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Archives for August 2015

Horror film highlights anti-gay problem in Russia

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PYOTR495
 

PYOTR495 needs your help

Introducing PYOTR495, a new genre of horror produced and directed by Toronto based filmmaker Blake Mawson. The short film uses horror techniques to shine knowledge on Russia’s LGBT Propaganda Law and the struggles gay people face every day.
Scored by Berlin techno producer, Konrad Black, the film follows gay 16 year-old Pyotr being baited by an anti-gay ultranationalist group, known for their violent abductions and attacks. Though it has hinted there may be supernatural twists, everything is on the hush as Mawson finalises the film.
PYOTR496 is relying on community support and has currently raised just under $1,500 in a online crowd funding campaign, but still needs help to raise the needed funds for release.
On the funding page, Mawson adds how the film “speaks to anyone who has ever been victimised or discriminated against for being different and to make a statement about the dangerous trend of fear-mongering and inciting hatred in our society.
He added: ”After all – what’s most terrifying? Some blood and gore? Or the hatred and lack of acceptance in our society in 2015?”
Donators have been promised gratitude for their financial support, from shoutouts on Twitter to cast member’s clothing seen in the film.
Check out the trailer below and stay up to date with the production on Twitter.

PYOTR495 – Trailer – Indiegogo from DRIVE-IN/KEEP OUT Productions on Vimeo.
Words Dean Eastmond, @deanvictorr

Eastenders' Gay romance scene in funeral parlour cleared by Ofcom

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Eastenders-1
 

76 complaints have been made

TV Watchdog’s Ofcom have ruled there were no grounds to investigate the BBC over ‘implied’ romance between two men next to an open coffin.
The controversial scene features two characters, Ben Mitchell and Paul Coker stripped off above the waist, embracing each other next to an open coffin with a dead woman’s body inside.
The watchdog received 76 complaints after the scene was aired in July and fans of the soap were not afraid to express their anger over Twitter, branding it ‘disgraceful and distasteful’. Other fans tweeted ‘Well. Wasn’t expecting to watch #Eastenders tonight and see a dead body in a coffin… Thanks for that #horrible’.
Ofcom has since dismissed the complaints, which are thought to be about the location of the action rather than the sexuality of the characters, which comes after assessing whether there were grounds to launch a formal investigation.

Eastenders-2

Newly Out Rugby Player Keegan Hirst Poses For Nude Photo Shoot

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Keegan Hirstby
 
Just days after he publicly stepped out of the closet, newly out rugby player Keegan Hirst appears to be stepping out of his clothes. The 27-year-old British Rugby League player appears naked (save for a rugby ball tastefully covering his privates) in a photo that’s gone viral.
keegan-hirst
The source of the breathtaking image, which features one of his teammates on the Batley Bulldogs, is unknown—but could be from a charity calendar.

Emma Watson expressed her admiration for Hirst on Twitter, stating “Physical courage is courage in the face of physical pain, hardship, death or threat of death, while moral courage is the ability to act rightly in the face of popular opposition, shame, scandal or discouragement. @KeeganHirst #gotboth. @KeeganHirst what a hero. x (sic)”
In an interview with the Mirror, Hirst admitted “At first I couldn’t even say ‘I’m gay’ in my head, let alone out loud. Now I feel like I’m letting out a long breath that I’ve held in for a long time.”
keegan-hirst-TH

Welcome out, Keegan. Looking good.

http://www.newnownext.com/newly-out-rugby-player-keegan-hirst-poses-for-nude-photo-shoot/08/2015/
 

Hear Matthew Shepard In His Own Words In This Touching New Film

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Senior Editor, HuffPost Gay Voices
Posted: 07/24/2015 01:28 PM EDT | Edited: 07/24/2015 01:35 PM EDT

 
Seventeen years after his tragic death, Matthew Shepard continues to serve as a symbol of the plight of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) youth across the country, inspiring films, plays and books.
Now, a new documentary is taking a no-holds-barred look at the young man and the enduring impact his too-short life continues to have on the global fight against bullying. “Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine,” which is directed by Michele Josue, features interviews with some of Shepard’s closest friends, family members and confidantes. The film uses the slain University of Wyoming student’s personal journal entries to give viewers insight into his life.
“I’m here because I’m depressed and confused,” Shepard writes in one entry, as seen in the clip above. “I hope to be un-depressed. I have learned that failure is not always bad, and that it is necessary. I want to go to college and succeed, I want my life to be happy.”
In a separate segment, Shepard’s father, Dennis, recalls the moment his son first came out as gay to him.

 
“I think he thought I’d start yelling and screaming and fall over in a faint, but it didn’t matter, he was still my son,” Dennis says. “Matt is my son; he always will be.”
“Matt Shepard Is a Friend of Mine” airs July 27 on Logo. Head here for more details

Robbie Rogers Wants To Be 'Extremely Flamboyant'

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…At Anti-LGBT Russia, Qatar World Cups

“By being there, it is more of a statement than boycotting.”

