‘Casement Wars’ – DRB response to Angus Mitchell in Field Day Review Part II 4 June 2013 ‘Casement’s War’ – DRB response to Angus Mitchell in Field Day Review Part I 25 March 2013 Tralee Casement conference schedule October 2013
 
Part I, Casement’s War, Issue 31, 25 March 2013 [On Casement in Germany and the Easter Rising]
 
Part II Casement Wars, Issue 36, 4 June 2013 [On the Black Diaries’ authenticity controversy]
 
Responding to: FIELD DAY REVIEW 8. 2012
· ‘A Strange Chapter of Irish History’: Sir Roger Casement, Germany and the 1916 Rising by Angus Mitchell.
· Diary of Roger Casement, 1914–16, Part I: ‘My Journey to the German Headquarters at Charleville’, annotated by Angus Mitchell.
· ‘A last Page of My Diary,’ 17 March to 8 April 1916, with an introduction by Angus Mitchell.
· ‘Phases of a Dishonourable Phantasy’ by Angus Mitchell.
Also attached is the programme for the Casement conference in Tralee this October organised by Notre Dame University and Limerick University.
 
A Casement documentary archive, extensive diaries controversy material and a photograph gallery is at http://jeffdudgeon.com/

Two major events on Gays The Word’s calendar are:

(i) The Declining Significance of Homophobia

(in British Schools)

Thursday April 26th 7pm – FREE

You are warmly invited to celebrate the publication of…

Mark McCormacks new book: The Declining Significance of Homophobia: How Teenage Boys are Redefining Masculinity and Heterosexuality

The Declining Significance of Homophobia: How Teenage Boys are Redefining Masculinity and Heterosexuality

(published by Oxford University Press)

A book reading and discussion with author Mark McCormack

FREE – ALL WELCOME – Complimentary Refreshments – RSVP on Gay’s the Word’s Facebook Events Page https://www.facebook.com/events/401978959812946/ or just turn up! – doors 6.55pm Venue: Gay’s the Word

Can’t make the reading but would like a signed copy of the book? Simply e-mail sales@gaystheword.co.uk putting ‘signed Significance in the subject-header. HB copies available at £29.99 (rrp £32.50)

The book:

Research has traditionally shown secondary schools to be hostile environments for LGBT youth. Boys have used homophobia to prove their masculinity and distance themselves from homosexuality. Despite these findings over the last three decades, The Declining Significance of Homophobia tells a different story.

Drawing on fieldwork and interviews of young men in three British schools, Dr. Mark McCormack shows how heterosexual male students are inclusive of their gay peers and proud of their pro-gay attitudes. He finds that being gay does not negatively affect a boy’s popularity, but being homophobic does.

Yet this accessible book goes beyond documenting this important shift in attitudes towards homosexuality: McCormack examines how decreased homophobia results in the expansion of gendered behaviors available to young men. In the schools he examines, boys are able to develop meaningful and loving friendships across many social groups. They replace toughness and aggression with emotional intimacy and displays of affection for their male friends. Free from the constant threat of social marginalization, boys are able to speak about once feminized activities without censure.

The Declining Significance of Homophobia is essential reading for all those interested in masculinities, education, and the decline of homophobia.

Mark McCormack says, ‘The erosion of homophobia in these sixth forms is not just great news for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered students. Heterosexual students benefit as well. By casting off the homophobia of previous generations, young men can cuddle, hug and love without fear of reprisal’.

Praise for The Declining Significance of Homophobia, by Mark McCormack:

“Despite the remarkable changes in attitudes towards homosexuality in recent years, a continuing stream of homophobia has often been detected, especially among young men. This important book demonstrates vividly that this need not be the case… This is a heartening book that charts the profound and positive transformation now taking place in young people’s culture, and makes one optimistic for the future.”

