Conversion Therapy – Rethink Finally

11/09/2020 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

The Growing Movement to Ban Conversion Therapy

Earlier this month I wrote an article (Gay Conversion Therapy – Government Cop Out) reflecting back on how long we have been raising this issue and why was the government dragging its feet over putting in place measure to stop young LGBTQ people from being mentally tortured?

I reflected back on Dr Paul Miller, on Stormont’s intransigence, and how the Westminster bullies (those in a position of power and trust) seemed to feel that LGBTQ people do not count and do not need to be protected.

So I welcome that the Northern Ireland Executive is going to take the lead and develop a strategy across a number of Departments to have legislation put in place to place a ban on reparative or conversion therapy by private operations.

As I said in my previous article, conversion therapy is nothing short of ‘brain washing’, the LGBTQ community and the people in it do not need to be converted, they need to be made to feel equal within society in all aspects!

Raising Equality (US) - Openclipart

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The dick pic test: are you happy to show the government yours?

09/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

Editorial. In the past I have written about government intrusion into our lives, about government high tactics (police confiscation of cameras during marches), indeed even about surveillance. I make no apologies for highlighting this article to all our readers, who I am sure (in the main) have never sent a naked ‘selfie’ of themselves to their lover – but be warned the government is watching you! (Tongue in cheek)

We rarely care about our privacy and surveillance in general terms, but when it comes to specifics we can get very defensive.

Someone looking at pornography on a computer

‘GCHQ did attempt to add some automated filters to protect its staff from seeing too much adult content, but noted there was “no perfect ability” to do this.’ Photograph: Alamy

@jamesrbuk
Wednesday 8 April 2015 16.05 BST
If you’re doing nothing wrong, and have nothing to hide from your government, then mass surveillance holds no fears for you. This argument might be the oldest straw man in the privacy debate, but it’s also a decent reflection of the state of the argument. In the UK’s first major election since the Snowden revelations, privacy is a nonissue.
This is a shame, because when it comes down to it, many of us who are doing nothing wrong have plenty we would prefer to hide.
One student learned that lesson in a hurry a few years ago. He had lent his lecturer – who happened to be me – his laptop to do an online demo as part of a presentation to his postgraduate class. All went well until a new Firefox tab was opened. When you do this, Firefox helpfully previews nine windows from your recent internet history. Unfortunately for the student concerned, five of these showed stills from hardcore porn videos. The material was legal, matched his stated sexual orientation, and was relatively vanilla – nothing he’d necessarily wish to hide – but it’s safe to say he’d rather it hadn’t been projected to his classmates.
The rest of the planned lesson had to be abandoned because of interruption (“What was the title of the one in the top left again? Was that the Busty Milf Teacher one?”) And instead the students got a crash course in internet privacy and anonymity. You have never seen a class so attentive.
We rarely care about our privacy in general terms; when it gets to specifics – can I read your text messages? – we tend to be more defensive. And when we get anywhere near the sexual realm, we get very defensive indeed.
That’s a truth the US comedian John Oliver realises to a much greater extent than many of his journalistic colleagues. In a segment during an interview with Edward Snowden, he vox popped people in Times Square on mass surveillance, only to be received with apathy and confusion. Then he suggested the government was collecting their dick pics – to a unanimously furious
Chatting to the host afterwards, Snowden acknowledged that lots of NSA and GCHQ activity does indeed hoover up dick pics . But he offered some slight reassurance. “Well, the good news is, there’s no program named the Dick Pic Program.”
The strange thing is, there’s something that comes pretty close: the UK intelligence agency GCHQ has collected so many dick pics they’ve become something of a problem for the organisation.
The problem arose, as it were, through a capability codenamed Optic Nerve, which allowed the agency to identify and hoover up any Yahoo webcam imagery that crossed its various bulk interception points across the internet. Rather than just collect the information for specific surveillance targets, the system hovered up virtually everything it saw. In what must surely rank as the most predictable complication in history – though it still apparently took the agency by surprise – it turned out a substantial quantity (up to 11%) of what it was intercepting were pornographic pictures. GCHQ did attempt to add some automated filters to protect its staff from seeing too much adult content, but noted there was “no perfect ability” to do this. Reassuringly (or disturbingly, depending on your point of view), policy documents reminded GCHQ staff that “dissemination of offensive material is a disciplinary offence”.
Such is the reality of modern internet surveillance: the UK’s intelligence agency has, quite literally, taken and stored material from a camera in your bedroom. The UK government has collected what must be one of the world’s largest collection of dick pics (and, for that matter, tit pics), stored them, and on a regular basis viewed – even if unwillingly – quite a lot of them.
And like any disreputable teenager, or modern five-eyes government bound by intelligence-sharing treaties, it will have shared quite a few of those pics with its friends. UK intelligence is typically and automatically shared with the US, Canada, Australia and New Zealand. Thanks to the actions of Edward Snowden in leaking documents, of reporters spending months studying them, and editors brave enough to publish the results of that work, we now know about this.
It is currently perfectly possible, and perfectly legal, that a government employee has seen you naked. The question is, are you bothered? Because when we talk about surveillance reform, this is what we’re talking about.

