fact that the bodies of the two men are to be separated has been highlighted by campaigner like Peter Tatchell as another example of the Catholic Church's aggressive stance against LGBT people and calls for the exhumation not to take place come for all sides of the argument.

Peter Tatchell told The Independent: "The Vatican's decision to move Cardinal Newman's body from its resting place is an act of grave robbery and religious desecration. It violates Newman's repeated wish to be buried for eternity with his life-long partner Ambrose St John.

"They have been together for more than 100 years and the Vatican wants to disturb that peace to cover up the fact that Cardinal Newman loved a man. It's shameful, dishonourable betrayal of Newman by the gay-hating Catholic Church."

At the same time an online poll on the Church Times' website revealed that (at the time of writing) 83 per cent of the 507 people who responded were opposed to the Vatican's decision to move Newman's body.

In response to Tatchell's attack, Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, head of the Catholic Church in England and Wales, told BBC's Radio 4 Sunday programme: 'I don't think anyone disputes that Cardinal Newman loved Ambrose St John... But it is simply wrong to read back from today's categories into the Victorian periods when these very intense, passionate, but totally celibate relationships among the Anglo-Catholic community were very common,' adding that gay rights campaigners were using the issue to advance their own agenda against the Church.

Find out more:
* Plan to exhume cardinal is 'homophobic', The Independent
* Anger at removal of Newman’s remains, The Church Times
* Buried secrets: Cardinal Newman is set to become Britain's newest saint. First he must be exhumed from the grave he shares with another man - the greatest love of his life, The Daily Mail
* John Henry Cardinal Newman, Wikipedia

Image shows Newman aged 23 at the time of his first sermon

LGBT History Month Nominated

LGBT History Month has been nominated for the Black LGBT Community Awards 2008 in the category Advocacy Group. The award recompenses the organisation who has made the biggest impact on ensuring that Black LGBT communities are represented in society and that their rights are protected.

The awards are organised by the Black Gay Men’s Advisory Group, an independent group of black gay and bisexual men of African and African/Caribbean parentage working for and on behalf of black men who have sex with men. Award categories include Lifetime Achievement, Woman and Man of the Year, Club of the Year, Arts, Community Development, Communications and Health Promotion.

The award ceremony will take place on 20 September. To vote for your favorites, visit www.blgbt.com (until 8 September).

England wins World Cup (the gay one)

Stonewall Lions beat Argentinian side SAF Gay 5-0 in the final of the annual gay men's world championship here on Saturday.

Stonewall triumphed over the Seleccion Argentina de Futbol Gay at the Matchroom Stadium, home of the east London third-tier English League One side Leyton Orient.

The trophy was presented by former England midfielder Trevor Brooking. The tournament was organised by the International Gay and Lesbian Football Association.

Teams from Australia, Canada, the Czech Republic, Denmark, England, Iceland, Ireland, Japan, Mexico, Scotland, Sweden and the United States registered to take part.

Stonewall -- who won the European gay football championship last month -- lost in the final of last year's championship, held in Buenos Aires, to Argentinian side Deportistas Argentinos Gays.

Peter Tatchell praised the championship as a challenge to football's homophobic reputation.

Stonewall FC