ACOMSDave

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Archives for 2015

For Harry Potter Fans

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Harry Potter star makes fans’ fantasies come true with April Fools’ joke

Tom Felton posted a picture of him and Daniel Radcliffe with the caption ‘We’re together now’ on Instagram
| BY STEFANIE GERDIS
source: Instagram
 
 
With his April Fools’ Day joke actor Tom Felton tricked the internet into believing some Harry Potter fans’ dream had finally come true.
Felton, best known for playing Draco Malfoy in the Harry Potter movies, posted a photoshopped picture of him and on-screen enemy Daniel Radcliffe on Instagram.Tom Felton Photoshop for Harry Pottter
The black and white picture shows the topless actors lying head to head and is captioned: ‘May as well just say it. We’re together now x #drarry’.
Drarry is often used to tag fan works, including fan fiction, to indicate a fictional romantic relationship between Harry and Draco.
The pairing, one of the most popular among fans, became even bigger after the publication of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, in which author J.K. Rowling included the line ‘he was rapidly becoming obsessed with Draco Malfoy.’
Following his use of the hashtag, Instagram and Twitter exploded and fans discussed their favorite pairing from the Harry Potter universe in the comments.
Felton frequently posts pictures of reunions with other Harry Potter cast members on social media and also uses fan jargon in his posts.
Most fans did not fall for the joke but rather took it as a nod to the fandom and a way for Felton to show his awareness and appreciation of fan art.

Gay Sex Rings

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Editorial:  Gay Sex Rings have for various reasons been in the news in Northern Ireland.  Obviously when you read the article from GayStarNews you will be shocked and if you have family travelling abroad you will have worries.  You are right to be worried, however you cannot prevent every harm that is out there, all you can do is prepare your love ones, and friends, by making certain they are aware to be careful and to setup regular check-in times so that you can raise alarms when appropriate.

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Hungarian man faces 155 years’ jail for running gay sex slave ring in Miami

He kept three young gay men locked up in a house as ‘sex slaves’ and forced them to prostitute themselves for up to 20 hours a day
| BY SYLVIA TAN
Andras Vass

Andras Vass

 
A 25-year-old Hungarian man is facing 155 years in prison after 12 jurors found him guilty of human trafficking and racketeering on Thursday.
Andras Vass and two other men, Gabor Acs and Viktor Berki were arrested last October for running a company called Never Sleep Inc which forced three young men to prostitute themselves for up to 20 hours a day.
The Miami Herald reported that according to the arrest warrant, the company in 2012 flew the three men aged 20-22 to New York City, where they lived in a cramped one-bedroom apartment and were forced to have sex with customers or with each other on webcam.
Up to eight men lived and worked in the apartment.
In August 2012, the group moved their operation to Miami-Dade.
The court heard that the ringleaders kept their passports, and threatened them and their families back in Hungary if they refused to work.
According to the authorities, the ringleaders met two victims in Hungary through a website called GayRomeo.com while another was ‘living with gypsies’ as a male prostitute in Hungary when he met one company representative through Facebook, the Miami Herald reported.
The victims were promised they would make US$3,500 to US$5,000 a month for legal escort work.
Vass faces a minimum of 21 years and up to 155 years in prison. He will be sentenced June 2.
Acs and Berki, a former policeman in Hungary, are still awaiting trial.

Watch these five people make a powerful point about family

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This heart-warming video proves family is family, whether you’re gay or straight

