ACOMSDave, Author at ACOMSDave

Bill requires gay bullying section to protect kids

10/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

PUBLISHED08/12/2015

The letter by Stella Wilson about the bullying Bill (Write Back, December 4) is inherently homophobic and I am concerned that attitudes like this lead to bullying of LGBTQ children.

The Green Party believes the Bill needs specific inclusion of LGBTQ bullying as a further measure to protect young people.

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Ms Wilson’s interpretation of what is “indoctrination with gay materials” highlights a woeful lack of knowledge. It appears she is implying that children should be whipped into line to follow a particular social narrative. This is unhelpful, dangerous and part of the wider problem.
We need to ensure that we teach our children confidence, individuality and, most importantly, love for themselves and others. Every child is different and should be celebrated as such.
I completely refute the baseless attempt to provide a correlation between providing services under the bullying Bill and “sexualisation”.
This is unfounded, precarious and unsubstantiated nonsense.
ANTHONY FLYNN
Chair, Queer Greens NI

Action points to improve LGBT life in Europe published

10/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

pinknews_logo

Joseph Patrick McCormick
9^th December 2015, 6:28 PM

European Members
A list of action points to improve LGBT equality in the EU has been published.
Yesterday, Commissioner for Justice and Gender Equality Věra Jourová presented a List of actions by the Commission to advance LGBTI Equality in the EPSCO Council, where the EU Ministers responsible for employment and social policy meet.
The list is to be seen as a follow-up to the Parliament’s demand for an EU Roadmap against homophobia, the so-called ‘Lunacek-report’, which was adopted in February 2014.
The document is not a ‘roadmap’ or ‘strategy’ as the parliament requested, but highlights actions in a number of areas where the Commission will be active on LGBTI issues, including anti-discrimination policy, freedom of movement for LGBTI families, workplace diversity, enlargement and foreign policy.
The Commission also foresees a communication campaign to improve the social acceptance of LGBTI people.
The list does not contain new legislative proposals, e.g. in the areas of hate speech and hate crime, or freedom of movement, as the Parliament had demanded in its report.
Ulrike Lunacek MEP, Co-President of the LGBTI Intergroup and author of the European Parliament’s roadmap report, said: “I am very glad to see that Commissioner Jourová has listened to the Parliament and put on paper a list of actions confirming the EU’s commitment to further LGBTI equality inside and outside of the EU.”

“Homo-, lesbo- and transphobia make everyday lives of lesbians, gays and transgender people difficult, in many parts of the EU and even more so worldwide. They are severe and persistent phenomena, which require EU-wide coordination and action, and strong emphasis in support of LGBTI human rights defenders in other parts of the world.”
Daniele Viotti MEP, Co-President of the LGBTI Intergroup, added: “Although all content of this list is positive, it is a missed opportunity that the Commission did not want to go the extra mile. Many possible actions, for which parliamentary support exists, have been left out. This includes mutual recognition of civil status documents, and including sexual orientation and gender identity in existing EU-wide hate crime legislation.”
“We will continue to push the Commission to also work on these issues.”

BBC threatens to suspend journalist over criticism of Tyson Fury on Spoty

10/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

Henry McDonald

Wednesday 9 December 2015

An online petition is calling for Tyson Fury to be taken off the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters

• Presenter says he is ‘ashamed to work for the BBC’
• BBC says: ‘We do not comment on individual matters

An online petition is calling for Tyson Fury to be taken off the shortlist for Sports Personality of the Year. Photograph: Andrew Couldridge/Reuters

