DIVA

Bieber and the Benders

2011-04-08T09:41:00.000-07:00

The Justin Bieber lesbian look-a-like brigade needn’t search any further. New YouTube sensation Dani Shay is the real dead-ringer.

Just as YouTube spewed out the fresh-faced ‘tween Justin Bieber way back when, it’s propelled the 22-year-old Dani Shay to little short of stardom. Her cover of ‘Love The Way You Lie’ on YouTube suddenly went viral in the space of 24 hours, and newspapers from the Telegraph to the Metro are reporting quite seriously on the uncanny resemblance. Newsworthy stuff indeed.

Most appalling about this whole debacle is that nearly every commenter on the YouTube video—and news article—feels it necessary to comment on the gender or speculated sexuality of Dani Shay.

Despite many articles bluntly claiming that Dani is a lesbian, I could find no proof of this anywhere on the internet. Although she may very well be a lesbian, making this presumption because her doppelganger happens to be a 17-year-old boy is not just stupid, but bigoted.

The comment threat on YouTube is a treasure trove of patriarchy, gender stereotypes, homophobia and just sheer ignorance. Gems like “Are you a boyish kind of girl?” or “ohhh so she’s a girl… a lesbi [sic]?” demonstrate just how entrenched gender stereotypes still are. Even the more offensive “A LESBIAN. EWWWW” is not only homophobic but also patriarchal. The idea that a girl needs to look and act a certain way in order to be recognised as both a girl and heterosexual is simply outrageous. When will people learn that gender is fluid? And why oh why can’t people understand that gender and sexuality are two different things?

The irony is that the confused fascination around Dani’s gender and sexuality kind of proves my point. One comment reads, “have never been this sexually confused in my life,” while another says “cutie, are you a woman? Sure?”

If you identify as a lesbian, does that mean you’re not allowed to fancy Justin Bieber, but Dani Shay is fair game? What are you basing this on? The genitalia you imagine that person to have?

The latent subtext of all this speculation around Dani’s gender and sexuality appears to come down to the question of ‘Am I allowed to fancy her?’ – I find myself reveling in other people’s sexual confusion. Confusion is the first step to questioning or preconceived notions of what a girl/boy/lesbian/heterosexual should be, and ultimately breaking free of our prejudices.

That, and it’s just so much fun to see a straight girl squirm when she realises she fancies another girl…

Dani, we love you not because you look like Justin Bieber, but because you’re challenging stereotypes. So bring on the gender benders – we can all benefit from a spot of sexual confusion now and then.

Words: Iman Qureshi

Defending diversity: teaching LGBT awareness in schools

2011-03-18T04:01:00.000-07:00

When Toby Young, founder of one of the new "free schools", launched an attack on the "loony" excesses of state schools, he chose to focus on LGBT awareness activities at one east London comprehensive. Parents and teachers spoke to Hsiao-Hung Pai:

It’s not easy to be a minority in Britain these days – and I don’t only mean ethnically. Within the context of the current attacks on diversity, even raising awareness about rights of a minority (be it ethnic or sexual) has been condemned as “political correctness gone mad” or “loony left”, in the words of Toby Young, the wealthy Tory columnist and the founder of West London free school.

Toby Young singled out one of the most ethnically diverse comprehensives in Hackney, Stoke Newington School, for its “crazy excesses of contemporary state education”, that is, the school’s LGBT awareness-raising activities – the year 8 students creating banners and displaying their messages around a local park; (They said, “No matter who we are, we are all human”. “Some people are gay. Get over it.”) A Year 7 student explaining how they had been working on Alan Turing, who was arrested for being gay in 1952, forced to take hormone tablets and committed suicide in 1954; The Head of PE presenting six members of the girls’ Rugby team and talking about how the school’s first LGBT week had led him to challenge stereotypes in sport.

Local Schools Network comments that this was a local community school at its absolute best. “It was a call to support all our students for who they are, and for all of us to be proud of who we are.” But it was all too much for Young, who compares the role of the PE teacher to that of a Chinese intellectual during the Cultural Revolution “who confessed in order to avoid being carted off to re-education camps”.

The fact that Toby Young was able to make such a caricature (in the right-wing press: http://www.spectator.co.uk/columnists/all/6725628/status-anxiety-a-lesson-in-satire-.thtml and http://blogs.telegraph.co.uk/news/author/tobyyoung/) of all those involved in promoting diversity at Stoke Newington School, without actually ever visiting the school, experienced the curricular and extra-curricular activities of LGBT, spoken to staff or students, is the evidence of how the privileged who are able to form public opinions and shape policies are actually totally out of touch. They do so with experience completely detached from the tradition of diversity in our working-class communities.