| BY MEL SPENCER
Connor describes what family means to him

Photo: YouTube
 
 
What do you think of when you hear the word ‘family’?
Perhaps it’s your parents laughing and squabbling on a car journey, or maybe it’s the kids you’re planning in the future.
Five willing volunteers, Ricardo, Jan, Connor, Yvonne and Danielle, were asked to explain what ‘family’ means to them, revealing the beautifully individual ways their parents have shaped their lives, and what this means for their future relationships.
After sharing their dreams for their weddings and children, it came as a shock to many viewers that – spoiler alert – all five video stars are gay.
By exploring their everyday experiences of family life, the video hopes to prove to critics of same-sex marriage and adoption that a loving family, in whatever form it takes, is something to be celebrated – and, surprisingly enough, has little to do with a person’s sexual orientation.
‘I think a happy family is the kind of family that creates individuals, that are independent as well,’ explained Yvonne.
‘Kids that can be strong and can be very energetic, very out there, but they know they can have that place they can always go back to.’
Many viewers appear to have been shocked by the plot twist at the end of the video.
One commenter, Megan Tomlinson, posted: ‘So glad I liked this video before I knew the ending, made me feel extra happy.’
‘Bit of a shock at the end. Excellent video,’ said another, Conor O’Flaherty.
The video, produced by Irish YouTube channel Facts, comes ahead of the country’s referendum on same-sex marriage, taking place on 22 May.
Watch the video here:

Authorities try to shut down Russia’s only support group for LGBTI youths

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Authorities try to shut down Russia’s only support group for LGBTI youths because of ‘gay propaganda’

 Founder Lena Klimova said she would take proceedings to the European Court of Justice should the project be banned
| BY STEFANIE GERDIS

Russian LGBTI youth support group Children-404 is facing the danger of being shut down for breaching the country’s ‘anti-gay propaganda’ laws.
Demands from the country’s media authority Roskomnadzor and the Kremlin-loyal youth organization Young Guard forced the General Prosecutor’s office into action, according to Russian newspaper Vedomosti and German news website queer.de.
A court will have to decide whether the group’s online presence, giving LGBTI teens and children a community to talk about their experiences, violates they country’s law; the court date is set for 6 April.
Roskomnadzor announced it had received more than 150 complaints from citizens; the authority’s investigation showed a ‘potential breach of the law’ by ‘advertising non-traditional sexual relationships among minors’.
If the court’s decision matches the General Prosecutor’s claim and Children-404 is banned on 6 April the media authority also intends to ‘meet community needs’ by publishing a single list of banned information.
‘We have passed a law banning the promotion of homosexuality among children, we must abide by it,’ Pavel Astakhov, the Commissioner for Children’s Rights, said earlier this week.
‘If a site does not comply with the law, it is closed.’
Lena Klimova, founder of Children-404, said she feared the proposed shut-down was only a matter of time but she would not give up: ‘Even the powerful media authority will not destroy this Facebook group that easily.’
Klimova said if need be she would be ready to carry proceedings to the European Court of Justice should the Russian authorities close the project

Be careful where you wash your hands

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Editorial: Cottaging is a British gay slang term referring to anonymous sex between homosexual men in a public lavatory (a “cottage”, “tea-room” or “beat“), or cruising for sexual partners with the intention of having sex elsewhere. The term has its roots in self-contained English toilet blocks resembling small cottages in their appearance; in the English cant language of Polari this became a double entendre by gay men referring to sexual encounters.

According to Roger Casement’s diaries, from 1903 to 1911, the gay cruising areas in Belfast were at the Albert Clock (probably also around the Customs House toilet), Botanic Gardens, Ormeau Park, and the Giants Ring. Cottaging went on in Victoria Square in an elegant wrought iron edifice (which was still operating in the 1960s and may be in the Ulster Folk Museum) and at the Gasworks.

Cottaging is not something that is recommended as the police will take action, and in the past this had led to prosecution and unfortunately to individuals feeling so threatened by this that they have committed suicide.

The Rainbow Project offers a free Safer Sex Packs delivered direct to your address in Northern Ireland. To receive these please fill in the form on their website. You are eligible to receive our free Safer Sex Packs if you identify as the following:

  • A Gay, Bisexual or Man who has Sex with Men (MSM) living in Northern Ireland

Want to find out more about where to get condoms?