 

Posted: 07/13/2015 11:33 AM EDT | Edited: 07/13/2015 12:01 PM EDT
CARSON, CA - MAY 26: Robbie Rogers #14 of Los Angeles Galaxy looks on prior to the start of the game against the Seattle Sounders FC at The Home Depot Center on May 26, 2013 in Carson, California. (Photo by Jeff Gross/Getty Images)

The world’s only gay professional footballer doesn’t plan on hiding who he is at the next two World Cups.
LA Galaxy fullback Robbie Rogers told The Mirror in an interview published on Thursday that should he be called up to the U.S. men’s national team for the 2018 World Cup in Russia or the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, he wouldn’t boycott either tournament in protest of the host nation’s homophobia.
“If I were to go to Russia or Qatar then I would do it and I would be extremely flamboyant about it,” said Rogers.
He continued, “I think what I’ve learned from my experience of coming out and being present in the locker room is that by being there, it is more of a statement than boycotting or something like that.”
Rogers, who became the world’s first openly gay pro soccer player in 2013 when he came out in a surprise open letter posted on his blog, has witnessed first-hand how simply being himself has shifted the reception toward homosexuality around the league.
“It’s very much changing in the MLS — I have friends in every team and they tell me how things have changed, the sensitivity to using certain words and stuff like that,” Rogers told The Mirror.
However, Rogers said there still is room for progress abroad, noting that there aren’t “really any out footballers around Europe or South America.”
He said Russia and Qatar “are extremely homophobic.” Homosexuality is illegal in Qatar, while Russia has also outlawed “homosexual propaganda.”
The lack of openly gay additional male soccer players around the world has caused theoppressive anti-LGBT political and cultural stances of Russia and Qatar to become tertiary issues to FIFA, which is already accused of corruption surrounding Russia and Qatar’s World Cup bids.
For Qatar’s part, the country has promised to find a “creative” solution to accommodating LGBT fans and players, but has preposterously lumped the problem into their additional question of how to serve alcohol, which is also illegal in Qatar, at the games.
Rogers has been critical of each country before. In January, he told Sky Sports that both World Cups were “insane,” saying, “If you look at the next few World Cups, they are in places where, if I were to go, I would possibly be imprisoned or beat up.”
It’s a threat that outgoing FIFA president Sepp Blatter has completely failed to address, other than joking in 2010 that gay players and fans should “refrain from any sexual activities” during 2022 World Cup in Qatar.
Rogers’ World Cup hypothetical could be more than just that. Although he last capped for the USMNT in 2011, recent conversations suggest Rogers, who has since switched from forward to fullback, may have another shot for a call-up following success in the MLS.
At the Galaxy’s first-ever Pride Night last month, in a powerful moment, Rogers scored his first goal since coming out and joining the team in 2013.

Hopefully for Rogers, it’ll be the first goal of many more in LA, and perhaps one day, in Russia or Qatar as a member of the U.S. men’s national team.

A Call for Tolerance After Kosher Cookie-Gay Marriage Mishegas

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Tolerance at Work?

The image that Challah Connection put on its homepage

The image that Challah Connection put on its homepage


The image that Challah Connection put on its homepage following the SCOTUS marriage equality decision sparked hate mail from some, kudos from others — and a fresh sense of social activism in the company’s owner.
What do cookies, marriage equality and Jewish identity have to do with one another? For Challah Connection owner Jane Moritz of Norwalk, Connecticut, the three have become indelibly linked.
You might have read about the not-so-sweet situation: Soon after the Supreme Court announced its Obergefell v. Hodges decision, codifying the right of LGBT Americans to marry across the country, Moritz placed a picture of kosher rainbow cookies on the homepage of her company website, along with the line, “Never have these treasured cookies had such meaning.”

Challah Connection's Jane Moritz

Image: Ann DelaurentisChallah Connection’s Jane Moritz

And that’s when the hate mail and angry social-media postings began to arrive. Moritz received letters expressing outrage, questioning her Judaism and asking how she could consider her site kosher while supporting what the Torah condemns.
“What this did is reinforce what I already knew,” Moritz said. “We’re all Jews, but there are factions, and my little cookies seem to have brought that up.”
She forwarded me a few sample scribbles:
You consider yourselves a “kosher” site?!? How dare you support what the Torah considers an abomination!! You should be ashamed of yourselves!
You just lost my business. And that of anyone I know. Hopefully the word will spread.
ur so so twisted. if u claim to be so jewish, then u must know that g-d hates homosexuality and it’s a terrible sin. while we must love e/o created in g-d’s image, we must condemn this sin and those who commit it. what is WRONG with u?!
Moritz held her ground, and a funny thing happened. “It kind of ignited something in me,” she said. “I didn’t plan this. I put what I felt was true to my own heart and once I got challenged I became resolved in what I wanted to put out there, and I’ve become even stronger in my resolve.”
Knowing what she knows now, would she do it again? In a heartbeat.
“If it comes up again, I’m not backing down. I have some pretty conservative upbringing, but I have my own version of being Jewish, and anybody who want to challenge me, I’m ready to take them on.”
Moritz is quick to note that positive feedback outweighed the negative. And while the hate mail has subsided, she’s still receiving messages of support.
“I got a call Friday afternoon from a rabbi in Oklahoma to say how pleased and happy he was that I had stood up for this, that it showed all this moral fortitude,” Moritz said. “He said it was strong of me to put my business at risk.”
As it happens, though, orders for rainbow cookies only increased in the immediate aftermath. (They subsequently leveled off.)
“There was an overwhelming majority of people who supported my stand,” Moritz said. “I think there are a lot of people out there who feel the way we do, that Judaism is something we can all take part in and it doesn’t have to be prescribed in a certain way. We’re all one big family.”
As we were saying goodbye, Moritz asked me to think of her if I ever heard about food-related initiatives spearheading social action.
“As I say,” she said, “it ignited something in me.”
Liza Schoenfein is food editor of the Forward. Contact her at schoenfein@forward.com.
Read more: http://forward.com/food/312160/kosher-cookie-clash-sparks-social-activism/#ixzz3imYTbOqf