Annie Gammon, Headteacher of Stoke Newington School said: “I am proud that the students and staff and parents and governors at Stoke Newington School are standing up for diversity…Morally, every member of society has a responsibility to tackle unfair discrimination: the students at Stoke Newington are learning to do exactly that. They are learning, alongside and through all the National Curriculum subjects, why discrimination is wrong and how to tackle it.”

“One way in which we tackle prejudice is to celebrate achievements of people from groups who have faced discrimination and misjudgements in the past. At Stoke Newington School we do this for several groups including women, black, Turkish, disabled and LGBT groups.”

The school organises several creative days each year – this year these include a maths and science day, a black history and art and textiles day, a media day and our LGBT/art day. Gail Bristow, a parent, said that it’s been the school policy for years to raise awareness of diversity. “This is very much what we’re used to in Hackney. Toby Young lives in a different community. I wonder why he hasn’t moved on from his “how to lose friends and alienate people” ethos...Our community in Hackney is an ethnically and sexually diverse community. Our children don’t grow up bigoted…My seven-year-old has many gay friends.”

Another parent, Caroline Millar, said: “It’s great that the children are learning to recognise and appreciate differences. It is fantastic that my teenage daughters are being taught in a place that values diversity. I’m in favour having some themed teaching…and awareness-raising integrated into the curriculum…Children need to be made aware of diversity, including sexual differences and need to learn to respect these differences. How can you really understand what you are studying if you can’t discuss the fact that an artist is gay or a musician is Chinese?”

Allan Beavis, a parent, said: “The day of the LGBT learning was spent informing children of experiences, personalities and ideas directly relevant to the understanding of those subjects Toby singles out – French, English Literature, History. The work is integrated into lessons…As a parent of a child at Stoke Newington School, I am confident that our children will not be excluded because of their class, race, sexuality and ability.”

“The school has therefore encouraged children’s minds to the possibilities and diversities of life outside the confines of their parents’ or carers’ examples and expectations… State schools are helping to raise a generation of kids to become broadminded and less accepting of any type of prejudice…”

Toby Young’s offensive comments mean that “his suitability to be involved at the highest level in the education of children has to be called into question”, say the parents. Beavis said: “None of this would be particularly important if he were just a media whore or a poster boy for the Tory Party but he is someone who is leading the mission to set up a school and, as such, will have moral and legal responsibilities towards children.”

“One therefore wonders how safe LGBT children or staff can possibly feel at his West London Free School now that he has gone on record with these opinions and distortions… It is worrying because this founder of West London Free School ridiculed the purpose of LGBT at Stoke Newington School, seemingly unaware that, by law, schools (including his own) must ensure that they deliver a rounded and varied education including not just the academic curriculum but the PSHCE topics such as LGBT awareness.”

Despite the attacks, the tradition of diversity will carry on. Henry Stewart, the Chair of Governors at Stoke Newington School, said: “The LGBT awareness-raising has contributed to challenging prejudices and stopping bullying at schools. I have read that as many as 98% of children in this country use the word ‘gay’ as an insult. My kids tell me it doesn’t happen at Stoke Newington School. It’s also important to recognise the legal responsibilities of a school and I don’t know if Toby Young has thought that through yet.”

--- Hsiao-Hung Pai works as a freelance journalist, writing for the Guardian and the British-Chinese press. She has also written for Feminist Review and Open Democracy, among others. http://hsiaohung.squarespace.com/

The liberal bigot: when racism and gay pride collide

2011-03-17T08:10:00.000-07:00

The recently cancelled East End Gay Pride’s links with the EDL is no surprise – the marriage of gay rights and racism is a dangerous trend

“Paki-bashing” and “queer-bashing” are shameful facts of British history. So shameful that you’d hardly believe the two could be capable of bashing each other. Shockingly, this isn’t as outlandish as it may seem.

You may remember Judith Butler taking to a stage during Berlin Pride 2010 only to refuse their prestigious Civil Courage Award. Rendering Pride organisers shame-faced and blubbering, Butler explained that her refusal was to protest against the racism that occasionally comes hand in hand with queer movements:

“Some of the organisers explicitly made racist statements or did not dissociate themselves from them. The host organisations refuse to understand antiracist politics as an essential part of their work. Having said this, I must distance myself from this complicity with racism, including anti-Muslim racism.”