Gay marriage to be recognized by largest Presbyterian Group

09/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

The change was approved by a majority of the church’s regional bodies – called presbyteries – on Tuesday following the recommendation of the Presbyterian General Assembly last year.
“With the positive vote on (the marriage amendment), our denomination steps forward into a new chapter – one that values our past journeys of faith, respects the importance of pastoral discretion in congregational matters, and yet offers to the world a compelling witness about how God’s grace is active in loving, mutual relationships,” the Rev. Randy Bush, pastor of East Liberty Presbyterian Church in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, said in a statement.
Tuesday’s vote changes the definition of marriage in the church’s constitution from “a man and a woman” to “two people, traditionally a man and a woman.”
This will allow gay couples to be married in congregations under the jurisdiction of the Presbyterian Church, though the change was clear to leave the decision to marry couples to the discretion of the officiant.
The Presbyterian Church has about 1.8 million members in 10,000 congregations and is among the largest Protestant denominations in the US.
The constitutional change comes as gay marriage has picked up unprecedented momentum in the US. Currently, 37 states allow gay marriage and 13 have banned it.

June is GLBT Book Month!

06/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

June is GLBT Book Month!

Reprinted from GLBT News – On: April 5, 2015

Via press release
CHICAGO — The American Library Association (ALA) has designated June 2015 as GLBT Book Month™, a nationwide celebration of the authors and writings that reflect the lives and experiences of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender community. GLBT Book Month™ is an initiative of the American Library Association and is coordinated through its Office for Diversity, Literacy, and Outreach Services and the Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual, and Transgender Round Table.
Originally established in the early 1990s by The Publishing Triangle as National Lesbian and Gay Book Month, June 2015 will mark the first commemoration of GLBT Book Month™ to be held under ALA’s auspices.
“The Publishing Triangle, which has been a leader in positioning GLBT books at the forefront of literature, had the foresight to initiate this event almost a quarter century ago, and we are very proud to continue this important observance.” said ALA President Courtney Young. “We are incredibly appreciative of the historic work and brave first steps taken by many authors and publishers over the past 50 years to bring recognition to GLBT literature.”
To help libraries mark the occasion, ALA has launched the GLBT Book Month online resource center, featuring tipsheets and downloadable materials. Also featured will be an ALA Graphics poster and bookmark available for purchase highlighting “This Day in June,” written by Gayle E. Pitman, illustrated by Krystna Litten, and published by Magination Press, an imprint of the American Psychological Association. Pitman’s book about gay pride is the 2015 winner of the Stonewall Book Award, Mike Morgan and Larry Romans Children’s and Young Adult Literature Award.
GLBT Book Month will culminate with many GLBT events and programs at ALA’s 2015 Annual Conference in San Francisco. ALA will kick off its annual conference’s Opening General Session with speaker Roberta Kaplan, “superstar litigator” and adjunct professor at the Columbia Law School whose involvement in United States v. Windsor helped to overturn the Defense of Marriage Act (DOMA). Other programs at Annual Conference will include a preconference on library outreach to GLBT people, sessions on curating the history of GLBT activism, the evolution and acceptance of collecting LGBT materials in libraries, use of GLBT materials in libraries, serving transgender patrons and the Stonewall Book Awards Program.
ALA’s support of quality GLBT literature includes the awarding of the prestigious Stonewall Book Awards, which have honored the very best in gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender books since 1971, including adult literature, non-fiction, and children’s and young adult titles. Additionally, ALA compiles two annual bibliographies of notable GLBT books, including the Rainbow Books list featuring recommended titles for children and young adults, and the Over the Rainbow book list for adult literature and non-fiction titles.