BBC Northern Ireland has threatened to suspend one of its journalists for criticising the decision to invite Tyson Fury to the Sports Personality of the Year awards, which will be held in Belfast on 20 December.
The presenter Andy West posted on his Facebook page he was “ashamed to work for the BBC” after Fury’s name was added to the nomination list.
West was angry over Fury’s attempt to link homosexuality to paedophilia in an interview with the Mail on Sunday.
The gay Northern Ireland-based journalist has said he has written to the BBCdirector general, Tony Hall, over Fury’s nomination.
Hall is expected to be questioned about Fury’s nomination by the culture, media and sport select committee next week.
In his online post, West wrote: “My employer is hurting me and other gay people by celebrating someone who considers me no better than a paedophile and who believes homosexual people are helping to bring about the end of the world.
“It’s tempting to see him for the laughable idiot he is but sadly there are many other idiots who will be inspired and encourage by his naive, juvenile bigotry. I am ashamed to work for the BBC when it lacks bravery to admit it is making a mistake.”
West’s comments were picked up by the news website Buzzfeed which quoted an anonymous BBC source as saying that the journalist/presenter was “reprimanded by a manager, told an investigation would be launched into his conduct and warned he could be suspended”.
The journalist is understood to have signed an online petition which has so far collected 124,000 signatures calling for Fury to be taken off the Spoty shortlist .
As of mid-afternoon on Wednesday, BBC Northern Ireland’s website had yet to report the controversy over their journalist’s remarks. A BBC spokesperson said: “We do not routinely comment on individual staff matters.”
Local gay and feminist groups said they planned to picket the Odyssey Arena where the event will be staged.
The Northern Irish gay rights organisation, the Rainbow Project, said: “It is likely LGBT and feminist activists from Belfast and across Northern Ireland will engage in some form of protest should Tyson Fury remain on the shortlist.”

X-men’s Shawn Ashmore would be interested in playing a gay Iceman

09/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

8th December 2015

by Josh Withey

This year Iceman, one of the original X-men, came out as gay in Bran Michael Bendis’ superb All-New X-Men #40.

Speaking at the 2015 Game Awards, Shawn Ashmore – who has played Iceman for the last 12 years in the movies – said that it’s one of the most interesting things to happen to the character, and that he’d be interested in playing Iceman again
Shawn told IGN: “Obviously the comics and movies are separate. I wonder what the transition would be because we’ve sort of established Bobby as having a love interest in Rogue and having a love interest in sort of Kitty Pryde, but I think it’d be really interesting.
“I think it’d probably be the most interesting thing that could happen to Bobby in the films. If they decided to take the story that way, it’d be incredibly dramatic, it’d be an interesting storyline, and it would give Bobby a great character arc. I’d definitely be open to that, but again, I’m not sure if they want to take the character in that direction. I have no idea how they would play that out. I think it’d be very interesting.”
Last month, comic book writer and creator of X-men Stan Lee, discovered that Iceman was gay during a live radio interview.
While appearing on BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Stan said: “I wasn’t involved in that, that may have been after I stopped writing the books. I didn’t really have any gay characters. If they were gay I didn’t play up to the fact that they were. I wasn’t aware of my characters sexual proclivities.”
He then admitted: “In fact your telling me that is the first time I’d heard. Is Iceman really gay?

“Wow! I never knew that. I don’t care what happens as long as they tell good stories.”

COMING OUT: I FELT LIKE IT WAS SO DIFFERENT TO WHAT I KNEW

09/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

December 9, 2015

James

James knew he was gay since he was small. He’s had the usual ups and downs, but this Belfast lad is about to achieve his life-long dream of jetting off with British Airways…

When did you first realise you were gay?

I always knew I was gay. Ever since I was very young I knew I was a little bit different. I didn’t play with Action Men, but my mum was a childminder so I would play with the dolls of any of the little girls she minded. I grew up surrounded by a lot of girls and women, but my best friend who lived next door was a boy.

Tell me about your coming out experience?

I came out to my close friend Stephanie when I was 17. I was on my lunch break with her in school. It felt like I had reached the stage where I needed to tell someone, and I trusted her with my life. It took me a very long time to say “I’m gay,” whenever I talked about it to people I always said “I liked boys,” I never said “I’m gay.”

How did they react when you told them?

I came out to my close friend first of all. I guess she already knew. I came out to the rest of my friends a month later, then my mum about a half a year later. It was the biggest weight of my chest. I was so relieved. I was really emotional, but I wasn’t as emotional as I thought I would be because I guessed she already knew. I was so much happier after coming out. I was like a totally different person. Coming out made me the person I am now. It took a while but I am so much more confident. I’m really glad I did it.

Was coming out a big deal for you or did it feel natural?

It was definitely a big deal. I had a girlfriend when I was very, very young. We kissed, and I did fancy her, but it never felt right. There was a boy in my year who I really fancied when I came out; he was gorgeous, really tall, and really nice arms. He was so sexy, and he had the best smile. That summer we flirted with each other non stop, but it was just banter.

Did you find it difficult to accept you were gay?