In doing so, Butler drew public attention to a grave and often overlooked problem.

The liberalism of gay rights movements and the right wing politics of racism, anti-immigration and Islamophobia may, at a glance, seem to be the strangest of bedfellows, but a closer look shows that the two aren’t actually that incompatible.

The recent controversy surrounding the East End Gay Pride, which various groups—most notably Imaan—condemned for its ties with the notoriously jingoistic English Defence League (EDL), is a testament to the prevalence of this odd couple.

The East End Pride—spearheaded by Raymond Berry, a self proclaimed proponent and founding member of the EDL—actively refused to liaise with ethnic and religious minorities in the community.

Call me a conspiracy theorist, but the EDL’s involvement in the East End Pride—and there are others in addition to Berry— smacks of a concerted effort to rile an already racially fraught community. It is most likely an attempt to gain the liberal vote; by excluding Muslims and other ethnic minorities from Pride, the hope is to pit them as homophobic, thereby promoting the (false) idea that sexual liberalism and multiculturalism are mutually exclusive.

It is all too tempting to campaign against immigrants and ethnic minorities who may themselves hold homophobic attitudes. Just as Butler said in her refusal speech, “many European governments claim that our gay, lesbian and queer rights must be protected and we are made to believe that the new hatred of immigrants is necessary to protect us,” there is a danger of couching Western society’s acceptance and assimilation of gays in terms of white, European progressiveness. In doing so, we exclude cultural, ethnic and religious difference.

Although the dubious Pride has now thankfully been cancelled due to furious campaigning by Imaan and other groups, the racist sentiment is still inevitably present.

But we must remember that it is often ethnic and religious minorities that are in dire need of gay rights. Queer members of these groups are minorities on two accounts and also often face greater levels of homophobia within their community. Butler recognised this and passed on her jilted award to queer groups that work specifically with ethnic minorities.

Instead of excluding them, we must reach out. Ethnic communities should be fully engaged with in order to bring about mutual respect, Not only will it help family and friends of queers to be more sympathetic, but more importantly, in the true spirit of liberalism, they will be welcomed into a diverse multicultural queer community.

Words: Iman Qureshi

Does Manchester Pride make you Proud, asks Jennie O’Hara

2010-08-23T09:40:00.001-07:00

In 2006 I attended my first ever Manchester Pride. During the ‘festival’, I parted with over £200 and did some permanent liver damage. I had missed the parade, and although the bands on the stage were recognisable names, I wasn’t wowed by any of them. I do distinctly remember very long toilet queues, and feeling a little bit like a sardine.

In 2008 I helped organise an entry into the parade, where we marched under the banner ‘Pride is a Protest’, chanted ‘we’re here, we’re queer, we can’t afford the beer’, and tried to take on the over-priced commericalisation of our sexualities. I had been radicalised.

Manchester Pride is one of the UK’s biggest Pride events, and consists of a week of fringe events leading up to the ‘Big Weekend’, where the whole of Canal Street and the ‘gay village’ is barriered off and turned into a giant party with bands and singers, alcohol, drugs, dancing, porta-loos and thousands of LGBT people from all over the country. It is a colourful, exciting, busy, big gay mess. And access to all this costs between £10 and £20 pounds (depending on when you buy your wristband).

But Manchester Pride has very little politics, it has almost nothing for children (and certainly nothing on the big weekend), and it excludes lots of LGBT people who simply cannot afford to go. In effect, it makes some people ‘too poor to be gay’.

Welcome Reclaim the Scene, a coalition of LGBT and queer activists (and their friends) who are sick of being excluded from Pride, sick of the lack of politics and sick of being too poor to be gay. The group have three main aims they are striving towards: making pride free, putting LGBT rights at the top of the agenda, and making the ‘village’ accessible, inclusive and welcoming.

LGBT people come from diverse backgrounds, and Manchester Pride should celebrate this, by including the whole rainbow of LGBT and queer people in its celebrations, whether they are homeless, students, parents, gay, bisexual, polyamorous, middle-class, working-class, unemployed or directors. Regardless of whether they are men, women, trans, un-identified, gender-queer, old, young, Muslims, atheists, anti/capitalists, or queer individuals.