To learn more, please visit www.ala.org/glbtbookmonth.
About the American Library Association
The American Library Association (ALA), the voice of America’s libraries, is the oldest, largest and most influential library association in the world. Its approximately 56,000 members are primarily librarians but also trustees, publishers and other library supporters. The association represents all types of libraries. Its mission is to promote the highest quality library and information services and public access to information.
About GLBTRT
The Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Round Table of the American Library Association is committed to serving the information needs of the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender professional library community and the gay, lesbian, bisexual and transgender information and access needs of individuals at large. GLBTRT is committed to encouraging and supporting the free and necessary access to all information, as reflected by the missions of the American Library Association and democratic institutions. The GLBTRT was founded in 1970 and is the world’s oldest professional organization for GLBT people.

Cell Block Tango – Broadway Backwards 2015

06/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS

Published on 14 Mar 2015

Highlights from Broadway Backwards 2015 included Chicago’s “six merry murderesses” were represented in a sexy, all-male version of “Cell Block Tango” featuring Joshua Buscher-West, Marty Lawson, Alfie Parker Jr., Waldemar Quinones-Villanueva, Alex Ringler and Ryan Steele.

An exuberant, exhilarating and emotional evening of performances by Broadway’s best made for a poignant celebration of the 10th anniversary of Broadway Backwards.
The 2015 edition of the event, held March 9, raised a record $466,717 for Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS and The Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Community Center.
The sold-out show included 20 audience-pleasing numbers and multiple standing ovations for Tituss Burgess, Lena Hall, Florence Henderson, Norm Lewis, Brian Stokes Mitchell, Lillias White and more Broadway favorites, as well as a special appearance by 2014 Kennedy Center Honoree Lily Tomlin.
Broadway Backwards is the annual celebration where gays and lesbians see their stories told through the great songs of musical theatre, sung by their favorite Broadway performers.
This year’s fundraising total surpassed the previous record of $423,182, set last year. In its 10 editions, Broadway Backwards has raised more than $2.4 million for Broadway Cares and The Center.
Broadway Backwards creator Robert Bartley again directed and choreographed the show. Also returning were Mary-Mitchell Campbell as music supervisor and Tim Rosser as music director. Production Stage Manager Peter Lawrence led a team of 12 stage managers. Adam Roberts served as associate choreographer with lighting design by Ryan O’Gara and costume design by Bernadette Banner.
Broadway Backwards began as a grassroots concert performed at The Center in 2006. The event grew quickly, performing next Off-Broadway and subsequently in Broadway theatres.
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS, one of the nation’s leading nonprofit AIDS fundraising and grant-making organizations, produces a number of fundraising events throughout the year. From Gypsy of the Year to Easter Bonnet Competition, Broadway Backwards to Broadway Bares, Broadway Cares draws upon the talents and generousity of those in the theatre community to raise money for those in need.
Since 1988, BC/EFA has raised more than $250 million for essential services for people with AIDS and other critical illnesses across the United States. Broadway Cares awards annual grants to more than 450 AIDS and family service organizations nationwide and also is the major supporter of the social service programs at The Actors Fund, including the HIV/AIDS Initiative, the Phyllis Newman Women’s Health Initiative and the Al Hirschfeld Free Health Clinic.
Join us.
What we do together makes a difference.
broadwaycares.org
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Book Review: The Official History of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and its times; Volume 1: A Space to Breathe, 1954–1973

