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Get Inspired: Making rugby inclusive for all

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Rugby World Cup Trophy Event

BBC Sport – 8 July 2015Last updated at 16:02

The Rugby World Cup trophy  stopped off at the Sports Wales National Centre in Cardiff recently as part of a 100-day tour across the UK and Ireland. The event, supported by Stonewall Wales, was held to encouraging everyone to get involved in sport. Gay friendly rugby teams were invited to meet the international referee, Nigel Owens and participate in a mini, yet slightly competitive, touch rugby tournament!

Get Inspired went along to meet the teams.
Swansea Vikings, Swansea’s first openly gay and inclusive rugby team, saw around 30 players turn up for training within a few weeks of forming, and only four of those had played rugby regularly before.
The club’s founder, or ‘The Chief’ as he’s most commonly known, Steven Larcombe, explained that the club “was built on a desire for gay men in Swansea to have their own rugby team, regardless of ability, experience or sexuality.” The only other gay inclusive team is in Cardiff.

The Chief, Steven Larcombe (fourth from left) with his fellow Vikings.

The Chief, Steven Larcombe (fourth from left) with his fellow Swansea Vikings.

In just 7 weeks the club recruited 46 new players, established a community of over 180 members, as well as campaigned in a number of LGBT (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender) matters, including sport, equality and inclusiveness.
“I hadn’t actually played rugby since school, and its the same for many others in the team so this is pretty new to everyone. Its an amazing achievement to be only the second gay & inclusive team in Wales, the 11th in the United Kingdom and 64th in the World!”

Cardiff Lions

The Cardiff Lions with the Webb Ellis Trophy as it travels around the UK ahead of the Rugby World Cup in September

Inclusivity is the core value of rugby

Following on from their recent success at the Biannual European gay-inclusive tournament, the Union Cup, the Cardiff Lions’ Gareth Waters and Chairman Christopher Whitton, are amazed with the surge in interest in the last few years.
“We are currently in our 11th year of existence and its growing exponentially. We now have a squad of over 40 players within the club, we play regular fixtures at least once or twice a month, and look forward to sending a team to the Bingham Cup  , the equivalent of the Gay Rugby World Cup in Nashville next summer, so there’s definitely a big interest in LGBT rugby, not just in Wales but around the world.
“Inclusivity is one of the core values of rugby and were just here to promote that. There’s definitely still work to be done but were going the right way!

The Swansea Vikings doing some last minute stretching...

The Cardiff Lions doing some last minute stretching…

“Having the Webb Ellis trophy visit Wales based around the whole idea of inclusivity in rugby is a monumental occasion for LGBT sport. Its for everyone, and that’s what I’ve known since I was about 10 and started playing, it doesn’t matter what your size, strength, skin colour or sexual orientation, everyone can get involved!
Nigel Owens reiterated how important it is to be yourself in rugby.
“I’ve done it, as has Gareth Thomas and a lot of other people. Its about encouraging clubs to make the environment as welcoming and safe as possible, and in showing people who are thinking about it, or wondering if they can participate in sport, that they can.

Nigel Owens and co enjoying a selfie!

Step aside Kim Kardashian, there’s a new selfie king in town!

Although a positive role model within Welsh sport, Nigel sometimes get unhappy with people who portray the rugby community as homophobic, and feels that there is a lot of work to do to ensure that rugby is “acceptable and inclusive for all”.
“It is a safe environment to be in, and I encourage anyone who is interested to do so.”

The biggest challenge

According to Owens, the biggest challenge facing sport, rugby in particular, is what is defined by ‘Banter’, what is acceptable or not, and feels that the boundary lies with the individual and the team themselves.
“People within the environment need to be aware that what’s funny and banterous to one person, may not be to others – just think of what you say, but its important too that we must not lose that sense of humour within the sport. That’s the biggest challenge.
If you would like to give Rugby Union a try, take a look at our dedicated guideto get you started.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/0/get-inspired/33366241

Limerick Pride

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Limerick Pride
 
 

Happy Limerick Pride from GOSHH

July 14th – 19th 2015

GOSHH will be providing a wide range of events during this years Limerick Pride Festival
All events take place at GOSHH, Redwood Place, 18 Davis Street, Limerick.
For more information on these events please contact us on 061 314354 or email lgbt@goshh.ie
 

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The YAsTuesday July 14th
The YAs – 5.30pm – 7.00pm
LGBT Group for Adults 18-24 Years Old

This is a safe space for you to express yourself and to meet other young people. The group engages in social activities as well exploring LGBT topics.