– Jeffrey Weeks, Emeritus Professor of Sociology, London South Bank University, and author of The Languages of Sexuality (2011)

 

Goodbye to Soho by Clayton LIttlewood

(ii) ‘Goodbye to Soho’ by Clayton Littlewood
Thursday, May 3rd, 2012 7pm FREE – doors 6.55pm
Venue: Gay’s the Word

Celebrating the publication of ‘Goodbye to Soho’; the follow-up to Clayton Littlewood’s hugely successful and excellent book, ‘Dirty White Boy’.
Dirty White Boy is back with more tales from the unforgettable cast of Soho characters
Business in London’s Soho is not going well and the designer menswear shop that Clayton Littlewood runs with his partner, Jorge Betancourt, is under threat.
Following on from his award-winning diary Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho, Clayton Littlewood is back, watching the hookers, the gangsters, the rent boys and following the same strange characters who make up this strangest of villages.
Will eccentric artist Raqib Shaw continue on his path to artistic immortality? Can Sue and Maggie, the Soho madams, keep the law at bay? Will ageing queens Leslie and Charlie reignite their long-lost love? What will become of Chico, the imprisoned ex–Diana Ross impersonator? And what of the Prince of Soho himself, Sebastian Horsley? Will America welcome him to its shores? Goodbye to Soho is a snapshot of modern London— a Samuel Pepys diary for the Soho subculture.
RSVP Gay’s the Word Facebook Events page https://www.facebook.com/events/203745913069612/ (or just show up) – Refreshments available – All welcome –
please note this will be a mainly non-seated event.  If you require a seat for this reading please just let us know on the day! – doors 6.55pm
Venue: Gay’s the Word
Can’t make the reading but would like a signed copy of the book? Simply e-mail sales@gaystheword.co.uk putting ‘signed Soho’ in the subject-header; paperback £10.99 (£16.99 HB also available)

Advanced Reviews:

‘Clayton has been seduced by Soho’s sleazy magic and through him so are we.‘ — Marc Almond
‘As scurrilous and entertaining as ever.’ —Rupert Smith (Man’s World)
‘Like Isherwood’s Berlin, Littlewood’s Soho co
mes to life right off the page.’ —Jonathan Kemp (London Triptych)
‘Downright Dickensian…not simply a good writer but a great writer.’ —Polari Magazine
‘That dirty old whore Soho has no better pimp than Clayton Littlewood.’ —Tim Fountain (Resident Alien)
“Beautifully composed vignettes…observed by a ravenous, compassionate, amused voyeur of the first rank.” —Nicholas de Jongh (Plague Over England)
‘While the wider world may view them with fear or disdain, Clayton captures the beggar’s humanity and the hooker’s humour with warmth that can bring a lump to the throat or leave one roaring with laughter. It might sound strange to be comforted by the daily trials of prostitutes, trannies, prisoners and street sweepers, but that’s what Clayton does – brilliantly.’ (Stewart Who? Twisted)
Author Biog:

Gay’s the Word bookshop regular, Clayton Littlewood ran the Soho designer menswear store Dirty White Boy with his partner, Jorge Betancourt. His first book, Dirty White Boy: Tales of Soho (a Gay’s the Word bookshop recommended read), based on his diaries kept whilst at the shop and wrote the “Soho Stories” column for The London Paper, contributing regularly to BBC Radio London. In 2009 Clayton turned the book into a play which staged at the Trafalgar Studios in London’s West End alongside actor David Benson and singer Maggie K de Monde. The play returned for an extended run in 2010.
 

Future Readings:

 

Devil’s Wall: The Nationalist Youth Mission of Heinz Rutha

with author Mark Cornwall

working date: Thursday 24^th May (date TBC)

~o~

 

 ‘All the Beauty of the Sun’

with novelist Marion Husband

(author of ‘The Boy I Love’)

Thursday 7^th June 7pm

 

~o~

 

Lost Gay Classics Event

‘In the Making’ by G.F. Green

& ‘Vainglory: with Inclinations and Caprice’ by Ronald Firbank

an event with Richard Canning and Peter Parker

Friday 22^nd June 7pm

 

