Archives for 2015

Iris Prize Festival: Welsh Rugby Union throws full support behind LGBT short film festival

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Editorial: As a devoted rugby watcher, and previous player, I am totally entranced with the current World Cup; but this story about the support for the LGBT short film festival ‘Iris Prize Festival’ creates a warm felling – and something which I have come to expect from the rugby community.

The question is will this support be equally reciprocated in Northern Ireland, and why can’t we have some kind of LGBT festival of our own?

About 50 rugby players, including sportsmen from Australia and Canada, attended the Iris opening night

NICK CLARK Arts Correspondent
Saturday 10 October 2015 22:12 BST

Former Wales captain Gareth Thomas came out as gay in 2009 Getty

As excitement about the Rugby World Cup reaches fever pitch in Cardiff, the organisers of an LGBT short film festival feare their event would be left in the shadows.
Instead they find themselves “hand in hand” with the sport’s biggest competition after the Welsh Rugby Union threw its full support behind the Iris Prize Festival, saying it was “right and proper” that the two events were celebrated in the Welsh capital at the same time.
The festival, which offers a £30,000 prize, the largest award for a short film festival, has embraced its sporting rival. It opened on Wednesday with the documentary Scrum, which is about competitors in the Bingham Cup, the international gay rugby world cup.
About 50 rugby players, including sportsmen from Australia and Canada, attended the Iris opening night. John Williams, Welsh Rugby Union’s head of communications, joined festival director Berwyn Rowlands and chairman Andrew Pierce for the start of the five-day event which closes today, when the prize is handed to one of 30 competing films.
“If feels right, it is right, it should be right and both of these events are going to be massively successful,” Mr Williams said. “We believe in the cause that’s represented by the Iris Prize Festival in Cardiff. We understand its importance; inclusivity is a must.”
Mr Pierce, a columnist and consultant editor for the Daily Mail, described Mr Williams’s address as “a very powerful, charming heartfelt” speech. He also hailed the influence of rugby role models such as referee Nigel Owens, who is gay, and former Wales captain Gareth Thomas, who came out as gay in 2009.
“Having the Welsh Rugby Union at the opening was fantastic. Here we are in our ninth prize with the blessing of the Welsh Rugby Union, and the city is full of rugby fans.”
Mr Rowlands will today also announce a £247,000 grant from the Big Lottery that will allow the organisation to expand all over Wales in a three-year project, working with local communities to fight homophobia.

Cooper’s gay dads both want to be Darth Vader in an adorably geeky new ad

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Patrick Kulp

When both of your parents are men, it’s only natural that there be the occasional bout of friendly fatherly competition.
That’s what happens in a new ad for a Star Wars-themed line of Campbell’s soups in which two dads each make the case to their toddler son that they can do a better Darth Vader impression than the other.
“Cooper, I am your father,” says one dad before his partner interjects: “No, no, no I am your father.”
Cooper doesn’t seem to care much one way or the other, and one of his two dads eventually settles for the role of wookiee sidekick.
It’s a clever conceit, and the soup giant’s “Made for Real, Real Life” tagline drives the spot home with the message that none of this should be considered at all out of the ordinary (except for perhaps even more “real”?).
Now that gay marriage is the law of the land and market research dispatches have declared that prized millennials generally like diversity, brands are eager to flaunt their tolerance, and the interplay of same-sex couples and their kids makes for lots of aww-inducing ways to do so.
Honeymaid, DirectTV, Cheerios, Esurance and plenty of other big corporations have all featured gay couples prominently in the past few years.
It seems advertisers have even become comfortable enough with the diversity of American families to begin mapping out the distinct foibles and gag opportunities inherent to everyday life in a same-sex households.
It’s a far cry from just two decades ago, when the first-ever U.S. TV spot depicting a gay couple — innocuously shopping at Ikea — attracted boycotts, crowds of protesters, hundreds of fuming letters and phone calls and even a false bomb threat at a Hicksville, New York store.
The new Campbell’s ad is naturally not without its share of ideological detractors, but, in a sign of progress, it seems that more people were offended by the terrible imitations of Darth Vader rather than seeing two gay dads, having a nice morning with their son.
Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments

Ten Ways To Come Out As Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual or Trans

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

By The Gay UK, Oct 11 2015 09:31AM

We asked readers and our writers for their top tips for coming out. Everybody’s experience for coming out will be different, what works for one person might not work for someone else, but hopefully at least one of these tips will help you in the process of coming out.