You can get free condoms from:

  • Brook NI if under 25 – www.brook.org.uk

  • Rainbow Project Belfast and Foyle Offices

  • Partner Bars and Clubs

  • GUM Clinics and Community Pharmacies

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Pensioner who groped burly trucker after mistaking lay-by for gay hook-up spot guilty of sex assault

The Mirror : 15:39, 11 April 2015 By Nick Towle

The horrified victim thought Dennis Cockerill, 82, was asking for directions before he began touching his legs and crotch

Guilty: Cockerill said he wanted to “verify” rumours the lay-by was a gay sex hotspot
A randy pensioner who groped a trucker after he mistook a lay-by for a gay hook-up spot has been convicted of sex assault.
Dennis Cockerill, 82, stopped at the Skipbridge lay-by in Hammerton Green, near Harrogate, looking for “a bit of fun”, a court heard.
He approached the victim, a burly lorry driver in his 40s, believing he was also a sex cruiser, York Crown Court was told.
But Cockerill was misinformed, and the Yorkshire trucker had stopped in the lay-by to load some pig feed onto another wagon.
Prosecutor Paul Newcombe told a jury how Cockerill got up on the step at the side of the victim’s cab and began chatting him up, before reaching through an open window and touching him on the arm, his knee and then his crotch.
The horrified trucker nudged the lustful pensioner away and called the police, who turned up and arrested Cockerill.
Cockerill, from Kent, told officers he’d heard a rumour that the lay-by was used as a meeting placed for gay men and he wanted to “verify” this.
Read more at: http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/uk-news/pensioner-who-groped-burly-trucker-5499825

Gays in the Military

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Edirotial:

Since 12 January 2000 The MOD’s policy is to allow homosexual men, lesbians and transgender personnel to serve openly, and discrimination on a sexual orientation basis is forbidden.  It is also forbidden for someone to pressure LGBT people to come out. All personnel are subject to the same rules against sexual harassment, regardless of gender or sexual orientation.

In the Republic of Ireland, an obvious close neighbour of the United Kingdom, which had carried some of its interpretation of law over from the time that the United Kingdom ruled there, there has been no preclusion since 1993 when male homosexuality was decriminalised in the Republic of Ireland. Since 1993 there has been significant change to make sure that there was no discrimination in terms of public policy. At the same time as an equal age of consent was introduced for heterosexual and homosexual persons, the Irish Defence Forces announced that they would be treating heterosexual and homosexual members equally. Relationships between senior and junior ranks would continue to be forbidden, as is common in most militaries. There would also be no harassment of gay officers and no questioning of members about their sexuality.

Obviously, the argument that LGBT personnel should not have had to hide their sexuality and therefore impact on their work could be made, and indeed during the Second World War, when morale and efficiency were most crucial, as Britain faced the threat of Nazi invasion, vast numbers of gay people were allowed to serve in combat units, some quite openly.  There is sufficient evidence to prove that Britain operated different standards when it was caught short of recruits during history.

We all make judgements in hindsight, and history shows that often rules and laws are made which are nonsensical; this would seem to have one of those times!

 

 
Further reading:

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Serving with PRIDE: From a 92-year-old WWII veteran to soldiers in Afghanistan – the men and women who fought wars AND prejudice

  • Photo essay book, Gays in the Military, released by New York photographer Vincent Cianni
  • Individual stories tell the history of homosexuals in the military
  • Many were discharged because of their sexuality and suffer ongoing psychological damage
  • Rape, assault and bullying remain prevalent
  • Being gay was considered a criminal offense in the U.S. military until 1993 

By JOEL CHRISTIE FOR DAILYMAIL.COM

PUBLISHED: 15:30, 11 April 2015 | UPDATED: 16:52, 11 April 2015

A New York-based documentary photographer has spent three years traveling the U.S. photographing and interviewing gay veterans and servicemen to share their stories of suppression, sadness and silence in a moving photo essay.

Vincent Cianni, 63, said he embarked on the project, Gays in the Military, to better understand why homosexuals would enlist in the military to begin with; voluntarily signing up for a system that did, and in many ways still does, oppress them.

‘It seems I spent most of my life uninterested in knowing about the military because I supported peace, the fight to end violence and injustice, and the sanctity of life,’ the photographer told Vice.

