My second highlight was the presentation given by Stephen Connolly on Forrest Reid (born 24 June 1875, Belfast, Ireland; d. 4 January 1947, Warrenpoint, County Down, Northern Ireland) – a forgotten author from our shores. A man who as known by a wide and high circle of friends and colleagues during his time, but whose books are difficult to find, yet when you do read one you want to read the others. They books are full of wit and humour, brilliant descriptive pieces in relation to Belfast during his time.
…Though his books are not necessarily well known today, he has been labelled ‘the first Ulster novelist of European stature’, and comparisons have been drawn between his owncoming of age novel of Protestant Belfast, Following Darkness (1912), and James Joyce‘s seminal novel of growing up in Catholic Dublin, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man(1924). Reid’s fiction, which often uses submerged narratives to explore male beauty and love, can be placed within the historical context of the emergence of a more explicit expression of homosexuality in English literature in the 20th century...
Some of his books are being reprinted by Valancourt Books and can be purchased here:
Archives for 2015
EDITORIAL: Whilst I loved the Book Festival, what was disappointing was the level of support from our political leaders, namely our Ministers, MLAs, and Councillors, who all appear to have been missing in action. This is a world renown event, has world renown artists in attendance but a source has indicated to me that to their knowledge not one of them has made an appearance; this means that our Westminster MPs (18 as at 2010), our Stormont MLAs (108) and our Belfast Councillors (60 as at 2014) were all to busy to support what is a prime event both for Belfast and Northern Ireland, but also in the eyes of tourists and internationally.3 years in prison just for being gay
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In 3 days, two Moroccan men could get 3-year jail terms – just for being gay.
Join a global outcry to free Lahcen and Mohsine.
Hypocrisy Strikes Again
Editorial: How often in the recent past have we had pastors, reporters and people in power rant and rave about gays and the sin they do, and then we discover they are either closet gay themselves or have led adulterous lives. Who is doing the most harm I wonder?
Reprinted from 
THURSDAY, MAY 21, 2015
Michigan Grindr pastor urged gay teen to kill himself, says mom
The closeted father of five told a gay 17-year-old he was going to hell, so he might as well go now
Michigan Grindr pastor urged gay teen to kill himself, says mom
Jennifer Kish, Tyler Kish (WNEM)
The recently outed anti-gay pastor Matthew Makela is coming under fire not just for his hypocrisy but, according to the mother of one of his parishioners, he encouraged her gay son that since he was going to hell anyway, he might as well kill himself.
After Queerty reported earlier this week that the married Midland, Michigan pastor used the Grindr networking app to chat with, and solicit sex from, other men. St. John’s Lutheran Church, where Makela worked until his resignation on Monday, issued a statement urging people not to read any more about Makela or his “sin.”
“The details of sin that have been kept confidential are being posted online by those who seek to do harm to the Makela family and to St. John’s,” the statement said. “This is taking an already difficult situation and making it even more painful. I write this to you to warn you that you may be confronted with the details of the sin, and to remind you that sin is never pretty.”
The writer of the Queerty article disagreed, claiming that “[i]f Makela made even one LGBT kid at St. John’s ‘Christ-based’ elementary school, their parents, friends, family or anyone who ever stepped foot in the church feel like being true to yourself is shameful (and it seems all too likely that he did), then we’re glad to share his hypocrisy with the world.”
According to Jennifer Kisk, Makela did far worse than make his LGBT parishioners uncomfortable — he actively urged them to kill themselves. As WNEM’s David Custer reported, Makela told then 17-year-old Tyler Kish — who was suffering from depression at the time — that if he insisted on embracing a homosexual lifestyle, he might as well commit the mortal sin of suicide because he was already ticketed for hell.
“If he’s going to hell for being gay then he might as well commit suicide,” Kish said Makela advised her son. He also, she alleged, went on social media to berate her for remaining supportive of her son after he came out to her.
Watch Custer’s interview with the Kishes below via WNEM.
WNEM TV 5 – CLICK THE LINK FOR THE VIDEO
Why GLBT Books Are Important
Editorial: Over the last week The Crescent Arts Centre has held its 5th annual Belfast Book Festival. We in NIGRA have been extremely pleased to support this festival and to be involved in two of its events:
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FORREST REID – ANDREW DOYLE IN CONVERSATION WITH STEPHEN CONNOLLY held on Friday 12th June
and
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THOMAS HITZLSPERGER – who became the most high-profile footballer to come out as gay following his retirement from football, and his international career.