Pride should be inclusive because it takes a whole movement to challenge oppression. We still live in a society that oppresses people based on their identities. When statistics show that ‘gay’ is the biggest insult used in schools, and that young trans people have a 50% attempted suicide rate, Pride should be doing something to tackle it. When young LGBT people are made homeless because of their un-accepting parents, or attacked by members of the British National Party or the English Defence League, Pride should be working to make life better for these people. And when the Christian right are stood on the side of the parade with anti-gay placards, condemning all the parade participants to Hell, Pride should not just tell you to “ignore” the homophobic protestors, but should fight back. Ignoring bigotry does not make it go away.

On the 28 August Reclaim the Scene will be hosting our annual post-parade picnic, the (Out of the) Village Fete, a community led afternoon of children’s entertainment, performers, political stalls, alcohol-fuelled spaces and alcohol-free spaces, films, dancing, music, poetry and free food sourced from local community allotments. The event is free, runs from 2-9pm at a location just outside of the village barriers, and inclusive to everyone. Our aim is to show Manchester Pride that it is possible to run a successful, free, inclusive and political Pride event.

My first experience of Manchester Pride didn’t make me proud; it made me disheartened and slightly poorer. Pride should be about empowering LGBT and queer individuals to celebrate our identities, and to fight for a world where we are not oppressed for being who we are. Reclaim the scene because Pride is a protest!

Scout @ Edinburgh highlights/lowlights - Part 4

2010-08-17T04:00:00.000-07:00

Scout’s Diary

Friday 13th August 2010 and Saturday 14th August 2010

As sure as toc follows tic the weekend of Friday the 13th bought with it all kinds of bad luck, including lost flyers – essential for promoting the shows, broken musical equipment-- essential for performing the shows, the kind of stellar arguments that threaten to alter the course of friendships altogether, and a night spent drinking with an actor named Rob who, even if he never becomes famous, will remain in our hearts forever. How could we not love a boy who admits 8 hours into a 16 hour drinking binge that he didn’t want to sleep with anyone at all ‘til he was 19, didn’t ‘commit’ to sleeping with women for a couple years after that, and really what he misses the most about his previous relationship is not the sex but his two house bunnies?
Amazing. We actually found someone more mental than Visa Girl.

For those concerned about her welfare, the world’s crappest, and I dare say bitchiest, superhero is now out of the country (unaided, on this occasion by the services by the services of Her Majesty’s UK Border Agency, who fly you home for free if you stay in the country illegally!!) and will spend the next few days terrorising France before hauling her bi-polar, anorexic, possibly drug addicted arse back to New York. Miss you, bitch! Not really.

We also caught a couple of shows, some of which I’d like to recommend:

Lara A King, a guitar playing stand-up who we’ll put a mini-interview up with at some point, is playing at The Counting House, and she’s fab.

Tits Up! Which is playing at Café Renroc directly before Scout’s show Hi, How Can I Help You? The talented all-girl cast wrote and perform the play about work politics and dreadful bosses to hilarious, and very recognisable, effect.

Thunderer at the VooDoo Rooms is a piss-take of a soap opera set in Victorian England that had us howling. Go see it now before the Radio 4 production starts to be broadcast. You will not regret it.

Killy Dwyer’s anti-cabaret act GirlBallz at Jekyll and Hyde is all sorts of hilarious, offensive fun for last thing at night.

Bob Slayer’s Punk Rock Chat Show at The Hive is a welcome return to alternative comedy, which some of you may remember from the 80’s. We love Bob, a former manager of touring rock bands, and his sidekick Myles Powell, collector of truly dreadful tattoos. Love them.

Why we need Black Pride

2010-08-16T09:11:00.000-07:00

When Stonewall publicised Black Gay Pride on their website, the last thing Campbell Ex expected to find was a slew of hostile comments from white gays and lesbians

Saturday 14^th August I attended a garden party, it was multi-generational, multi-national and included friends of different sexual orientations all having a great time together.

Last weekend I attended Brighton Pride where heterosexual teenage boys and girls danced and mingled easily in the carnivalesque atmosphere with drag queens, lesbian tomboys and muscle marys.

Yes 21^st Century UK is a very tolerant place right? Well my rainbow balloon exploded with a bang when I read the Stonewall thread on Facebook when the organisation put up a post about UK Black Pride. This fairly innocuous announcement received vitriolic and derisory comments about the need for an event celebrating Black LGBTI culture and sexuality. So much so that the moderator had to ask for calm and restraint on the wall.