‘I couldn’t understand why anyone would join the military, much less why gay people would join the military, an organization that shunned them.’

Pieced together, Cianni’s photos show commonalities between the subjects despite their different journeys, from a 92-year-old WW2 veteran to young soldiers who recently returned from Afghanistan.

Many were discharged because of their sexuality, others were raped, assaulted and bullied, causing ongoing psychological damage.

A major turning point for gay people in the military came in 2011 with the overturning of Dont Ask Don’t Tell (DADT), a discouraging policy signed by Bill Clinton in 1993 that continued a ban on gay soldiers enlisting, but stopped investigations and ‘witch hunts’ into whether soldiers were gay.

The bill was designed to protect the soldiers by keeping their sexuality a secret, however it forced them into the closet and further internalized their struggles.

Gay and in the military: Zachary Werth (left), says he was discharged from the Army National Guard in 2010 because of his sexuality, while his boyfriend, Dustin Hiersekorn (right) left the Marine Corps due to medical reasons. They are one of the couples who appear in Gays in the Military, a stunning photo essay by Vincent Cianni documenting the stories of homosexual soldiers

Gay and in the military: Zachary Werth (left), says he was discharged from the Army National Guard in 2010 because of his sexuality, while his boyfriend, Dustin Hiersekorn (right) left the Marine Corps due to medical reasons. They are one of the couples who appear in Gays in the Military, a stunning photo essay by Vincent Cianni documenting the stories of homosexual soldiers

Veteran: Paul Goercke, of San Francisco, is a World War II veteran who served in Okinawa, Hawaii and Saipan, said there was 'no evidence of gay life' when he enlisted with the Merchant Marines when he was 18

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Veteran: Paul Goercke, of San Francisco, is a World War II veteran who served in Okinawa, Hawaii and Saipan, said there was ‘no evidence of gay life’ when he enlisted with the Merchant Marines when he was 18

'The person I was dating was older than me and had been in the Navy quite a bit longer. She grew up under the old regime where there were active witch hunts to catch gay people in the act to get them out. I learned that culture and I was terrified the whole time I was in,' says Heather Davies (left), of Round Rock, Texas. She was a lieutenant in the US Navy from 1989 to 1998

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‘The person I was dating was older than me and had been in the Navy quite a bit longer. She grew up under the old regime where there were active witch hunts to catch gay people in the act to get them out. I learned that culture and I was terrified the whole time I was in,’ says Heather Davies (left), of Round Rock, Texas. She was a lieutenant in the US Navy from 1989 to 1998

Togetherness: Matt McCary (right) was arrested in 2000 after being singled out by a fellow airman. He was discharged from the US Air Force within five days. David Cochenic (left) received Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. The two were photographed in Orange Park, Florida

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Togetherness: Matt McCary (right) was arrested in 2000 after being singled out by a fellow airman. He was discharged from the US Air Force within five days. David Cochenic (left) received Navy and Marine Corps Commendation Medal, and Navy and Marine Corps Achievement Medal. The two were photographed in Orange Park, Florida

'I was eighteen when I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1989. Because it was pre-Don't Ask, Don't Tell, the questions were asked about sexual orientation. I already knew I was gay, but I was consciously trying to suppress it,' says Eric Alva, of San Antonio, Texas. He was the first US military casualty in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004

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‘I was eighteen when I joined the United States Marine Corps in 1989. Because it was pre-Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell, the questions were asked about sexual orientation. I already knew I was gay, but I was consciously trying to suppress it,’ says Eric Alva, of San Antonio, Texas. He was the first US military casualty in Operation Iraqi Freedom in 2004

'I wanted to think about kissing her, but I tried very desperately to force it out of my mind. I became obsessive about running and dieting; the more I exhausted my body, the less energy I would have to think about that,' reveals Debra Fowler, of Lowell, Massachusetts. She was a Korean linguist in the US Army from 1986 to 1988

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‘I wanted to think about kissing her, but I tried very desperately to force it out of my mind. I became obsessive about running and dieting; the more I exhausted my body, the less energy I would have to think about that,’ reveals Debra Fowler, of Lowell, Massachusetts. She was a Korean linguist in the US Army from 1986 to 1988