1) Only come out if it is what you want to do. If you feel pressured into coming out, remember that it has to be your decision. It is a big decision to make in your life and the most important thing is that you feel comfortable with what you are doing.
2) Treat it like a bandaid and just tear it off. Quick and almost painless. Just tell them, quickly, confidently and get it over with.
3) Don’t approach the situation like you’re about to announce you’re terminally ill. Body language and the tone of your voice will play a massive role in how people react to what you’re saying.
4) Do it the way you most feel comfortable! I told my Dad by letter, but my friends mainly face to face…it just got easier the more I did it.
5) Speaking to a helpline, like Switchboard – first, if you’re not sure what to say. Talking with a counsellor or helpline can help you find the words you need to describe what you’re feeling.
6) If you’re not sure how to bring it up, casually talk about a celebrity’s recent coming out like Tamal Ray or Apple’sTim Cook and gauge the reaction before going any further.
7) If you don’t get the reaction you expect, don’t be put off. You will get some negative reactions, but that is their problem not yours. The amount of positive reactions will far outweigh the negative ones.
8) It’s not an all or nothing deal. You don’t HAVE to tell everyone all at once. Start off with one person and let it grow organically from there.
9) Don’t apologise.
10) There is no right or wrong way to come out. It should be a tailor-made experience, as individual as you are

Gay blood donation: Thirty men turned down over sex ban

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

By Peter CoulterBBC News NI

The NIBTS has stopped 30 men from donating blood at their clinics since 2011 after they said they had sexual contact with other men

Thirty men have been stopped from donating blood at clinics in Northern Ireland because they have had sexual contact with another man, a BBC investigation has found.

Elsewhere in the UK, there is a one-year deferral period for men who have had sex with men (MSM) to donate.
Northern Ireland has an outright ban.
But a judge ruled that former health minister Edwin Poots did not have the power to retain that ban. His ruling will be appealed in court later.
In the Northern Ireland Appeal Court on Monday, the current on-off health minister, the Democratic Unionist Party’s (DUP) Simon Hamilton, is appealing the judgement, alongside Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt.
They shall be asking who is in charge of blood policy and whether or not this is a devolved issue. The appeal is expected to last four days.

Screened

Following a Freedom of Information request, BBC News NI has seen emails sent between Northern Ireland’s Department of Health and the Northern Ireland Blood Transfusion Service (NIBTS), which is responsible for the collection, testing and distribution of blood.
The NIBTS also said it had stopped 30 men from donating blood at their clinics since 2011 after they informed staff that they had sexual contact with other men.
The BBC asked the NIBTS how confident it would be that its blood is screened correctly and that it would be safe for MSM to donate after the one-year deferral period.
It said: “All blood donations are subjected to the testing regimes required by the Blood Safety and Quality Regulations 2005.
“As such, NIBTS is confident that all blood samples are screened correctly.”

Direction

The BBC has also seen instructions sent to the NIBTS from Dr Elizabeth Mitchell, the deputy chief medical officer, instructing the organisation how to respond if approached by the media about the ban remaining in place.
Dr Kieran Morris, the former chief executive of the NIBTS, replied showing some concern about the process and how he would answer questions from his own staff.
“As chief executive officer and accountable officer for the NIBTS special agency service, I require from the Department of Health a written direction, giving me a clear line as to how we manage and control the situation,” he said.
“There is no doubt in my mind that referring all matters to the Department of Health press office will not be sustainable for more than a few days.”

Image captionEdwin Poots, the former health minister, said he kept the ban on the basis of ensuring public safety

A BBC investigation earlier this year found the Department of Health does not have any medical evidence of its own to support a permanent ban on gay men donating blood.
The ban was put in place across the UK during the Aids crisis of the 1980s, but was lifted in England, Scotland and Wales in November 2011.

Irrational

New rules were introduced that allowed blood donations from men whose last sexual contact with another man was more than a year earlier.
But Northern Ireland did not follow suit.
A gay man, granted anonymity due to his perceived vulnerability, launched a judicial review challenge over then health minister Edwin Poots’s decision not to adopt the same policy on this side of the Irish Sea.
A judge ruled that Mr Poots’ decision was “irrational” and “infected with apparent bias”.
Mr Poots said he had kept the ban on the basis of ensuring public safety.
In April, the European Court of Justice (ECJ) ruled that a lifetime ban may be justified in member states if no effective detection techniques exist within the country.

Devolved

The ECJ said countries must establish if such donors were at high risk of acquiring infectious diseases like HIV.
Mr Hamilton said he would study the ruling.
A number of issues will be looked at in the Court of Appeal, including whether blood policy should be a devolved matter.
The appeal is expected to last for four days.
The NIBTS did not respond to the BBC to give an additional comment.
A Department of Health spokesman said: “It would not be appropriate at this stage to comment on matters that are before the courts.”