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The OutletTuesday July 14th
The OUTlet – 7.30pm – 9.00pm
LGBT Group for Adults aged 25 & over

The OUTlet is a non-alcoholic social group. It is a confidential, safe space. New Members are welcome!

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Pride FlagSaturday July 18th
March with GOSHH at the 2015 Limerick Pride Parade
Meeting at the GOSHH Office at 2pm and we invite you to march behind the GOSHH Banner during the parade.
(The Parade leaves City Hall at 3pm)

The Irish Scene: Gay Guide to Ireland by Mike Parker (Part I)

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First published in our paper magazine – upstart
 
Publisher: Gay Men’s Press (29 May 1996)
Mike Parker compiled the (English) Northern Scene in this series, which I praised in a previous upstart. Yes: I didn’t much like this book.  MIke, who was so efficient shoving a quart (almost a gallon) quantity into a pint pot in his last outing seems to be one of those people who was lyrical when theyh come across the word “celtic” or even just “Irish”.  He also decides that history loms large here, so he gives us some of it.  “Daniel O’Connell, a brilliant young Kerry man…won the County Clare constituency in the 1828 election.  As a Catholic, however, he was barred from taking his seat.  British Prime Minister William Pitt… scrapped the ban”.
In 1828, O’Connell was in his fifties, PItt the Younger had been dead for a quarter of a century.  The Elder Pitt (Lord Chatsworth) had snuffed it in the 1780s.  Mike also appears to be saying the Irish Labour Party only just got into power recently.  Labour has held Cabinet seats since the 1940s, and has been a constant in government for fifteen years (it is being described these days as “the-even the– Party of government”).  There is also some very odd stuff abut the Celtic Twilight/Literary Renaissance (one would have thought that someone visiting Ireland, whether the political entity or the geographical expression, over the past twenty years might have noticed that we have become less provincial and embarrassed about our contribution to ‘art’ (painting and sculpture) and ‘classical’ music, there is a booming industry in art-books and a quite large discography of the latter).  The ‘folk’ and pop/rock end of things hardly needs mentioning.
Mike Parker admits that he has spent his holidays in Ireland in a Guinness-induced haze, which is fair enough – so do I – in fact, I spend my non-hols in a Guinness-induced haze, if I can manage it.  He also says that the outer rim of Ireland is more interesting that the centre, that’s his business, though I quite like the Irish midlands and south east, which he rather gives short drift.  I think Wexford, town and country are very interesting, but I’m not the author.
The problem here, is that Mike has to write more ‘touristy’ stuff than in his English book, as the “scene”, as such, is not really very big (the whole population of the island is less than Greater Manchester, or Merseyside, or the West Midlands).  He deals with the scene very well.
He compares Limerick with Derry (no ‘Londonderrys’ here – not even for the sake of a bit of alliteration), and rather approves of them, but he does not investigate what effect having a university has had on the town(s) and their scene(s).  Mike appears to believe that Limerick is still brooding on KIng Billy’s government reneging on the Treaty of 1691 – I doubt it.  Limerick was the Holy City of Irish Catholicism for over a century.  This came to a climax during De Valera’s period (if the word “climax” is permissible in the same sentence as “De Valera”).  Dev represented County Clare, just down the road from Limerick City, and his long supremacy is characterised in this book as ‘insular’.