06/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

A review of Amiable Warriors: The Official History of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality and its times; Volume 1: A Space to Breathe, 1954–1973 by Peter Scott-Presland(Published by the Paradise Press, London, 2015) (£35.00 hardback, 640pp, illustrated)

Peter Scott-Presland is our amiable guide to this compelling, entertaining, informative and inspirational history of the formative years of the Campaign for Homosexual Equality. This “history of small things” is extraordinarily well-told, and engrosses our interest from start to finish despite its length. Extensive use of primary sources and numerous interviews bring the events alive and help us understand how a large social movement can grow from small local initiatives and individuals’ personal interests. A central theme of this history is the “bravery in small things”, as thousands of CHE members write letters to local newspapers, organise social events and discussion groups, come out to their families and their local communities, with their demands for equality slowly causing a sea-change in attitudes: both society’s attitudes to gays and gays’ attitudes to themselves.
CHE of course did not arise from nothing. Scott-Presland begins with a short review of the “homophile” movements in Germany and the Netherlands and the United States, as well as the early British sex-reformers such as Edward Carpenter. Many early figures from the 1950s also played their roles in the early reforming development of the movement: Peter Wildeblood, Rupert Croft-Cooke, and the setting-up of the Wolfenden Committee which in 1957 recommended the decriminalisation of sex between consenting men over 21 in private, which was to become law in 1967. Hence the overriding focus of the early history of the gay movement was upon law reform, public education, and counselling; the vaguer concept of “equality” and an end to “discrimination” were still inchoate concepts in the 1950s and 1960s.
The two great figures of this early history are Allan Horsfall and Antony Grey. The two men typify the split that was to bedevil the gay movement: the North West Homosexual Law Reform Committee in Manchester, run by Horsfall, and the Homosexual Law Reform Society in London (run by Grey). It was essentially a class divide: working-class Northerners versus middle-class Southerners. The HLRS in particular was obsessed by “respectability” and was constrained by the feeling that it should not advocate anything that would be perceived to be too radical by the honorary members listed on its letterhead. This often meant that it could not focus specifically upon homosexuality, but had to be inclusive of all sexualities. The force behind all this was the Albany Trust, run by Antony Grey, with prominent heterosexual sexologists on its board. The Trust had to maintain the fiction that it was broadly concerned with all sexualities in order to receive funding from institutional donors and prominent individuals, even though in fact it was almost exclusively directed towards gays. One might say that Antony Grey was rather canny in thus achieving the main purpose, but the fact that “Antony Grey” never used his real name – Edgar Wright – in the public forum is symbolic of his “behind the scenes” approach to reform. Allan Horsfall, in contrast, was a working-class son of a publican and a prospective Labour Party candidate, and always used his real name and even published his home address. Nevertheless, the membership of the NWHLRC was also predominantly heterosexual at the beginning.
Both organisations, early on, were especially focused on counselling, dealing with the problems of self-loathing homosexuals in the closet, who had no way to meet others. This lack of meeting places – especially social and not just sexual sites – was a central concern for the gay movement for many years.