We’ll have a no-holds-barred policy, say editors

Gay & Lesbian Humanist, the magazine that suspended publication amid controversy in 2005, is back. And its editors have promised a no-holds-barred policy concerning political correctness.
G&LH‘s return has been warmly welcomed by Barry Duke, editor of Britain’s oldest freethought magazine, The Freethinker, who says it plays an important part in getting the message across.
The new online publication takes over from the print version, which had been publishing quarterly since 1981.
The magazine has, throughout its life, carried a lively mixture of in-depth feature articles, regular items, events newSeand general news on matters concerning humanists, lesbianSeand gays worldwide.
In a statement today, the magazine’s editors say: Many people will remember G&LH. Some may remember why it suspended publication following a protracted dispute about content.
After a period of change and restructuring within the PTT, the trustees decided to resume publication. In order to optimise the trust’s work and cost-effectiveness, and to reach a wider audience, it was decided to make G&LH an online publication.
On the magazine’s policy, the statement adds: Much is often said about the right-wing threat to our liberties, but far less attention is made of threats from the left wing and elsewhere. However, we will expose threats wherever we find them, without fear of or favour to any established dogma, and with chromatic indifference to the whole political spectrum.
If it stands for anything, G&LH stands for reason, free speech and open debate. There are no sacred cows or no-go areas. Full stop.
The editors’ statement says everyone has the right to free speech within the confines of the law. The only way to strengthen something is to question it, test it, they say.
Truth is not protected by never being challenged, but by always being challenged. Where there is no truth, there is no education. The educative process knows no bounds.
We hope that, by providing feature articles examining all aspects of humanism, sexuality, dogma, threats to free speech, we fill a gap not addressed by other publications.
Barry Duke, editor of the 127-year-old Freethinker, said today: As one who helped launch the Gay & Lesbian Humanist, then witnessed with enormous pride its development over the years, I am delighted that the magazine has resurfaced in electronic format.
I always believed that the magazine could play an important part in getting the message across that, not only was it good to be gay, it was even better to be a gay person free from the dreadfully debilitating and hugely harmful influences of religious belief.
I like to think that the magazine with its top-notch reportage and in-depth coverage of important and often controversial issues provided its readers with a vital and unique stepping-stone from the tyranny of religious dogma to the freedom of a guilt-free, rational lifestyle.
Welcome back!
And a former editor of G&LH, George Broadhead who is also secretary of the PTT had this to say: I was very sad that the previous print version of G&LH ceased publication. I am enormously pleased we will now be able to continue where we left off.
On arriving at the magazine’s website (http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org/) readers are greeted by a montage of covers from the print edition going back to the late nineties, when it began printing in colour. On clicking the Enter here button they are taken to a mixed content of serious articles, some more light-hearted material, a roundup of news from Britain and around the world, and an invitation to visit the magazine’s sister publication, the blog Pink Triangle (http://ptt-blog.blogspot.com/).
Note for editors:
Gay & Lesbian Humanist ceased publication amid a controversy over content that received widespread publicity, including articles in the Guardian, the Morning Star and several online outlets.
The Pink Triangle Trust is the only UK-based gay humanist charity and the only humanist organisation worldwide publishing an online magazine for lesbian and gay atheists, freethinkerSeand humanists.
The trust is named after the pink triangle that lesbianSeand gay men had to wear in the Nazi concentration camps. This registered charity (number 1015629) was set up in 1992 to advance the education of the public and particularly of lesbianSeand gay men, in the principleSeand practice of Humanism and to advance the education of the public, and particularly of Humanists, about all aspects of homosexuality. It may also assist individuals to obtain remedies under the law where they have suffered unlawful discrimination on account of their homosexuality or their Humanism.
Issued by:
The Pink Triangle Trust, 34 Spring Lane, Kenilworth, Warwickshire CV8 2HB
44 (0)1926 858450
http://www.pinktriangle.org.uk/
weblog: http://ptt-blog.blogspot.com/
Gay & Lesbian Humanist magazine: http://www.gayandlesbianhumanist.org
To read articles in previous issues of G&LH and find a list of contributors, go to http://www.pinktriangle.org.uk/glh/index.html.
For further information, contact Andy Armitage on 01994 419755 or by email at editor@pinktriangle.org.uk.

The Myth of Homophobia Revolutionary Gay Men’s Caucus

Kelson Publications 1.50

A radical Marxist analysis of the Gay movement and its development. This publication by the RGMC identifies the real reason for our oppression. Our campaigns have always been regarded as a struggle against our various enemies, which have been defined as ignorance, the law, the family, even ourselves, and these factors have been consolidated into something called homophobia’. The word homophobia itself, as the writer rightly points out, seems to suggest a hang-up in the minds of those responsible for legislation and those who have command of the state, nothing more that a misguided attitude, i. e. that homophobia’ is simply an optional’ form of oppression to racism sexism, etc.