Happy National Coming Out Day!

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave 5 Comments

BY OUT.COM EDITORS

OCTOBER 11 2015 10:00 AM EDT

From Tom Daley to Troye Sivan and Ellen Page, relive these incredible coming out videos.

First celebrated in 1988, National Coming Out Day has been observed every October 11 for more than 25 years. In the United States, 2015 has been a year of huge change, from the legalization of same-sex marriage to the unprecedented visibility of trans people. Had people in our community not come out, none of this would have been possible. It takes knowing LGBT people, talking with them, loving them, for society at large to understand and embrace us.
One day, it may not be necessary for us to come out, but until that point, coming out is a hugely important—and hugely nerve wrecking—moment in any LGBT person’s life. In this age of YouTube, many have taken to the internet, not only to get it done with in one swift motion, but also to help make it easier for young people struggling with their sexual and/or gender identities. Here are some of the biggest and most influential coming out videos:
Austin and Aaron Rhodes: 20.5 million views

Ingrid Nilsen: 12.5 million views

Tom Daley: 11.6 million views

Connor Franta: 9.4 million views

Troye Sivan: 5.9 million views

Ellen Page: 5.3 million views

Joey Graceffa: 5.8 million views

Lucas Cruikshank: 4.7 million views

Gigi Gorgeous: 3 million views

StoryCorps Releases Hopeful, Pre-Stonewall Story for National Coming Out Day

12/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

BY OUT.COM EDITORS

OCTOBER 11 2015 1:00 PM EDT

As part of StoryCorps’ OutLoud initiative to gather LGBTQ stories across America, Patrick Haggerty recalls talking with his father about being gay in rural Dry Creek, Washington, in the late 1950s.

The groundbreaking oral history project StoryCorps released the animated short “The Saint of Dry Creek” in partnership with the It Gets Better Project today as part of the OutLoud initiative to document the stories of LGBTQ people across America. In the story, Patrick Haggerty remembers the advice his father, a dairy farmer in rural Dry Creek, Wa., gave him when, in the late 1950s, he realized his son was gay.
OutLoud documents the powerful, varied experiences of LGBTQ people. The initiative honors the stories of those who lived before the 1969 Stonewall uprisings, celebrates the lives of LGBTQ youth, and amplifies the voices of those most often excluded from the historical record.

“We’ve recorded 700 interviews with 1500 people in the last year,” Isay tells Out. “I am surprised again and again how important these interviews are to the participants, and how powerful the stories are, and how little there is in the public record about life pre-Stonewall, especially in small towns and red states, like in this recent story. They rip my heart out—and inspire me—again and again. “

The end result of OutLoud will be a diverse collection of stories that will enrich our nation’s history.StoryCorps launched OutLoud in 2014 on the occasion of the 45th anniversary of the riots, in memory of StoryCorps founder Dave Isay’s father, the renowned psychiatrist and early advocate for marriage equality Dr. Richard Isay, who came out to Dave when he was 22 and Richard was 52. More information about OutLoud, and interviews collected for the initiative, can be found atStoryCorps.org/outloud/.
StoryCorps and the It Gets Better Project released this animated story for National Coming Out Day. See more StoryCorps.org/animation/

Transgender woman targeted with a PIPE BOMB ‘for being LGBT

08/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Nick Duffy
6^th October 2015, 10:32 AM

Police are investigating after a trans woman’s home was bombed in Northern Ireland.
27-year-old Rachael Keys of Derry/Londonderry was forced out of her home after the incident on Saturday.
A pipe bomb that had been left on her windowsill exploded, shattering the window and showering her with glass.
Ms Keys, who luckily escaped without serious injury, told Belfast Live that police believe she was targeted for being trans.
She said: “I am a member of the LGBT community. The police feel that I may have been attacked because of that reason.”
Five homes were evacuated after the bombing, with families forced to seek shelter in a local community centre.
Ms Keys added: “I was just watching TV in my living room. Suddenly the window came through, there was glass everywhere and there was a big bang and a flash. I was covered in glass.
“To be honest I was completely dazed, I didn’t know what was happening. It scared the life out of me. I just ran out of the house screaming to my neighbours.
“I didn’t even have time to lift my poor cat, Jessie, who was sleeping in the bedroom. I was terrified, shaking, upset.