This is a history of people rather than a history of ideas. Although Scott-Presland gives individual spotlight biographies to all the major players in the movement – including Leo Abse, Glenys Parry, Griffith Vaughan-Williams, Peter Norman, Ray Gosley – it is difficult not to form the view that this early history consists of the working out of the tensions between just two men, Horsfall and Grey, as they struggle for the control or independence of their two organisations. At times the documentation of this early history consists simply of incestuous letters between Horsfall and Grey congratulating themselves on how many letters they have written to the press and on how many speaking engagements they had performed, and swapping newspaper cuttings documenting their achievements. There is hardly any sense that other people were involved in their campaigns. Horsfall was sometimes naively idealistic but a powerehouse for action, while Grey was more politically astute but over-cautious. The early campaigning efforts were regularly dampened by people like Antony Grey and Leo Abse (the MP who had pushed the 1976 Sexual Offences Act through Parliament) urging Allan Horsfall not to rock the boat. Even while the heterosexual membership of the Homosexual Law Reform Society dwindled and it became a modern gay campaigning group, nevertheless it became just the Sexual Law Reform Society in 1970, with a solitary secretary: Antony Grey.
Ironically it was the passing of the law in 1967 that led to organisational chaos in both the NWHLRC and the HLRS (and Albany Trust), for neither knew quite what to aim for once the law reform had been achieved. A “gay space” became a major focus, and many years would be spent in trying – and failing – to set up CHE-owned social clubs as a more healthy alternative to the commercial gay pub and club scene. These were to be called Esquire Clubs, and to be organised along the lines of the COQ clubs in Denmark, but CHE never quite succeeded in getting a brewery on board, and never raised enough money to fund physical premises. There was also the problem that Leo Abse and the Home Office specifically objected to the emergence of gay social clubs, which they felt would be an unwanted result of legalisation – the ideal result in their view would be for homsoexuals to lead discreet private lives rather than be publicly visible and associating with others. This, they felt, would result in separation rather than integration. Antony Grey, who always felt that VIPs and leaders of Society were necessary for the success of any campaign, came down opposed to social clubs; as a result the NWHLRC severed its relations with the Albany Trust, and the power and influence of the Albany Trust gradually declined.
By 1969 the NWHLRC had become CHE – the Committee for Homosexual Equality – a significant change from “law reform” to the wider issue of “equality”. (Though it wasn’t until 1971 that “Committee” was changed to “Campaign”.) The great mover behind this phase was Paul Temperton, whose social political background was typical of early CHE members: he worked for the British Humanist Association, the Manchester Non-Violent Action Group, the National Council for Civil Liberties, and the Anti-Apartheid movement. Social activism came to the fore while the counselling focus of the old school receded. For this period from 1968 to 1973 Scott-Presland gives a very detailed study of press campaigns, newspaper advertisements for membership, complaints to the Press Council, and meetings with local councils and institutions.
The proliferation of local CHE organisations becomes almost overwhelming. Each regional group is given its proper focus, because each region was autonomous, and there were always very weak links between the regional groups and the national CHE executive. This was perhaps its main failure as a campaigning organisation, but also its strength at encouraging social solidarity. The origins of each group are carefully documented; they were almost always started by an individual person who became the convenor (or a pair of lovers who became joint convenors) and who worked to get together a critical mass of about twenty members. While there were very formal links between each region and the national executive, there were virtually no links at all between one local group and another local group. Every would-be member of a group was vetted by a representative appointed by national headquarters – usually the talented journalist Roger Baker. Liverpool and Manchester remained strong regional powerhouses, but gradually the working-class membership was superseded by a middle-class membership, for reasons not fully explained, perhaps not even explainable. Advertising in newspapers and journals reached mainly a middle-class audience, hence recruited more middle-class members, and as CHE became more professional, it also became more middle-class. Also, women’s issues did not much occupy CHE, and it increasingly lost its lesbian membership.