Many people feel content to attack the special characteristics of the capitalist system in the hope that more liberated life-styles can be achieved. This pamphlet argues that we can never harmonise radical ideas with the capitalist system, and our presumption that homophobia’ is the root of our oppression, has blinded us from understanding why we are oppressed at all. Fighting for integration within a capitalist society it is argued, has achieved nothing, as there has been an increase in convictions of Gay men since 1967 when the law against us was reformed! Job discrimination still takes place, and the struggle to protect Gay rights at work has achieved little, as yet.

The main reason why a gay scene’ developed in our society is that the free labour market has permitted a sizeable minority of Gay people to congregate in capital citieSeand large towns. We therefore have formed communities which do not exist in many other countries, as their economies have developed differently.

During the 18^th century, huge increases in wealth derived from exploitation of the agricultural system by individual capitalists led to the growth of wage-labour and industrial capitalism. Same-sex relationships were most common among those who were economically independent. To be useful to the capitalist system, workers were encouraged and socially pressurised into, family relationships. Unproductive’ relationships which did not seem in the interest of the economic system were frowned upon by the state.

The Caucus conclude that due to the nature of the development of our society, reformism’ cannot possibly make us more accepted within the system. What is needed are revolutionary ideas which challenge the economic order. The struggle of the working class is inseparable from that of Gay people. The Gay movement’ has acted against the interests of working people by integrating with the Gay bourgeoisie and becoming their clients. The only positive movement is the movement for working class unity against capitalist interests everywhere, and the Stalinist leadership in Eastern Europe.

Tim Clarke

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ANOTHER VIEW:

In this pamphlet, the RGMC have tried to challenge mainstream Gay politics by placing it in context with the rise of capitalist industrial states. Historically, there is evidence to suggest that homosexuality was largely ignored in rural economies which dominated before the industrial revolution. This was because for a working class individual it was virtually impossible to survive outside the family unit, and so homosexuality never became a threat to that society.

With the industrial revolution came a change in the labour structure, with working class people moving from working for survival to a system of wage labour where they found they could more than just survive. Thus, rural societies declined as their populations moved to the new industrial centres.

It is in the changes of the social structures of this period that the roots of much of our oppression is to be found. Within these changing structures individuals came to an awareness that sexuality was no longer necessarily tied to a need to procreate, thus weakening the family’s hold on each successive generation. But, with the change to an industrially-based economy, the basic structure of the working class family had become vital to the ruling classes, whose new-found profits depended on the continued reproduction of a socially-stable labour force. Thus, such aberrations’ as homosexuality ceased to be merely perversions punished, but became a direct threat to be condemned legally, morally and socially.

Since the industrial revolution, the working classes have become generally better educated and increasingly self-aware, enabling oppressed people to come to re-define themselves in relation to society; witness the Black and Women’s movements, and now the post-Stonewall Gay movement.

After the Stonewall riots, Gays for the first time directly confronted the Trade Union and Labour movements of Europe, including the UK, with the facts of our oppression only to be met with shock and bewilderment. This reinforced the pre-Stonewall line taken by Gay Rights campaigners that our oppression stems from ignorance and that by law-reform and education of the public we would be defeating oppression and prejudice.

It is here the RGMC differ from mainstream Gay politics, in that they argue that law reform and public education are only treatments for the symptoms of our oppression rather than cures for the disease itself, which they see a capitalism, and that while capitalism surviveSeany gains that we make can also be reversed, as witness the Holocaust in Nazi Germany.

To conclude, it must be said that whilst the points raised by RGMC are all valid, the alternative they offer seems a high price to pay for an uncertain result, in that it would require us to submerge our new-found sense of identity virtually completely, to the needs to unite with other oppressed groups against present day society. But they do not state what form society would take after the change, or how a new social revolution would be brought about.

Tom McAlister

Gay Star (No. 9, January 1983)

LInks to sites about Homophobia on the Web:

1. Menstuff?« has compiled information, bookSeand resources on the issue of homophobia
2. Teaching about Homophobia in Schools
3. Homophobia and masculinities among young men (Lessons in becoming a straight man)