She continued: “The police came and cordoned the place off and evacuated us all to the community centre. I was totally dazed.
“One of my neighbours is epileptic and I was really worried about her not being able to get her medication. Another neighbour has a child who is autistic, another is a pensioner. It was awful for them. Just awful.
“We all had to sleep in the community centre overnight. I was distraught. Someone gave me a tablet to help calm me down and help me sleep. I didn’t sleep though.”
A Police Service of Northern Ireland officer told the newspaper: “We are lucky that no one was injured by this device, or by the window smashing.
“This is being treated as a sectarian hate crime and I would appeal to anyone with any information about this incident to contact detectives at Strand Road police station on the non-emergency number 101.”

Gay Rape. It exists and we need to talk about it

08/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

By The Gay UK, Oct 6 2015 01:00PM

Rape is a most detestable crime. It is a crime that involves sex but also violence, deceit, power and in some instances romance. As a society we have come to the (unfounded) conclusion that rape is a violent affair, committed by a stranger in a dark alley at midnight and victims are always women. How wrong we are.

(C) Kwest / Depositphotos.com | FILE PHOTO

Historically, there has been little consideration of men as victims of rape. The law only recognised non-consensual penetration of the anus as rape in 2003 under the Sexual Offences Act. But male rape in the twenty first century is, more than ever, a social issue.
According to the most recent government statistics, The British Crime Survey (2013) found that out of 473,000 victims of sexual assault, 72,000 are male. Narrow this to rape and it is estimated that 78,000 people in the UK are victims of rape, of which 9,000 are believed to be men. For those who like statistics, male rape accounts for almost twelve per cent of the estimated national total; a figure that cannot be ignored.
Whilst this is a serious social issue, you wonder why a gay lifestyle magazine is raising the subject. The reason is that current law is gender specific, meaning only men can be perpetrators of rape, not women. In other words, men are raping 9,000 other men a year. Gay rape exists and we need to talk about it.
The most basic definition of rape is sexual intercourse without consent. The issue with this is that there exists no clear definition of what consent means and it presupposes that both parties define consent in the same way. As a result victims often don’t understand that they have been abused.
When violence is involved, it is easier to identify a lack of consent because there would often be evidence of resistance. Although it is no longer necessary to show that force was used to prove that sex was non-consensual, it remains difficult for most to understand this and a gap is created between principle and practice. In principle, any submission to non-consensual sex is rape. Yet those who are subject of rape will often fail to recognise this and would not consider themselves victims.

© Zoooom / Depositphotos.com | FILE PHOTO

It is alarming to discover that the real rape stereotype, mentioned above, is so wrong. In most instances the victim is raped by someone known to him and this is known as acquaintance rape; often this involves some form of deceit, intoxication and also romance. Note that violence is very rare in this scenario and it distinguishes between force and unwanted sex. It is important for us as a community to recognise this distinction and recognise the later as the most prevalent form of gay rape.
In large, social attitudes are to blame for us not recognising rape when it happens. But another hurdle for male rape victims is the police. Since the legal identification of male rape, there has been an increase on police reporting every year. However, these figures are an underestimation of the true reflection of male rape due to the reluctance many have to report their experience. The statistics in this instance are merely the tip of the iceberg.
Recent reports* have suggested that police officers responsibility and care for victims of male rape is very poor. Treatment provided is completely insufficient because there is a lack of training, awareness and understanding. Compare this to the extensive training and recent reform gone in to female rape and it may appear somewhat homophobic, that the police consider male rape as a less serious issue. All this adds to the reluctance victims have to report their rape to the police.
As a result of poor education, police often challenge male rape victims’ sexuality and masculinity. In instances of acquaintance rape (which we know is the most common form) police tend to view victims as somewhat culpable for their rape because they failed to fight off their attacker. Consequentially, the police are far more likely to blame homosexual male rape victims than heterosexual male rape victims for their rape. This would suggest that the police consider sexual violence less distressing for homosexual men and are more likely to view the rape as consensual sex.
Despite all this, if a rape victim manages to be taken serious and the case was to proceed to trial, the victim has to endure the gruelling process of cross-examination. As questions surrounding the male rape victim’s sexual history with the alleged perpetrator are allowed at trial, it can be argued that if consensual homosexual sec took place previously, it was also consensual sex at the time in question. In addition to this, the victims’ physical response can be used to discredit the male rape victim. For example, if the victim were to have an erection and ejaculate, despite this being an involuntary reaction. Yet this involuntary body response is used as to argue that the male rape victim consent to the sexual activity.
It is evident that there is a lack of understanding to manage male rape victims because there is a lack of understanding and knowledge of male rape. This is amplified by the continuing presence of rape myths and stereotyping certain (homosexual) victims of male rape. The only way to counter this is to demand attention and to discuss the issue, amongst ourselves, with the police and if be it in court.
* Javaid, A. (2014) Male Rape: The Unseen World of Male Rape. Internet Journal of Criminlogy, ISSN 2045 6743Khan, N. A. (2008) Male Rape: The Emergence of a Social and Legal Issue. Great Britain: Palgrave Macmillan.Rumney, P. (2008) ‘Policing male rape and sexual assault.’ Journal of Criminal Law, 72 (1), pp. 67-86.