A lengthy chapter on London systematically goes through each of its thirteen groups, often with extracts from interviews with its first convenors – notably Roger Baker, Brian Sewell, Peter Robins, Peter Norman, and Jackie Forster. Because of geographical concentration, the London groups all associated with one another (unlike groups scattered across the country outside London), and from April 1971 all the London groups held “mass meetings” at which larger goals and strategies were proposed, and work towards shared aims was distributed among groups. However, everything was still highly bureaucratic and hence cumbersome. Rules of debate dissipated too much energy.
One important product of these pan-London activities was the formation of the counselling group FRIEND. Individual convenors had lacked the professional skill and funds necessary for really effective counselling, hence the use of formally trained volunteers was a great advance. Money was raised for training and for staffing a telephone service, and maintaining offices. By the end of 1972 they had 50 befrienders, plus 12 professional therapists, a Centre in London, with branches in Manchester, Liverpool, and several other cities. During all of FRIEND’s activities, there was the inevitable power struggle between Antony Grey and the leaders of FRIEND regarding the future of homosexual counselling services. The Albany Trust refused to accept the structure proposed by FRIEND and stopped supporting it financially. FRIEND became independent and grew, while the Albany Trust became marginalised. (However, FRIEND would formally split from CHE in 1975–6 in order to obtain charitable status and government money, which was not possible while it remained allied with a campaigning organisation – a problem the Albany Trust had faced earlier.)
CHE continued essentially as a social support provider rather than a campaigning organisation. Each group was in effect a discussion group rather than a campaign group; a number of speakers regularly went around the circuit giving their talks, e.g. Roger Baker talking on drag (on which he had written a book). In addition to the regular Discussion meetings, there were regular Winter Fairs, Winter Talks, Jumble Sales, Summer Balls, coach trips, Christmas parties, bingo and lotteries, and a host of events very similar to those organised by the ladies of the Women’s Institutes. As the London groups expanded, some became special interest groups for those interested in music, writing, film, sports, rambling, bird-watching, and so on. These were hardly political action groups. The long-lived London Monday Group met at the Chepstow Arms in Notting Hill for over 15 years, with a regular programme of well-known speakers and lively disccussions, followed by drinks and socilising. Many long-term friendships were formed there, but it might be hard to document any specific “social change” it might have achieved. Scott-Presland argues (not very convincingly in my view) that these special interest groups were an important factor in the development of gay identity, specifically the notion of “being gay” while engaged in non-gay activities. By mid-1973 London CHE had some 20 local groups plus 15 special groups, with 1,000 members; CHE across the country had a total of some 70 local groups with 3,500 members.
So by late 1973, although the Campaign for Homosexual Equality did not create a coherent national campaigning movement with a coherent ideology, it nevertheless had succeeded in its main objective: the creation of “a gay space” in which people with a shared sexual orientation could come together in a broadly social space rather than a narrow subculture whose main aim was sex. This is not to say that sex was not important to the development of the friendship networks formed within CHE, but the real aim was a modus vivendi, a way of life, for homosexuals within society rather than a separate twilight world on the margins of society. The community it had helped forge was an astonishing achievement and deserves the full and careful treatment it receives here. The development of an effective campaigning organisation after 1973 will be the subject of the next volume in this projected three-volume official history.