Yeah, I did. I felt like it was so different to what I knew. No one else was gay but me and I was scared of their reaction. I knew my friends would be supportive, but I found it really hard to tell my best friend Stephen because we were so close, even though he is straight. Coming out to him was the biggest relief of all. He knew as well so he acted as normal. His family became my second family after that.

How did your family react when they learned you were gay?

I thought my mum would have been fine, and she was, but I knew it would be harder with my dad because we were so close. I love him, and we do get on, and he is really comfortable being around gay people, but I didn’t feel like I could tell him. It’s so much different when it’s personal for you. Mum said she knew I was gay, but she didn’t want to show it. But for dad it was a real shock. It was a really tough couple of months, especially since mum felt stuck in the middle between me and Dad. I didn’t stay in my house a lot, I stayed with my fiends, and I didn’t really socialise with my immediate family during that time. But I was about to start a new job after leaving school and I wanted to be me.

Has anyone’s opinion of you changed since you came out?

No, I honestly feel like my family and friends love me more for being who I truly am than for living in secret. They wouldn’t have wanted me to be in the closet, and I was so miserable right up until I came out.

Did you ever feel the need to seek professional help?

I didn’t feel like I had very much gay support, but since coming out I’ve made so many gay friends that have helped me in so many ways.

Where do you live? How accepting are people there of LGBT people?

I live in North Belfast. I have never once encounteered homophobia in the streets. I’m always really affectionate when I’m on a date. I don’t mind holding hands and kissing in public, and no one has ever said anything to me. But you have to be sensible about these things. I feel comfortable enough being gay in Belfast because….

READ THE REST OF JAMES’ STORY HERE

Tinderella, Cinders Slips it In is a real sparkle of a production!

08/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

By The Gay UK, Dec 7 2015 08:18PM

Above the Stag theatre has done it again and produced another hilarious panto in ‘Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In.’ ★★★★

CREDIT: PR Supplied

The theatre has produced many a camp panto in years past. These include ‘Dick Whittington: Another Dick in City Hall’ in 2009, ‘Sleeping Beauty: One Little Prick’ in 2011, and last year’s ‘Treasure Island: The Curse of the Pearl Necklace.’ But with ‘Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In‘ the Stag has outcamped, and outdone, all its previous pantos. It’s as camp as christmas and as gay as eggnog. And it’s hilarious.
The title says it all. The show is a take off on Cinderella, and in the Stag’s version Prince Charming is searching the kingdom for a man (and NOT a woman) who fits into the glass slipper, in the kingdom of Slutvia. And that man is Cinders. He cooks and cleans and does the chores for his wicked evil stepmother Countess Volga and her two vile daughters Nicole Ferrari and Maude Escort. But then one day, while on a gay app on his mobile phone, he meets Prince Charming, and it is love at first sight for both of them. But Cinders’ phone gets ruined (I won’t say how!), and he’s unable to contact, or be contacted by, the very handsome young Prince.
But there is a Fairy Godmother, in the form of The Fairy, and she’s the one who, with the help of the adorable Buttons, makes sure that Cinders gets to the ball to be reunited with Prince Charming, though the Prince’s father, King Ludwig, has no clue that his son is jonesing for another man. It’s all a laugh a minute when the show takes us from the Countesses’ kitchen to the King’s office to a courgette that gets turned into, funny enough, a mode of transport to which Cinders to the palace! We also are treated to songs about balls, a clever slow-motion scene that involves the entire cast, and enough campiness and cute boys to make even Alan Carr blush. And to top it off, we are spoiled with Slutvia’s Eurovision song!
What can one say about a show that has ok acting, ok singing, and an ok script? Well – it’s brilliant! You’ll be laughing from the opening scenes which include a giant rat, to the audience participation bits (there are quite a few and boy are they clever!), up to the final heartwarming and groin inflaming scenes. It’s a show that’s over two hours but it flies by. And the cast are perfect, from Joseph Lycett-Barnes as Prince Charming to Lucas Meredith as Buttons and Grant Cartwright as Cinders – everyone does their part, and they all act very well with each other! From the writers and director of total sell-out hits ‘Get Aladdin,’ ‘Jack Off the Beanstalk,’ and ‘Treasure Island – The Curse of the Pearl Necklace’ (Martin Hooper and Jon Bradfield) and directed by Andrew Beckett, Above the Stag has put on another memorable show.
Tinderella: Cinders Slips it In is playing until January 16th, 2016. Most performances are sold out but there are a few tickets left on various dates. To book, please go here: http://www.abovethestag.com/shows/
Reviewed by Tim Baros