The Pope’s Divisions

Catholic Ireland at that time quite often spoke of itself in the same breath as Communist Russia, and was not in the least fazed by the huge disparity in population and power.  Ireland, (which had not been Catholic in the days of Gaeldom), became, not more Catholic than the Pope – but just as Catholic as the pope wanted.  Missionaries spread out from Ireland through Latin America, the British Empire (and most of the other colonial empires) and the Orient, proselytising with a vigour the Bolshevik might have (and probably did) envy.  All of this was cultural vandalism of the first ordr – but to give the Blackcoats their due, they destroyed pagan, Gaelic Ireland’s immemorial culture before they set out.  Whtever this was – it was decidedly not smug insularity….
Part Two to follow
 
 

Amazing film: Timbuktu

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Not far from the ancient, north African city of Timbuktu life is hard.  Proud cattle herder Kidane (Ibrahim Ahmed aka Pino) tries to live peacefully in the dunes with his wife Satima (Toulou Kiki), his daughter Toya (Layla Walet Mohamed), and Issan (Mehdi Ag Mohamed), their twelve-year-old shepherd.
timbuktu
In the town the newly arrived, religious fundamentalists strut, with their heavy weapons and driving around in the Toyota, four wheel pickups and motorbikes. Using megaphones they shout their new religious decrees – music banned, cigarettes banned, soccer banned and women must be covered and wear socks and gloves at all times.
We see the local iman, the woman selling fish and others gently and with much dignity resist with dignity.  We see the jihadis taking control – hunting down the source of music, punishing people for small digressions.  We see them as hypocrites – sometimes brutal. as they tighten the screws, – sometimes stupid, the scene where they try, incompetently, to make a propaganda video is an absolute hoot .
Life is harsh and this is reflected as Kidane ends up in a bitter conflict with a neighbour.  This ends up being tried under the very narrow, uncompromising, fundamentalist view of sharia law.  I found this section interesting as Kidane’s reaction to these tragic circumstances is very different to that of someone brought up in a western culture.
The location is often very beautiful.  The quiet dignity of local people inspiring.  The cinematography good.  An insight into a very different world and a help to understand the situation of those unfortunate enough to live in an area occupied by ISIS, jihadis or other fundamentalists.
On limited release at present.

 
 

New Pub In Bangor

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LGBT Community Has New Pub In Bangor, North Wales

By The Gay UK, Jul 7 2015 09:12AM
A year after Bangor’s only gay venue, The Three Crowns burnt down the new management of The White Lion hope to give the LGBT community a safe space in North Wales.
(C) 2015 Google

(C) 2015 Google
Gareth Cooper, Sian Williams and Dave Cartwright have turned the The White Lion pub in Bangor’s city centre into a space which will once again give the LGBT community a focus point after The Three Crowns was gutted by fire in 2014.
The Three Crowns was closed when fire destroyed the pub last year.
Jason Robertshaw who lived above the pub was forced to jump over 20 feet to save his life and as a result received numerous serious injuries including multiple burns and a collapsed lung. Two other men, Jonathan Thompson and Daniel Chisholm, were also forced to jump from the burning building, neither of them, luckily, were seriously hurt.
Speaking to the Daily Post, one of the new owners, Gareth Cooper said,
“I wanted somewhere were gays and lesbians felt they could hold hands again, kiss, feel the emotions that come naturally to any living person, where the whole LGBT community felt at home and comfortable.
The White Lion is open Wednesday to Sunday, 8.00PM to 1.00AM.

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

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 – alliterator

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

This week has been somewhat of a weird week for LGBT characters in comic books. First, there was the fact that the Midnighter’s comic is actually really, really good. But then we got acontroversy about James Robsinson’s Airboy and its use of a derogatory word for transgender. (My take on that: Robinson was deliberately writing those characters as assholes. Unfortunately, those characters are fictional versions of him and the artist and he went a bit too far, making the whole thing seem weird, out of place, and in bad taste. Edit: Robinson has written a full apology.)

But the current crop of comics does have a lot of good LGBT characters, especially independent comics. Here are five you really need to start reading:

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

8house: Arclight, written by Brandon Graham and art by Marian Churchland

Hey, do you want to read about genderqueer knights in a weird fantasy land involving alien monsters, blood magic, and a goose?

I had you at “genderqueer knights,” didn’t I?