Ireland approves same-sex adoption

06/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

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In: Carousel, GLBT News
On: April 5, 2015

By John Mack Freeman
The Seanad Eireann (Ireland’s upper legislative body) approved the Children and Family Relationship Bill this week by a margin of 20-2. The bill had been the subject of day’s of discussion and over 120 amendments. This bill allows for adoption of children by same-sex couples. Via PinkNews:

The bill – which passed the lower house earlier last month – follows up on a promise to extend adoption rights to same-sex partners and co-habiting couples, ahead of the country’s referendum on same-sex marriage on May 22.
It now awaits the signature of Irish President Michael D Higgins, who will sign the bill into law as Head of State.
The bill received a standing ovation when it passed – and given the controversy surrounding the country’s same-sex marriage referendum, cleared the Seanad remarkably without incident.

'Homophobic bullying is stubbornly pervasive in society,” says Welsh equality charity

04/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

Reprinted from Wales Online: 16:18, 2 April 2015 By Liz Day
Stonewall Cymru is calling on people to contact their parliamentary candidates for support in challenging homophobic bullying and hate crime
Rainbow flag at RCT council offices in Clydach ValeRainbow flag at RCT council offices in Clydach Vale
One in three gay pupils in Wales have changed their plans for further education due to homophobic bullying, according to data from an equality charity.
In the run-up to the General Election, Stonewall Cymru is calling on its supporters to contact their local parliamentary candidates for support in challenging homophobic bullying and hate crime.
Work to be done
Charity director Andrew White said: “The progress made during recent parliaments is something to celebrate, but we’re acutely aware that LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) people still face bullying, discrimination and prejudice.”
According to the charity’s most recent research in Wales, 43% of primary school teachers said that their pupils had experienced homophobic bullying or name-calling.
Related: Wales’ schools failing to monitor homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying finds study
In secondary schools, this figure was even higher, with 89% of staff reporting that their pupils had experienced harassment for being gay, lesbian or bisexual.
‘Profoundly damaging’
Across the UK, the charity believes that 75,000 young people are being bullied for their sexual orientation, with more than half of LGBT pupils experiencing some form of bullying. According to the charity, the use of homophobic language in Welsh schools is “endemic.”
In Welsh primary schools, 61% of teachers reported hearing pupils use the expression “you’re so gay”, rising to 93% in secondary schools.
Related: General Election 2015: Head of Christian Party UK plans to stand as Parliamentary Prospective Candidate in Cardiff North
Stonewall says that bullying has a “profoundly damaging” impact on young people’s school experience, with three in five saying it impacts directly on their work.
With just over a month until the election, the charity has launched an equality manifesto, calling for developments such as measures to combat hate crime.
‘Bullying is stubbornly pervasive in society’

BullyingBullying
Mr White said: “Hate crime continues to be a miserable and under reported reality across Wales. Homophobic, biphobic and transphobic bullying is stubbornly pervasive in society.”
According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, police in Wales recorded 270 incidents of hate crime against people on the grounds of sexual orientation in 2013-14. Welsh forces also recorded 47 hate crimes against transgender individuals over the same time period.
But the charity believes these figures are the “tip of the iceberg”, as many victims never report such crimes.
‘Equality must sit at the heart of the political agenda’
Chief executive Ruth Hunt said: “A lot has been achieved during this parliament, but the biggest risk now is that huge achievements in legal equality may result in complacency.
“Legal equality is not enough by itself, we need to encourage our candidates to help change hearts and minds in their communities in order to achieve social equality.”
Related: Revealed: The best places to work in Wales if you are gay
She added: “Equality must sit at the heart of the political agenda and we will call out any instances of homophobia, biphobia or transphobia that we see from any political party or candidate.
“Political parties should be thinking long and hard about how they can help us fight for a world where every LGBT person can be themselves, and be safe, every day.”

Chelsea legend Frank Lampard says he would 'love it' if a gay footballer came out

04/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

Editorial: LGBT people are part of life; there is no one sector in which they don’t exist. However, there are sectors of life in which they don’t feel comfortable on being ‘out’, or indeed welcomed. Football is one sport, but there are others. Strides have been made to make it more welcoming, with various campaigns led by individual clubs and also by the football association, but to date there is not ‘gay and out’ footballer playing in the Premier league. We do have some LGBT teams in lower divisions of course.