'I’m like everybody else. I have a job. I have a career. I want the same things: a home, family, everything else. I’m not any different.' Don Bramer, of Washington, DC, a Lieutenant O-3 in the US Navy, says. He has served since 2002 and is still serving

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‘I’m like everybody else. I have a job. I have a career. I want the same things: a home, family, everything else. I’m not any different.’ Don Bramer, of Washington, DC, a Lieutenant O-3 in the US Navy, says. He has served since 2002 and is still serving

Before DADT, which was enacted in 1993, homosexual behavior was considered a criminal offense within the military.

‘In many cases, the people I interviewed and photographed had no recourse to their discharge,’ Cianni said.

‘At times, their entire record of serving in the military was expunged as if it never happened.

‘Participating in the project served to regain their dignity and their history of serving.

‘During the interviews they revisited difficult experiences, sometimes experiences they had forgotten about.

‘It was an emotional catharsis for many of them.’

Gays in the Military was published by Daylight Books in May 2014.

It is archived at the David M. Rubestein Rare Book and Manuscript Library at Duke University and is available as an exhibition and multi-media installation.

'I was three years old the first time I had a sexual experience with my grandmother. That continued until I was 17 years old. When I was eight years old, my stepdad and step-granddad started sexually abusing me, and in rather horrible ways. I’m PTSD from Vietnam. I also have cancer from Agent Orange exposure. I’ve been HIV positive since 1987, full-blown AIDS since 1994, and I have Hepatitis C since 1989. Dying is not my responsibility; it’s part of nature. I recognize not all battles can be won,' says Bert Bares, of Houston, Texas. He served three tours of duty in Vietnam - receiving numerous commendations including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star

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‘I was three years old the first time I had a sexual experience with my grandmother. That continued until I was 17 years old. When I was eight years old, my stepdad and step-granddad started sexually abusing me, and in rather horrible ways. I’m PTSD from Vietnam. I also have cancer from Agent Orange exposure. I’ve been HIV positive since 1987, full-blown AIDS since 1994, and I have Hepatitis C since 1989. Dying is not my responsibility; it’s part of nature. I recognize not all battles can be won,’ says Bert Bares, of Houston, Texas. He served three tours of duty in Vietnam – receiving numerous commendations including the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star

'I left the Navy to be with someone. It would not have worked out well. I would have been faced with periodic deployments given my specialty, and (my partner) didn't like the deployments, so I decided to leave. It's difficult to hide a gay relationship. When you're single, the fifth senior officer on the ship, and always being the one who shows up alone at formal functions, it's difficult to maintain a charade. I grew accustomed to the fear of what would happen if I were caught. But I also knew that if something did happen, I would not ever admit that I was gay,' Larry Baxley says. The Washington, D.C.,-native resigned from the Navy in 2005

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‘I left the Navy to be with someone. It would not have worked out well. I would have been faced with periodic deployments given my specialty, and (my partner) didn’t like the deployments, so I decided to leave. It’s difficult to hide a gay relationship. When you’re single, the fifth senior officer on the ship, and always being the one who shows up alone at formal functions, it’s difficult to maintain a charade. I grew accustomed to the fear of what would happen if I were caught. But I also knew that if something did happen, I would not ever admit that I was gay,’ Larry Baxley says. The Washington, D.C.,-native resigned from the Navy in 2005

'As far as actually getting into a real gay relationship, that didn't come until the military. In the Officer Basic Course there was an attraction between me and another woman but it never became a whole lot; the circumstances were not right. When I was at Fort McClellan was really when I started acting on my sexuality. When I left McClellan, I went to Fort Ritchie and had a relationship with the company commander. I was the executive officer. We had a relationship only until she was reassigned,' says Nancy Russell, of San Antonio, Texas. She is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army