Both events highlighted just how important role models are to all of our community, but in particular to thos who are coming to terms with being gay. In today’s society positive role models are rarely provided, and books and good movies are a natural provider of these.
However, with budget cuts, and with book providers not looking outside the norm for their sales, and also with gay magazines being prohibitively expensive and not freely accessible in libraries etc. todays LGBT youth has been and is being short changed.
I am reprinting an article from GLBT News on The Importance of GLBT Book Month written by Peter Coyl to support my comments:
The Importance of GLBT Book Month
As a teenager, I was such an avid library user I got a job shelving books at the library in the Children’s section. On my breaks, I would roam the stacks of the second floor adult fiction area looking for something new to read. One day, a book caught my eye, and I started flipping through it. It was about gay people. Young and scared, I put the book away and quickly checked to see if someone had seen me looking at this book. I then went back to work, my brain reeling.
A week or so later, I realized that if I accidentally found a book with gay people in it, maybe I could “on purpose” find one. So I looked in the library catalog and voila: we had some. In fact, we had a book in the Young Adult section that had gay characters in it.
So at age 15, that is how I came to read Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook by Todd Brown. This was the first book to show me that I was normal. That yes, other teenagers felt like I did. Despite it being on the shelf and being accessible, I was scared to read it and scared others would find out I was reading it.
This is why GLBT Book Month is important.
GLBT Book Month is important because it gives readers exposure to the works of authors and topics they may not have known existed.
The GLBTRT Executive Board often is contacted (collectively and individually) by library staff or librarians about problems at their library relating to GLBT materials: books cataloged so kids can’t find them, displays that are not allowed to be put up, programs that are cancelled, and the numerous other issues that come up when librarians try to provide equitable service.
This past week, a library an 75 miles away from me made headlines because of a cancelled author appearance (the author has written a book about coming out as a Christian) and the removal of a PFLAG display that had been constructed to coincide with the visit. In the end, the appearance was reinstatedand the display put back up. Things like this shouldn’t happen. But they will continue to happen as long as we do not speak up and promote what we do.
I am not encouraging civil disobedience or actions that would put employment in peril. I am encouraging promoting of GLBT Book Month in whatever way you can in your institution. We have a book month, let’s use it.
That being said, though, it’s time GLBT books, especially those in libraries, came out of the closet.
Libraries and librarians need to stop being afraid of what is on their shelves. It’s been said that a good library should have something in it to offend everyone. Let that be the case.
GLBT Book Month is for everyone. It isn’t just about highlighting books for the GLBT community, it’s about exposing every reader to a new idea, a new story, a new author. In the same way National Poetry Month isn’t just for the poets, GLBT Book Month isn’t just for “the gays.”
So dust off those display ideas you’ve had squirreled way. Order a poster and bookmarks from ALA Graphics. Cut out those rainbow letters. Tack up a flag in the corner. Put out some books from theStonewall Book Awards, Rainbow Book List or Over the Rainbow Book list. Let your community know that you are proud to serve everyone. And if you have a copy of Entries from a Hot Pink Notebook in your collection, maybe you can put it in your display for the kid who shelves your children’s books to see. He may need it.
Do the LGBT Youth in Northern Ireland feel safe?
Editorial: So LGBT young people in Scotland ‘feel unsafe’! I wonder if the same is true in Northern Ireland – only you the readers can tell us. What not leave us share stories in our comments box.
Many LGBT young people ‘feel unsafe’
Many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transsexual (LGBT) young people still encounter harassment in public spaces, according to a Scottish charity.
LGBT Youth Scotland said its research suggested more needed to be done to ensure LGBT young people felt safe.
It urged those affected to understand their rights and report discrimination.
The charity said not every young person was aware of what constituted a criminal act under hate crime legislation .
In an online survey of LGBT people aged 13 to 25 conducted by the charity, 49% of the 273 respondents said they felt safe and supported by the legal system. The figure fell to 40% among those who identified as transgender.
Half of those surveyed said they were aware of their rights, while a similar proportion (53%) said they would feel confident in reporting a crime they experienced to the police.
Among transgender young people the figure dropped to 48%, while bisexual women were the least likely to feel confident reporting a hate crime at 46%.
Hate crimes
Just over half (51%) of transgender young people said they felt safe using public transport.