I Can’t Keep My Gay Kid Safe

08/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

I Can’t Keep My Gay Kid Safe | Amelia

Mother, wife, breadwinner

Posted: 12/07/2015

Hold my hand

I Can’t Keep My Gay Kid Safe

A lot goes through your mind when your kid is hit by a car. Most of it is best described by those symbols at the top of the keyboard, because normal swear words just aren’t good enough. But what also went through mine was “I can’t keep him safe.”
As the mom of a young gay kid I think about safety a lot. I talk about it a lot too. I talk with my husband about where are the safe places to wear his very “out” t-shirts. I talk with the principal and teachers in my son’s school about the measures I expect them to take to against anti-gay hate speech at school. I talk to my son about the people of the world who hate him for just being himself. And I do all kinds of things to keep him safe too. I keep him away from old homophobic relatives. I try to keep our family outings in accepting and affirming environments. I reinforce to him in dozens of little ways that we think he’s perfect exactly the way he is.
I do all these things because I worry. “Will my kid get bullied at school?” is something most parents worry about, but it takes on a whole new level of intensity when dealing with an asking and telling gay kiddo. There’s also the physical threat. Some people, who act like normal, rational human beings at other times, become ape-shit crazy-faced when confronted with an actual gay person.
Is every LGBTQ person a victim of physical threats and violence? No, of course not. Of my friends who are gay and around my age, very few of them have actually gotten into a physical altercation because of their orientation. But it does happen. We’ve all seen the news. (Or Twitter and Facebook, because who watches local news these days?) In 2014 there were 1,248 official victims of sexual orientation-bias hate crimes in the US. And that’s just the official ones. We’ve all heard stories of incidents we think should be hate crimes, but the perpetrators dodge that prosecution by some legalese or another. I don’t want my kid to end up one of those statistics, so I talk, I prepare and I worry.
But none of that matters when someone is carelessly speeding on a quiet side street, talking on their phone and not paying one damn bit of attention to the kid desperately trying to get out of the way. It wasn’t personal. The driver wasn’t targeting my kid. It was a classic case of wrong place/wrong time. It was an accident. It was reckless driving. It was a lot of things, but it had nothing to do with the fact my kid is gay.

The off duty cop who witnessed the accident and the firefighters who first arrived at the scene didn’t know that my kid was gay. They just took care of him. One by one they added to the undercurrent of pissed off that grew as each new arrival was informed that the driver just said “I’m sorry” and drove away. When the ambulance arrived to carry us away to the hospital, they didn’t know he was gay either. In fact one of the paramedics tried to distract my son from his worry and pain by telling him about all the pretty female nurses that would be at the hospital when we got there. Even through my son’s pain and fear, he managed to make eye contact with me and roll his eyes. I decided I wasn’t in any mood for a rational “teaching moment,” and let the comment pass. We had bigger things to worry about.
After we were at the hospital, and things had settled down, and we were waiting for tests, one of the nurses brought in a stack of pillow cases for my son chose from. Some local charity project makes pillowcases for our children’s hospital to help the patients feel more comfortable. The nurse made a point to tell me that this was the “boy” pile. Again, I let that pass. It works for my kid — he’s a stereotypical boy — but it wouldn’t have worked for all those gender non-conforming LGBTQ kids out there. I flashed for a second on how annoying it would be in an emergency to have to explain that, no, my son would like to see the princess collection, please.
Everyone who responded to the accident was great. They took care of my child, and they cared that he had been so callously hurt, and none of them knew he was gay. But it mattered. It mattered to him, and it mattered to me. When we least expected it, the fact my kid isn’t straight was right there with us in an ambulance. Because being gay is something he is 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. It isn’t all he is, but it is an important part of him. And it’s a part that should be respected.
And don’t worry, he’s going to be ok. He has a crazy complicated broken ankle, but that’s the only big damage. The cast goes all the way up his thigh and it’s awkward and weird, but we’re coping.
So, no. I can’t keep my kid “safe.” I couldn’t if he was straight either. Because life isn’t safe. No matter what I do, life will keep happening, and we have to adjust. I can’t let my worry keep him from being happy, having fun and figuring out dance to “Up Town Funk” on crutches. But I will keep doing my best.