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‘As far as actually getting into a real gay relationship, that didn’t come until the military. In the Officer Basic Course there was an attraction between me and another woman but it never became a whole lot; the circumstances were not right. When I was at Fort McClellan was really when I started acting on my sexuality. When I left McClellan, I went to Fort Ritchie and had a relationship with the company commander. I was the executive officer. We had a relationship only until she was reassigned,’ says Nancy Russell, of San Antonio, Texas. She is a retired Lieutenant Colonel of the US Army

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3034869/Gay-military-92-year-old-WWII-veteran-returning-Afghanistan-soldiers-men-women-fight-wars-prejudice.html#ixzz3X4nVGsmN
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Irish gay couple turned down by multiple landlords

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Reprinted from Pink News

Ian Begley and Eric Wan have been looking for somewhere to live together for two monthsHouse-hunting pair speak out about the constant struggle to find a place to live.
Ian Begley and Eric Wan are currently living with Mr Begley’s parents but are trying to find a place of their own.
Mr Begley points out that many factors are against them – “My boyfriend is a recent accounting graduate, he’s currently unemployed so it’s not the ideal situation to move out.” – but that they have been turned down on multiple occasions specifically because they are gay.
He told RTE 2FM: “We’ve been persistently looking, but we’ve been turned down countless times by landlords who say they don’t want to let gay couples into their home.
“The first time it was a Polish man. He seemed really nice, he was interested in getting to know who we are. On my way up he said, ‘Are you and your girlfriend going to be here anytime soon,’ I said I’m with my boyfriend. There was a pause, until he said, ‘You’re gay guys. Oh well, that changes everything. I won’t have gay people living in my house.’
“I’d be getting emails back saying we don’t let gay people into our house. A Moldavian landlord said, ‘You’re gay are you? I’m not sure if we can allow you. There’s a child in the house and I’m not sure what the parents would think about it. We’d have to get all occupants of the house together and have a vote about whether you can  stay.’
“I ring up landlords and we have banter over the phone. Once I say I want to move in with my boyfriend, there’s always that long awkward silence, and an awkward laugh and then they say, ‘No unfortunately not, I don’t agree with the gay lifestyle, or we wouldn’t know what to expect.’”
“I’ve got it in writing several times. Yesterday, there was a man who emailed me back saying, ‘We don’t let gay people in here, didn’t you read the ad, we have a child.””
Mr Begley is a journalist, and he and Mr Wan have been together for 18 months – and have been house hunting for two of them. They say they spend all their free time looking for a place to live.
“I’m optimistic and confident we’ll get through it but its disheartening.”

Ulster University probe into academic’s anti-gay rant on Facebook

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Researcher brands homosexuality a ‘bizarre fetish’ in online debate on Ashers Bakery case

Republished from Belfast Telegraph BY DEBORAH MCALEESE – 09 APRIL 2015

Dr Mark Gilfillan stressed the remarks were his own personal views made during a “very limited online conversation”
Dr Mark Gilfillan stressed the remarks were his own personal views made during a “very limited online conversation”

The Ulster University has publicly distanced itself from one of its academics after he launched a scathing attack on homosexuality.

Dr Mark Gilfillan is now under investigation by the university after he used his Facebook account to describe homosexuality as a “bizarre fetish that has resulted in 72% of new cases of HIV”.
He also quoted from an article claiming to have found a “conclusive link” between homosexuality and “sexual predation targeting children”.
In a clear bid to distance itself from Dr Gilfillan’s comments the university said the views he expressed were “in no way supported by the university which prides itself on being inclusive and on welcoming staff and students of all backgrounds and beliefs.”
A spokeswoman for the university added: “This individual was commenting in a solely personal capacity and not as a university representative… the university is currently investigating the matter.”
Dr Gilfillan is a Research Associate in Irish Jewish History at the university. His main research area is British Jewish history in the late 19th and 20th centuries covering the social history of British Jewry, immigration issues and responses to the Jews.

 According to his university profile he also has “strong interests in the Holocaust, the history of anti-Semitism, immigration and ethnicity in modern British history”.