http://www.cara-friend.org.uk/

by Joshua Vaughan | @Joshua_Le_Von

“Real equality” is what the Conservatives stand for, according to David Cameron

08/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

17:30 7th October 2015 by Josh Withey David-Cameron

British Prime Minister David Cameron spoke about how important equality meant to his party, in his speech to the Conservative’s annual conference.

Mr Cameron told party members, MPs and the press: “Ten years ago I stood on a stage quite like this one, and I said that if we changed our party, we could change our country.
“We’ve done that together.
“It wasn’t just me that put social justice, tackling climate change, equality for gay people, and helping the world’s poorest at the centre of the Conservative Party’s mission. We all did.”
This wasn’t the only reference to equality Mr Cameron made in his speech in Manchester, he went on to say: “We can talk all we like about opportunity, but it is meaningless unless people are really judged equally.
“Think about it like this: opportunity doesn’t mean much to a British Muslim if he walks down the street and is abused for his faith.
“Opportunity doesn’t mean much to a black person constantly stopped and searched by the police because of the colour of their skin.
“Opportunity doesn’t mean much to a gay person rejected for a job because of the person they love. It doesn’t mean much to a disabled person prevented from doing what they’re good at because of who they are.”
“The point is, you can’t have true opportunity without real equality, and I want our party to get this right. The party of the fair chance. The party of the equal shot.
“I want us, the Conservatives, to end discrimination and finish the fight for real equality in our country today.”
The Prime Minister made his comments on the same day the United Kingdom was knocked off the number one spot in the European Union’s Rainbow Index. The UK, which was previously number one for four years, is no longer considered the best European country to be LGBT in.
In addition to that, yesterday John Walker was denied the same pension rights for his hisband that heterosexual couples have. His partner of 20 years is only entitled to £500 of an £41,000 pension a year.
Despite the fantastic moves forward in LGBT equality, it seems the Conservative Party still have their work cut out of them to achieve true equality for all.

Companies vow to hire and support LGBT graduates

08/10/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Adam Cullen – 08/10/2015 | 02:30

Deutsche Bank was one of the companies present at the event

Some of the world’s biggest companies have gathered in Dublin to give their commitment to the recruitment of Irish lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) graduates.

Finance giants MetLife and Deutsche Bank were joined by Vodafone, LinkedIn, PayPal, Enterprise Rent-A-Car and others in the RDS at the gradireland event yesterday for the launch of the new LGBT recruitment drive.

The Gay and Lesbian Equality Network’s (GLEN) Diversity Champions programme aims to connect the nations young graduates with LGBT-friendly companies.
Speaking at the event, GLEN’s director of workplace diversity, Davin Roche, said the programme was incredibly important for those who want to know that their sexuality will be “fully respected”.
“Most young jobseekers, including LGBT jobseekers, want to join companies that clearly demonstrate that they are progressive and inclusive,” he said.
“LGBT employees in particular want to know that the companies they join will be workplaces where they can be themselves, where they can thrive and succeed, and where their sexual orientation or gender identity will be fully respected and welcomed as part of a diverse organisation.
“Young people joining companies are more likely to conceal their sexual orientation than those who have been there for many years, which emphasises the need for companies to demonstrate that they are inclusive,” he added.
Senior Operations Manager with US giant MetLife Michael Quinn said the programme was vital for “encouraging employees to be themselves at work”.
“It’s been refreshing to experience the level of support and encouragement offered to LGBT employees here at MetLife,” he said.
“Launching our LGBT employee group in Dublin has been an important milestone, encouraging all employees to bring their whole selves to work.”
The news comes after the Department of Education revealed new rules are on the way to help transgender pupils in areas such as uniforms and the use of changing rooms.
The position of children in single-sex schools who undergo a gender change – as they now may do from the age of 16 – was also a key talking point in discussions week this week.
As reported in the Irish Independent, a number of schools are already struggling with how to handle the issue, which has come into sharper focus following the passage of recent gender recognition legislation.
There are no official figures for the percentage of the Irish population that is transgender, but internationally it is 1pc.

Irish Independent