This man hopes to end the stigma surrounding male rape by telling his story

08/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

LGBTQ Nation
Monday, December 7, 2015

A must-read essay by Dean Eastmond recounts his harrowing experience being raped, and the aftermath.

In a powerful new essay published by The Independent, writer Dean Eastmond opens up about being raped three years. Eastmond was 16-years-old when the 2012 Olympic games took place in London. “My quaint little hometown of Weymouth hosted the sailing events,” he recalls, “and I ended up as an Olympic attendant, serving food to athletes and their crews. Not a bad first job, I guess.” During the course of the job, Eastmond befriended another guy who was a couple years older than him. “We used to get the same bus into work each morning,” he writes. “He looked and acted like a nice enough guy. He was always smiling, and popular with our other colleagues. As a shy and closeted teenager, I looked up to him as a friend.” One evening, the man asked Eastmond if he could hang out at his flat before Eastmond had to go and work the late shift. Thinking nothing of it, Eastmond said yes. “Before I knew it, my trousers had been pulled down and he was on top of me,” he recalls. “All I remember is the pain, and my vision becoming blurred by the intense fear that swept over me. It was my first ever sexual encounter.” After the encounter, Eastmond still managed to go to work that night. “I left the house to go to work, but he stayed inside my room,” he writes. “I was terrified at the thought of still finding him in my room when I got back from my shift. This was a nightmare that haunted me for weeks after: walking into my bedroom at any time, and finding the man who raped me sitting there.”This man hopes to end the stigma surrounding male rape by telling his story – LGBTQ Nation – Page 2

Three years later, Eastmond says he still feels “an indistinguishable sense of fear, doubt, worthlessness and discomfort” over the incident, which he never told his parents about or reported to police.
“I was trapped within what my rapist had done, and unable to reach out to anyone for help,” he writes. “I thought I’d be outed as gay and rejected. I know this sounds silly. But it was what I thought, and I know it’s the same for others who have been sexually abused.”
Citing a group called Rape Crisis, Eastmond says as many as 12,000 men are raped in England and Wales every year.
“We should make sure that we’re addressing the issue of male rape,” he says, adding that as many as 98 percent of male rape victims don’t report the crimes. “And I’m included in that figure,” he adds.
“Unless such issues are spoken about and understood more, I doubt this statistic will ever change.”
Eastmond hopes that by sharing his story he can be a part of the change.
“I’m talking because I know it’s the right thing to do,” he writes. “No one should let their experiences rot away within themselves. No means no, no will continue to mean no — and male rape needs to be spoken about, urgently.”

Editorial:

If you are in Northern Ireland

You are not alone, if you want to talk to someone then you can contact:

Carafriend Telephone – 0808 8000 390 FREE – Free from landlines and most mobiles: 3, EE, O2, Virgin and Vodafone
NIGRA – 07719576524 and we will ring you back to take the call charges

The Albert Kennedy Trust

08/12/2015 By ACOMSDave Leave a Comment

It’s cold out there. And right now 4,800 young lesbian, gay, bisexual and trans peopleare homeless or living in hostile environments. In most cases they have been driven outof their family homes because of parental rejection, abuse from within the family, and aggression or violence.
It’s unacceptable. There’s should be no room for hate.

At The Albert Kennedy Trust we offer support and accommodation to get young people back on their feet. But we need your support.
Your cash pledge to The Albert Kennedy Trust will make a difference to the lives of young, homeless LGBT people.
PLEASE visit http://www.akt.org.uk/2/spg357/albert… and give what you can to ensure no young person is cold and at risk of harm on the streets this Winter.

The letter by Stella Wilson about the bullying Bill (Write Back, December 4) is inherently homophobic and I am concerned that attitudes like this lead to bullying of LGBTQ children.

• Presenter says he is ‘ashamed to work for the BBC’ • BBC says: ‘We do not comment on individual matters

This year Iceman, one of the original X-men, came out as gay in Bran Michael Bendis’ superb All-New X-Men #40.

“Wow! I never knew that. I don’t care what happens as long as they tell good stories.”

Editorial:

If you are in Northern Ireland

You are not alone, if you want to talk to someone then you can contact:

Carafriend Telephone – 0808 8000 390 FREE – Free from landlines and most mobiles: 3, EE, O2, Virgin and Vodafone

NIGRA – 07719576524 and we will ring you back to take the call charges

• Presenter says he is ‘ashamed to work for the BBC’
• BBC says: ‘We do not comment on individual matters