In an email to the Belfast Telegraph last night Dr Gilfillan said that his contract with the university had expired at the time he made his comments.
He added that the remarks he made were his own personal views and stressed they had been made during a “very limited online conversation with a handful of participants”.
Dr Gilfillan made his comments during a public Facebook debate on the case of Ashers Bakery – the Christian-run business that refused to bake a cake promoting gay marriage because of their religious beliefs.
Outraged members of the gay community have described his views as “disturbing” and “deeply offensive”.
He began his comments by stating: “God or no God, there’s no such thing as homosexuality. Just a bizarre fetish that has resulted in 72% of new cases of HIV coming from the population group practicing this fetish even though they represent under 2% of the population at large.”

He added that gay culture “includes being applauded by morons while gyrating half naked in the presence of children during their equally bizarre parades”.

Dr Gilfillan then complained that “disgust” at homosexuality “is outlawed” and “called bigotry instead”.

“Why can’t one simply be disgusted by the practice, by hundreds of thousands of disease infected men, of a bizarre fetish, accompanied by a sick and oversexualised ‘culture’?” he asked.

He also quoted from an article claiming to have found a “conclusive link” between homosexuality and “sexual predation targeting children”.

“The only reason ‘gays’ are indulged in modern society is because we now worship minority status,” he went on to state.

He then added; “These people, and their fate, are tragic. They deserve sympathy. I see no reason why they should be encouraged, however, or indulged in their belief that their parody of marriage is valid.”

Dr Gilfillan was unavailable for comment when contacted by the Belfast Telegraph yesterday.

An online news and entertainment site that offers support to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community described the academic’s comments as “scathing and deeply offensive”.

They accused him of posting “a profoundly disturbing, horrifically homophobic analysis of the gay community” and said his “unhealthy beliefs and prejudices” are “worrying considering he is currently in a position of influence within the university”.

Profile

Dr Mark Gilfillan is a research associate in Irish Jewish History at the University of Ulster, where he graduated with a PhD in history in 2012. His main research area is British Jewish history in the late 19th and 20th centuries covering the social history of British Jewry, immigration issues and responses to the Jews. He also has strong interests in the Holocaust, the history of anti-Semitism, immigration and ethnicity in modern British history. Dr Gilfillan is also editor of the bulletin of the British Association for Jewish Studies.

Study Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job Discrimination

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Editorial:  Job discrimination has for many minority areas, been a major problem.  What is interesting from this study, is that parallels can now seem to be drawn with where discrimination use to happen between men and women when they were interviewed for jobs, and the man seemed to get the job even though the woman was equally if not better qualified.  And the same thing also happened during the racial discrimination (indeed there may be evidence that both are still occurring).

But those of us who live in Northern Ireland, discrimination could become even more of a problem if the ‘Conscience Law’ is allowed to passed in Stormont.  

We are now in election ‘fever’ time, and when the candidates come around your doorstep (if they even do) then make certain to ask them what their views on this law are, and how they will vote.  Also ask them about other area of LGBT law and support, like for instance support for LGBT people in care homes.

If you don’t have the full picture on the candidate you are voting for, how can you make an informed decision.

Republished from Psych CentralStudy Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job Discrimination

By Rick Nauert PhD
Study Finds UK Gays, Lesbians Still Face Job DiscriminationA U.K. study finds that discrimination against gay and lesbian job seekers is commonplace within both private firms and the public sector.For the research, Dr. Nick Drydakis of Anglia Ruskin University studied 144 young people, all first-time job seekers, making 11,098 applications.