While the charity has welcomed an increase in the reporting of hate crimes, YGBT Youth Scotland has recommended that campaigns, activities and lesson plans be developed for use in schools, with specific reference to hate crime.
Chief executive Fergus McMillan said: “In Scotland, we are fortunate to have strong hate crime legislation that is inclusive of transgender identities yet the safety report shows a gap in knowledge and confidence for transgender young people in particular.
“When young people know about their rights, and have confidence in the process, they are more likely to be willing to report.
“An increase in reported crimes since the introduction of the legislation is certainly positive, yet more must be done to ensure that LGBT young people feel safe in their communities, understand their rights and how to report discrimination and harassment, and have the confidence to report.”
Gay Cake Affair 'Crumbles' on
Anti-Gay Marriage Cake Baker Outlines Appeal Grounds
By The Gay UK, Jun 11 2015 07:25AM
The Christian-run bakery which refused to bake a pro-marriage cake has outlined its appeal to the judgement that found it had acted unlawfully in refusing the cake order.
CREDIT: Steve Schoeder (flickr)
The bakery, in Northern Ireland, was found to have acted unlawfully when it refused to make a cake that beared a pro gay marriage slogan for Gareth Lee, by a court last month. It was ordered to pay £500 in compensation to Mr. Lee.
In a statement released by the Christian Institute, an organisation that has funded many appeals against legal matters surrounding gay issues, has raised three questions to support their appeal.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers had discriminated against Mr Lee directly on grounds of sexual orientation.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers had discriminated against Mr Lee directly on grounds of religious belief or political opinion.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers was not entitled to protection as a result of the rights under Articles 9 and/or 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A spokesperson for the Christian Institute, Simon Calvert, believes that “most people” would support an overturning of the ruling that found that the business had acted unlawfully, this despite a poll undertaken in 2014 which showed that the majority supported same-sex marriage.
The Christian Institute is a registered charity that has sought to retain section 28, to raise the age of consent for gay people and opposed the Civil Partnership Act and same-sex marriage act.
The Christian Institute has backed many legal actions in the past, but has been unsuccessful in many attempts, most notably the Christian Institute backed Hotel owners Mr and Mrs Ball, who infamously denied lodgings to a gay couple. Numerous attempts of appeal have all subsequently failed.
In a statement released by the Christian Institute, an organisation that has funded many appeals against legal matters surrounding gay issues, has raised three questions to support their appeal.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers had discriminated against Mr Lee directly on grounds of sexual orientation.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers had discriminated against Mr Lee directly on grounds of religious belief or political opinion.
Whether the judge was correct, as a matter of law, to hold that Ashers was not entitled to protection as a result of the rights under Articles 9 and/or 10 of the European Convention on Human Rights.
A spokesperson for the Christian Institute, Simon Calvert, believes that “most people” would support an overturning of the ruling that found that the business had acted unlawfully, this despite a poll undertaken in 2014 which showed that the majority supported same-sex marriage.
The Christian Institute is a registered charity that has sought to retain section 28, to raise the age of consent for gay people and opposed the Civil Partnership Act and same-sex marriage act.
The Christian Institute has backed many legal actions in the past, but has been unsuccessful in many attempts, most notably the Christian Institute backed Hotel owners Mr and Mrs Ball, who infamously denied lodgings to a gay couple. Numerous attempts of appeal have all subsequently failed.
Presbyterians in Scottish gay ministers boycott
Editorial: So the Irish General Assembly of the Presbyterian’s are boycotting the Scottish Assembly over its more liberal views on gay marriage and gay vicars – loving and accepting aren’t they!
BY ALF MCCREARY – 11 JUNE 2015
The Presbyterian Church in Ireland has delivered a resounding snub to its Scottish brethren by boycotting their Assembly in protest over a controversial gay clergy vote.
The Scottish Church voted last month to allow people in same-sex civil partnerships to serve as ministers and deacons, a move that angered many leaders of Presbyterianism here.
And now, in an unprecedented sign of the split between the regions, the Irish General Assembly has voted not to send a representative to the Scottish Assembly next year, thus breaking a long-standing tradition between the two sister Churches.
The Scottish Church historically has close links with the Presbyterian Church in Ireland, which has some 230,000 members.
Last month Church leaders here said their Scottish counterparts had “moved away from the historic and biblical position”.