8house: Arclight is a fantastic comic that just came out (only one issue) about Sir Arclight (one of the aforementioned genderqueer knights) and her Lady, who has been magically trapped in an alien root-body. Now they have to protect their world from blood magic and find out what happened to her original body and who is using it. (Seriously, it’s weird and awesome.)

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

The Spire, written by Simon Spurrier, pencils by Jeff Stokely, colors by Andre May

The Spire is another brand new comic (also one issue) that takes place in a strange fantasy land. Only this fantasy land is the Spire, “a mountain of metal and stone that rises from the toxic nowherelands; a city of twisting tunnels, grinding elevators, ancient machinery, and over one million human and non-human residents.”

The main character is Shå, the Commander of the City Watch (and lesbian who has white tendrils that come out of her back), who polices the Spire. However, now that the old Baron is dead, the new Baroness has some problems with her.

Si Spurrior is an awesome writer and Jeff Stokely is an awesome artist. Their previous collaboration, Six-Gun Gorilla, was mind-blowingly good.

 
 
 
 
 

Kaptara, written by Chip Zdarsky and art by Kagan McLeod

So, okay, this book is kind of hard to explain. It’s about a group of astronauts that accidentally crash land into the planet of Kaptara.

Except it’s not really about that. It’s really only about one astronaut, Keith Kanga, who is super lazy (and also gay) and when he finds himself away from the other astronauts in this cool fantasy land (similar to, say, He-Man’s Eternia), he doesn’t want to leave. Not when he hated it back on Earth.

Of course, that’s presupposing that there will be an Earth to go back to, since maybe there won’t be?

Chip Zdarksy is hilarious and Kagan McLeod draws some excellent cat tanks. (Seriously, cat tanks. It’s super weird and awesome.)

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

Infinite Loop, written by Pierrick Colinet and art by Elsa Charretier

So if fantasy lands aren’t your thing, how about time travel? Because Infinite Loop is an awesome, time travel romance epic.

Teddy (the redhead on the cover) and her coworker Ulysses have one job to do: find time anomalies and eradicate them. If left alone, these anomalies will build up and eventually result in the end of the world. Teddy is really good at her job, too…until she meets a human anomaly (later named Ano) and falls head over heels for her.

Much time travel and nudity ensues. Seriously, lots of nudity (this is not a book to read on the bus). But there’s also awesome action and art and romance. Oh, and a really neat thing where decisions are mapped out in decision trees. Seriously, get it.

Five LGBT Comic Books Out Now

The Wicked + The Divine, written by Kieron Gillen and art by Jamie McKelvie

Here’s one that you may have heard of — in fact, it’s the only one on this list that has been going on for more than a year and has just completed it’s second storyarc.

But it bears repeating that this comic isawesome. The Wicked + The Divine is about creativity and imagination; it’s about fans and fandoms and how we try to be closer to the creators we love; and it’s about magic and gods. These gods just happen to have a ticking clock: two years of being loved and hated and then they die. Some can deal with the pressure. Others can’t.

It also bears repeating that the cast is filledwith LGBT characters, including Cassandra, a trans woman. Two books are out now, Vol 1: The Faust Act and Vol 2: Fandemonium.

What other LGBT characters are you guys excited out in comics now?

Charities hounding people on official ‘no-call’ list

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An investigation is launched after it emerges that some of Britain’s biggest charities are exploiting a loophole in the Telephone Preference Service system

Charity collection box

Charities are in the spotlight after the death of poppy seller Olive Cooke, who was swamped by calls Photo: ALAMY
Dan Hyde

By , Consumer Affairs Editor

8:47AM BST 07 Jul 2015

Charities are under investigation for exploiting a legal loophole to cold call vulnerable people who had registered on the official “no-call” list and hounding them for cash.

The information watchdog is concerned that people registered with the Telephone Preference Service (TPS), which is supposed to stop unsolicited calls, are nevertheless being contacted by some of Britain’s charities.

Staff working for the British Red Cross, NSPCC, Oxfam and MacMillan are said to be using a quirk in the law to circumvent TPS restrictions where someone has failed to tick a box on a privacy policy to prevent marketing calls.