UK Black Pride is a celebration of African, Asian, Caribbean, Middle Eastern and Latin American LGBT people from Britain, Europe and internationally. However the very idea that people of colour could experience identities that are complex and layered and not based solely on sexual orientation was enraging enough to generate responses like:

“What next? Gay UK Nationals Pride? Gay Legal Immigrant Pride? Gay Illegal Immigrant Pride? Gay professional person's Pride? Gay non-professionals Pride? Gay German car owner's Pride....??! ...Since when has skin colour been relevant to sexuality??”

“when's white pride?”

Sadly even though contemporary urban UK is more at ease with it’s multicultural vibe, identities which are complex continue to be contentious. To emphasize one’s Black culture when one identifies as LGBTI disrupts the melting pot ideal of white liberal LGBTI imagination as well as racial minority/religious fundamentalist ideologies.

Many people of colour attend pride events all over the UK regularly and experience a sense of unity and celebration with all LGBTI people and those that support our quest for equality. People do not experience exclusion or racial hostility on the marches or any of the club events later. However this does not change the fact that the power structures and people who organise Pride are overwhelmingly white. 21^st century LGBTI people on the whole are open and inclusive in their personal lives, yet the lesbian and gay institutions are still stuck in the 1950’s in terms of racial diversity. This contributes to perpetuating the notion that gay=white and consolidates the myth in the eyes of the straight world and mainstream gay society that to be Black and gay is an oxymoron.

UK Black Pride is important as a high profile public event creating an alternative view of homosexuality. It allows people of colour to be in an environment where they are in the majority. The Black Pride programmers can set the agenda, they decide what acts appear in the line up. The Black performers many of whom are not themselves LGBT by appearing publicly on the stage declare their support and solidarity with show their solidarity with Black LGBTI people.

People of colour who attend know that they will have visible evidence that they are not alone and that the values of their cultures of origin need not be left at the door when they step into Regents College. They also know that that the food they eat, the clothes they wear, the music they enjoy, will not be “ticking some diversity box” but will be an integral part of the whole day. It was a telling moment when Janet Kay, queen of Lovers Rock sang Silly Games, everyone irrespective of age, gender or ethnic origin sang and skanked along with her.

White people who enjoy cultures of a Black origin and celebrate the history of lesbian and gay people of colour, or who are in interracial relationships attend UK Black Pride. This is important as UK Black pride does not have a separatist agenda, but one that is truly inclusive and where the ethos is “we run tings, tings nuh run we”

Europride Warsaw

2010-08-16T08:34:00.000-07:00

Hello, haven’t seen much on europride which was in Warsaw this year. Our local gay press said that they didn’t know it was happening! It happened every year and this year it was being run by an inexperienced team with no funding from their government we have just returned and it was amazing! A Brighton resident, Claire ‘Bat’ Denyon received an award at the gala evening that featured Stockholm’s gay men’s choir and the London gay men’s choir. She has recently been featured in the Observers list of influential lesbians in the UK.

The march itself set off in temperatures of 35 and was eventually rerouted and shortened, partly because of the heat but also because of the counter demonstrations – 5 of them. These were a mixture of fundamentalist Catholics and right wing fascists. There was a smoke bomb in front of us and some stone throwing – one of the gay men’s choir of London was hurt. The police, although grim faced and reluctant to be snapped, were very protective and were numerous and visually on full alert for any trouble.

That evening we explored what the delights of our silver club card would bring us and found an amazing collection of bars, each one the size of a small living room and all in shacks just off one of the main shopping streets. There was no big central evening do that we could find and the lack of air con put us off the drag act on ‘Pride House’ one of the main gathering areas but we had a great time.

Having a Polish speaker in our gang of 3 was invaluable and we were able to go to a lot of places that tourists would have shied away from. We also met lots of Polish lesbians and my partner; Maria Jastrzebska did a poetry reading in a library in Warsaw on the Monday after pride. It was well supported and a very interesting gathering who asked searching questions in the Q and A session after the reading.

It was a shame that the event was not better attended, maybe people were worried about the dubious track record of Poland with LGBT issues and it cannot be denied that it is not the easiest place to be gay. However we had am amazing time and really felt like it was important to be there and to have a presence. Hopefully future prides will be enlivened by this year and the Warsaw businesses will see the benefits of the pink pound even if they are not completely championing diversity.