The vote to boycott the Scottish Assembly, which is bound to further sour relations, was passed by 99 votes to 84.
Before the vote was taken the clerk of the General Assembly, the Reverend Trevor Gribben, said it would apply for one year and would not affect any invitation to the Church of Scotland to send a representative to the General Assembly in Belfast next year.
But a spokesman for the Irish Presbyterian Church told the Belfast Telegraph: “While we have not taken a formal stance on the Scottish vote, as we said at the time, many would have felt a sense of sorrow and deep regret at the Church of Scotland’s decision to allow the ordination of ministers who are in a same-sex marriage.
“In a heartfelt and finely balanced debate at the General Assembly last week, members judged that they would express this deep regret by taking a symbolic step not to appoint representatives on this occasion to go to Edinburgh in 2016.”
The decision by the General Assembly to boycott next year’s meeting in Edinburgh is at odds with the plea by the incoming Irish Moderator, the Rt Reverend Dr McNie, who appealed in his opening address for greater toleration by society of the Church’s views.”
He added: “Toleration is a two-way street.”
The position taken by the Church of Scotland means it maintains a traditional view of marriage between a man and woman, but allows individual congregations to “opt out” if they wish to appoint a minister or a deacon in a same-sex civil partnership.
Meanwhile, the Belfast Telegraph understands that the Armagh Presbytery is setting up a special commission to consider the views of the Portadown minister the Reverend Christina Bradley, who publicly expressed support for same-sex marriage at the time of the Irish referendum.
This is thought to be because the Presbyterian Church teaching opposes same-sex marriage.
A spokesman for the Presbyterian Church in Ireland told the Belfast Telegraph yesterday: “Ultimately, a minister or an elder is answerable to their Presbytery for matters of life and doctrine.
“This is an internal matter for the Church, and the Armagh Presbytery has indicated it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time.”
The vote in the Irish referendum was overwhelmingly in favour of gay marriage and resulted in calls for a change to the law in Northern Ireland, with several high-profile peeople joining the campaign.
Northern Ireland's Marriage Equality Battle
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Book Review: Speaking Out – Queer Youth in Focus photography by Rachelle Lee Smith
Posted on:  |
Speaking Out is a collection of photographic portraits of LBGT young people (aged 14-24 years old). 65+ young people, mostly from the USA are photographed. On each portrait young people have shared their thoughts, feelings or an experience. The young people have been honest in sharing their joys and tribulations of being an LGBT youth in a heterosexual world.In Speaking Out photographer Rachelle Lee Smith took the portraits, handed young people a sharpie pen and left them to write what they wanted. Among other topics, young people wrote about: stereotypes, identity, homophobia, self-love and romantic love. Young people identify as gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgendered. It was great to see transgendered young people represented, however the vast majority of the young people identified as lesbian. |
Years later, some young people reconsidered their portrait. They wrote about how their lives had changed and what they would write now. It was enjoyable to read these reflections from young people and the book would have benefited from having more of these. Several pages of the book felt wasted as they contained quotes that either praised the photographer or the book its self. Never was there any praise for the young people who were actually brave enough to share their stories.
Speaking Out is presented well, it’s a large book with 127 glossy pages in full colour. There is the odd page where a young person’s hand writing makes it difficult to read what they’ve written, but at no point is it unreadable.
Speaking Out is an enlightening book that shows how we are all the same, rather than how we are different. It should be available in every school, college, library and youth club.
What do you think of the book – let us know by writing in our comments.
Why is the UK Government silent on Russian Anti-Gay Excesses?
Editorial: I have written before and put up articles about how the Russian government is orchestrating and allowing attacks on the LGBT population – the latest action has taken place in Kiev. Indeed, Alexander Yakovenko, Russia’s Ambassador to the United Kingdom, has even drawn attention to Britain’s silence on the anti-gay violence in Ukraine!
Whilst the British government in the past has drawn attention to Russia’s 2013 law on “gay propaganda”, which is similar to that of several US states, this time around they have been noticeably reticent.
I would ask you to sign up to one of the various campaigns in the country, sing up for newsletters, make your views known. Abuse, no matter which sector of the community it is aimed, at, is not acceptable.
Check out this video Channel 4’s programme by Matt Frei ‘Anti-gay campaign shows Russia’s worst side’:
What do you think? Let us know your thoughts, STOP ABUSE NOW!!
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