Undercover reporters working for the Daily Mail found that one of the call centre agencies used by these and dozens of other charities was telling staff to be “brutal” and “ferocious” in dealing with potential donors.

GoGen staff were taught to “deflect” any objections raised by those who answered the phone. This applied regardless of whether potential supporters were in their nineties, had dementia or admitted to confusion and memory problems.

The Information Commissioner’s Office believes the company could be breaking the law. All the charities denied acting unlawfully and have begun internal inquiries. Oxfam has suspended telephone fundraising and Save the Children said it had already ended cold-calling.


The death of poppy seller Olive Cooke put fundraising tactics in the spotlight

Stephen Eckersley, head of enforcement at the ICO, said: “On the face of it this could be a breach of both the Data Protection Act and the Privacy and Electronic Communications Regulations.

“We will be launching an investigation into the call centre and charities involved.”

Its inquiry comes with charities already facing scrutiny over the tactics used to solicit donations – particularly after the death of Olive Cooke. The 92-year-old, who was Britain’s longest-serving poppy seller, was battling depression and had expressed her dismay at being unable to answer all 260 charities appeal letters she received each a month.

What the charities say

A spokesman for Macmillan said: “We take the claims made by the Daily Mail seriously and are looking into these as a priority. We do not wish to contact people if we are aware this is unwanted.”

A spokesman for the British Red Cross said the charity was “deeply concerned” by the claims and would seek clarification to ensure it was not in breach of the law.

A spokesman for the NSPCC said it had “contractual arrangements in place with those that fund-raise on our behalf, including strict guidance on vulnerable people, and expect the highest standards of behaviour.”

An Oxfam spokesman said: “Oxfam fights for the rights of poor and vulnerable people across the world and we apply our values to all aspects of our work. We would never exploit an individual’s vulnerability in our marketing.

“Our agencies have clear, regulated policies that help strike the appropriate balance between enabling people with dementia to live as full a life as possible, including supporting their favourite charity, and protecting them from the vulnerability caused by dementia.”

dan.hyde@telegraph.co.uk

In the Life

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I just wanted to let you all know about an exciting new digital portal from the UCLA Film & Television Archive:http://newsroom.ucla.edu/releases/groundbreaking-television-coverage-of-lgbt-milestones-now-online
The portal contains freely available streaming video of the LGBT newsmagazine “In the Life,” which ran from 1992-2012, as well as some contextual readings. This launch is phase one of the project, and includes 15 of the show’s 21 seasons. More complete video content will be available this coming Fall.
Access to the resource is available via the Archive’s website: https://www.cinema.ucla.edu/collections/inthelife
The UCLA Library also holds the print archival records for the show: http://www.oac.cdlib.org/findaid/ark:/13030/c8x350tk/

Camp as Knickers by BA Finnegan

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Reprinted from out paper magazine upstart
Publisher: Mercier Press (1 Jun. 1996)
The subtitle is ‘How to camp it up and have an absolutely fabulous life’.  “Camp”  here, means being conscientiously ‘fem’, drunk, obsessed with certain television progs (AbFab for example), and the usual list of Hollywood stars.  Bette Davis, Joan Crawford, Judy (yawn) Garland.  The notion of ‘camp’ as a form of social and cultural subversion does not enter into it: John (christened “Marion”) Wayne with his limp wrist, golf-ball-between-the-arse-cheeks mincing walk, made La Davis look like Mr America.
Reading this short (95 pages) book, is a bit like watching a small, cute, dumb, animal being relentlessly bludgeoned to death.  There one, very slight joke, simply does not stand up to the cold scrutiny demanded by printed ink on paper.  This sort of thing is (probably) a gas if you are in the right frame of mind, (ten G&Ts, etc).  Honestly, asking seven quid for what amounts to one over-extended joke is a bit much.
Especially as it tends to demonstrate the fact that camp and/or ‘scene’ queens are as funny as a dose of the skitters, and that being able to lip-sync whole scenes from Whatever Happened to Baby Jane? is not an audacious off-centre ‘take’ on modern popular culture.  It’, just as sad, really, as being a “Trekkie”.  Specially if you are still at it after the age of, say, eighteen and a wee bit.