The Manchester City midfielder also told how he is enjoying life up north but admitted he will always consider himself a “Chelsea boy”

Frank Lampard runs with the ball — Hopeful: Lampard wants a gay player to come out

Frank Lampard says he hopes a gay footballer will come out soon and be “treated with respect” in the near future.
The Manchester City midfielder also told how he is enjoying life up north but will always consider himself a “Chelsea boy” because of his successful time at Stamford Bridge.
Lampard, 36, was asked about gay footballers on Channel 4’s Chatty Man when openly gay host Alan Carr insisted some Premier League footballers must be gay statistically.
Lampard replied: “We have had a couple come out afterwards. I think it is a fact they will be out there, they are in all lives and times, but we are at fault as a sport. It is that old syndrome where it is a man’s game and you can’t talk about that.
“I have to say the game is changing a lot, there are a lot of campaigns and I feel it in the dressing rooms. I would love it if someone came out and everyone treated it with respect.
“This silly thing that we are macho and we play football is very old hat.”

Frank Lampard holds up the Champions League trophy — Chelsea boy: Lampard was hugely successful at Stamford Bridge

Appearing on the show to promote his Frankie’s Magic Football children’s books,Lampard also spoke about his time at Chelsea.
He said the fans and staff at Manchester City had embraced him, but he added: “I had 13 years at Chelsea and I will always be a Chelsea boy because I played there and have so many memories.
“They decided I was moving on and at 35 you are not going to fight that. If they want you to move on you move on. Then Manchester City came in for me. it was too good to turn down.
“At 36 not many people get asked to play for the champions of England at the time for five months.
“I have got such a great relationship with the Chelsea fans. It hasn’t broken it.
“I still have my main house in Chelsea and I go back to London a lot, I hope I won’t ever lose that, I don’t think I will.”

Jose Mourinho on the touch line — Brilliant: Lampard hailed Mourinho

Asked about Jose Mourinho as a manager, he added: “He is brilliant. If you wanted to bottle a manager and get all the good bits in it, he has got them.
“I say that because he helped me in my career a huge amount. When he came I didn’t have that self confidence, I was 25, and he brought that out of me. And he does that with all the players he works with.
“He is very good at gauging a player and he knows if you need a b******ing he will give it to you individually or as a team on a day but if you need a little bit of love and niceness he does that as well.”

Frank admitted that he enjoyed celebrating his success with Chelsea, though his fiancee, TV presenter Christine Bleakley, did keep him in line.
He said: “Winning the champions league was the greatest acheivement. We celebrated on the pitch for an hour, we celebrated through the night and the next two or three days.
“And then I took it too far because about three or four days later I was on the sofa at home and I was struggling a little bit and Christine said ‘Frank, you need to stop celebrating this now. You need to get on with life!’.”

Going Stateside: Lampard will move to New York at the end of the Premier League season

Frank also said his recent trip to New York had been successful and he thought he and Christine had found an apartment to live in after spending two days searching for the right home.
Of the New York City fans, he said: “They did chant a lot, they are very game and very keen. They have started a new club and you know what Americans are like, they are very positive and behind their team.
“The game we watched was a funny game and they didn’t play particularly well but the fans were all behind them. If there was a shot from anywhere they get really excited.”
Frank also hinted he could go into TV work or management after he retires. He said: “I’m in the back end of my career, whether I stay in football, I don’t really know.
“I will maybe do my coaching badges, that is two years worth of work to maybe be a manager.
“But I am not sure if I will go down that route or certain other routes, a bit of TV maybe, everyone is lining up to do it, that punditry thing. It looks easy but it is not that easy.”

Meet the Boys of HOPE

04/04/2015 By David McFarlane Leave a Comment

GT Community

Meet the boys of HOPE

UK’s first gay rugby union team spread the love

Meet the Kings Cross Steelers. They are the UK’s first gay rugby union team.

With a big decline in voters since changes were made to the electoral register, the team have come together to encourage you all to register your vote and make our voice a the LGBT community count.
With their campaign HOPE not hate – the group are hoping they can convince you to make the effort to register, vote and make your voice count.
The deadline to register your vote for this year is 20 April.
HOPE not hate is the UK’s leading anti-racism and anti-extremism campaign and has been promoting the power of voting since the beginning of March.

More information on the team and their work can be found here.
Reprinted from Gay Times: Words William J Connolly, @wjconnolly