The study, published in the journal Human Relations, found that gay applicants of both sexes are five percent less likely to be offered a job interview than heterosexual applicants with comparable skills and experience.
The firms who offer interviews to gay male candidates pay an average salary of 2.0 percent less than those who invite heterosexuals for interview ($34,377 compared to $35,081). For lesbian women the average salary is 1.4 percent less ($33,628 compared to $34,131).
The discrimination was skewed by job sector. Gay men receive the fewest invitations for interviews in traditionally male-dominated occupations (accounting, banking, finance, and management jobs), whereas lesbians receive the fewest invitations for interviews in traditionally female-dominated occupations (social care, social services, and charity jobs).
In the accounting, banking, finance, and management sector, the study found 74 occasions when only the heterosexual candidate was offered an interview and not the gay male candidate with comparable skills and experience. There were no cases of only the gay male candidate being offered an interview.
Similarly, there were 63 examples when only heterosexual women were offered an interview in the social care, social services, and charity sector, but no examples of only the lesbian candidate being offered an interview.
The study was carried out with the help of 12 students’ unions at universities across Great Britain and Northern Ireland.

Of the 2,312 students who volunteered for the study, Drydakis was able to match 72 students whose CVs mentioned having a prominent role in their university’s LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender) society with 72 students whose skills and experiences were identical, but whose CV didn’t indicate their sexuality.
The participants were all third-year undergraduates, 21 years old, British nationals and unmarried. They were all predicted to achieve an upper second class degree (2:1).
In pairs, the 144 students applied for 5,549 jobs (11,098 separate applications) that had been advertised on 15 of the U.K.’s leading recruitment websites over a two-month period.
Drydakis comments: “Because of the limited research carried out so far into the experiences of gays and lesbians in the labor market, the disadvantages and discrimination they experience has gone unnoticed and therefore unchallenged.
“Despite measures to encourage openness and discourage discrimination, including the introduction of the Equality Act of 2010, it is evident from my research that gays and lesbians are encountering serious misconceptions and barriers in the job market.
“It is also clear that people who face biased treatment in the hiring process must spend more time and resources finding jobs, and firms lose potential talent as a result of biased hiring.”

The Boys In The Band

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Time remembers the seminal stage play and film “The Boys in The Band”, which made its film debut 45 years ago on 17 March 1970, making history because it was one of the first American films to focus on gay characters. Adapted from Mart Crowley’s 1968 off-Broadway play, and directed by William Friedkin, the movie, funded by the CBS television network, was a candid illustration of gay life in New York at the time, and its’ realism helped it succeed.

The original 1968 Off-Broadway, New York stage cast and production | Unknown photographer | San Francisco Sentinel | 15052
The film featured Kenneth Nelson, Leonard Frey, Cliff Gorman, Frederick Combs, Keith Prentice, Robert La Tourneaux, Reuben Greene, Peter White, Maud Adams and Elaine Kaufman (the last two uncredited on the movie titles).
Sascha Cohen puts the film into context:

To the generation of gay Americans who came of age amidst the positive imagery of the contemporary LGBT rights movement — pride, love, rainbows and the message that “It Gets Better” — the plight of these men can look unrecognizable. With its bitter angst and grim outlook (the film’s most famous line is “show me a happy homosexual and I’ll show you a gay corpse”) The Boys in the Band feels like something of a relic.
But in 1970, it was a milestone for gay representation in Hollywood. For decades, homosexuality did not appear onscreen at all; the 1930 Motion Picture Production Code, enforced until 1968, prohibited the portrayal of “sex perversion.” Although a handful of characters from classic films — Plato in Rebel Without a Cause, the “sissy” cowardly lion in The Wizard of Oz and the murderous aesthetes in Hitchcock’s Rope — managed to slip past the censors, those who would interpret such figures as gay are stuck reading subtext. In The Boys in the Band, on the other hand, gay desire and identity are explicit; each character announces his presence as a “fairy” or a “queen.” The film helped make the gay community culturally visible during a moment in which openly discussing homosexuality was still taboo, and many Americans had yet to encounter an “out” gay man in person.

Mart Crowley’s commented, “What did I have to lose?” to explain how a fey Hollywood failure wrote the play in a week, won a five-day workshop way off-off Broadway that turned into the event absolutely Everybody Had to See, then turned down big Tinsel town money to insist the 1970 film be made with its original, very brave, cast of unknowns,

wrote Seán Martinfield of the San Francisco Sentinel, reviewing the event “The Making of The Boys” which took place at San Francisco’s 33rd Frameline Film Festival, in an undated article.