I would urge you to include this report in your magazine along with the numerous pictures and account of Manchester and Brighton prides etc. I live in Brighton and I love the fiesta that is Brighton Pride with its emphasis on families and inclusion. However I really felt that I was making a difference this year by being at Warsaw europride as they are beginning the long journey towards any kind of social or political acceptance and they really need the support of the established gay communities and Prides in the UK.

Deborah Price

Scout Durwood and the Packed houses - Part 3

2010-08-13T06:20:00.001-07:00

Scout Durwood at the Edinburgh Festival

Thursday 12^th August 2010

Words: Alisande Orme

It turns out that putting 6 ‘theatre artists’ into a confined space (the wee Edinburgh house) and letting them stew in their own performance anxiety is not a recipe for preserving friendships, so much as an instruction manual for how to prepare explosive material. Killy, Scout’s other housemate who I’ve yet to mention by name because, well, she has her own room and thus gets to stay out of the more dramatic incidents, yesterday spent time instructing us all to nurture our ‘inner children’ after a couple of incidents over the last few days led to, respectively, tears before bedtime, tears before show time, and tears in front of a pub full of people that led to one member of the crew having to be comforted by five stand-up comedians after she was ‘abandoned’ by everyone else (there’s a joke in that scenario somewhere, I’m sure, that doesn’t involve me becoming hysterical again). But we’re better now, we promise.

Following a much needed day off, Thursday went a little something like this:

Scout filled in as a stand-up in a variety show at the very beautiful Voodoo Rooms. She’s always thrilled during her stand-up sets at how well her self-penned paean to the travails of womanhood, ‘The Period Song’ goes down, particularly amongst men, who seem to especially enjoy belting out lines such as “I just got my period/ I want to eat nachos and criticise your life choices.” It’s a singalong, obviously.

After teaching mankind about the social impact of menstruation w then moved along to see Delilah Dix and Her Bag of Tricks at Fingers’ Piano Bar. Delilah, a seasoned show biz professional (read: slutty alcoholic who dresses like a drag queen and once dated Queen Latifah), sings the audience through her career in the style of a lounge act and, honestly, I don’t think we’ve laughed so hard since we got here.

At the end of the day, Hi! How Can I Help You? once again played to a packed house. It feels to some extent like stuff is still being worked out in terms of the show and audiences. No-one had anticipated, for example, how much audiences up here like to be included in a performance. But, one week in, it’s all coming together, and for that we are immensely grateful.

Is Scout Durwood Edinburgh's funniest lesbian? - Part 2

2010-08-11T05:33:00.000-07:00

Scout Durwood at the Edinburgh Festival

Alisande Orme’s Diary

Monday 9^th August

Ugh. Monday. It seems that whatever you do, wherever it is in the world, there’s no way to escape the start of week downturn. Monday night’s crowd-- undoubtedly influenced by the two for one ticket offers that were available to many shows—did not turn up in Café Renroc. Scout played to an audience of three, a fact that left her more than a little bit blue, something we addressed by getting very, very drunk.

Blue Monday was then compounded when we “realised” that Scout’s bike seat—just the seat, not the rest of it, mind—had been stolen. I say realised because when we got back to the venue on Tuesday it turned up in her dressing room… Thanks for all that free beer Mr. Bartender (whose name we’ve blacked out in order to stop ourselves from involuntarily cringing every time it’s mentioned for the next 100 years), thanks a lot.

Tuesday 10^th August

At 10 o’clock on Tuesday morning we’re still thanking the bartender for all that beer, mostly because Visa Girl and Scout’s other housemate woke us up at that ungodly hour so we could chant in gratitude for all our blessings. Despite our initial cynicism (and hangovers that could hold back the tides) there may well be something in it: Scout played to a full house that included two reviewers, one of whom definitely liked the show!

What strikes me most as a non-performer is the sheer hustle that goes into appearing at the Edinburgh Fringe, particularly if you want to be succesful. Self-promotion, good online and print reviews and audience word of mouth are essential to gaining crowds, and so it is a case of non-stop talking to people in the street during the day, doling out flyers, and emailing potential reviewers in the name of marketing.

Initially, organising a venue and funding seemed as if it might be the most challenging part of Scout’s (ahem) journey. Once she got to Edinburgh there were more fiddly problems to sort out, such as adapting Hi, How Can I Help You? to suit a predominantly British audience and Café Renroc’s itsy-bitsiness. But before Scout performs she (along with Lucile and I) have to get audiences in to Renroc. To do that we have to hit the city’s streets where we then spend the day competing for the attention of passerby against a frightening number of all-singing all-dancing sixth form drama clubs who—ah, the energy of youth-- are forever clogging up the place with their renderings of Rent and Sweeney Todd.

Seriously, if teenagers approached you so aggressively in any other part of the world, you’d seriously consider changing your route home. Instead, we’ve begun adapting some of the musical numbers from Scout’s show so they’re more, um, appropriate for life before the watershed, while also adapting our wardrobes so we can go out dressed appropriately to promote a show that’s about sex workers.

Scout Durwood at the Edinburgh Festival - Part 1

2010-08-11T04:24:00.000-07:00

Alisande Orme’s Diary

Friday, 6^th August 2010: Opening Night

I’ve been friends with first time Edinburgh festival performer Scout Durwood for four years now. During the time I’ve known her she’s go-go danced in sleazy cocktail bars, interned at a feminist magazine captained by a frighteningly verbal alcoholic editor, campaigned for the rights of rape victims, and spent time in a dungeon to research her latest one-woman show Hi, How Can I Help You? but I’ve never known her to be quite as nervous as this.

Scout arrived in Edinburgh from New York two days before her opening with Lucile Scott, her director, and two other performers who’s she sharing a house that estate agents might politely describe as ‘bijou’ with. One housemate almost didn’t make it in to the country, having previously overstayed a tourist visa by over a year. When she did make it in, Visa Girl (as she’ll hence forward be know) immediately began celebrating with Scotland’s finest (whiskey and men) throwing her housemates aflutter by disappearing for two days. It’s never undramatic with actors.

Café Renroc, 91 Montgomery Street, where Hi, Can I Help You? will run until August 29^th is the cutest little venue in Edinburgh, it even has a gallery space. However, it’s littleness mean that the hula hoop routine -an essential part of the show, where one sex worker really gets to strut her stuff- has had to be reworked at the last minute. We’ve spent two days publicising the show (read: flyering and flirting with American tourists), and are now keeping our fingers crossed that people will actually come along.

“It could be worse,” we tell each other after watching the news coverage of Charles Taylor’s trial for war crimes. “We could be Naomi Campbell’s wig.”

Saturday, 7^th August 2010

With opening night- in a not empty venue!- over Scout, Lucile and I (having taken on the unofficial role of den mother, vodka pourer and force feeder in the wee Edinburgh house) have all calmed down immensely. Even Visa Girl stayed in last night.

Café Renroc, we have decided, is perfect for Scout’s show as a noisier bar, where people are dropping in and out all the time, might disrupt the flow of the performance in a piece like this, which comprises acting, singing and dancing. They, we feel, suit improv acts or stand-up comics better as they give them the chance to show off.

The afternoon is marked out by a ‘Meet The Press’ event which La Durwood assures us went really, really well. We hope so, because apart from the flyering and relying on people who’ve seen the show to spread the word, we’re kind of at a loss of what to do, bar accosting members of the TV production teams who trawl the festival for hot new talent outside their hotel rooms.

Diva’s own interview with her, in which she discusses how best to conduct research in a ‘House of Domination’ can be found here:

www.divamag.co.uk/diva/article.asp?AID=7172

I’ll post any other links as I get them.

Sunday, 8^th August 2010

Word of mouth and a calm demeanour, it seems, might be the key. Having had a fairly good turn out on Friday, Renroc surprised us with an almost totally packed audience on Saturday! And they liked the show! Exclamation marks and double whiskeys all round!!!

We celebrated this upturn in events with fish and chips and a trip around some of the city’s finer LGBTQ bars. I’m not naming names- can’t remember any- but I would ask lesbians of Edinburgh this, particularly on behalf of Scout and Lucile, who as New York lezzes aren’t used to being chatted up by straight men in gay bars: Where are all the girls, and bois, and dykes? Want some. Also- the eternal question- why doesn’t saying “No thanks, I’m a dyke?” make me these men reconsider their (ahem) affections, especially when you’re in a lesbian bar when you say it? Hate boys.

We’re also massively uplifted by the interview with Sarah Millican that appeared in The Guardian today. Millican we learn only sold five tickets to her Edinburgh show, but went onto win the award for Best Newcomer by the end of the month. With that in mind, we went out to do more flyering.

Follow Scout on Twitter twitter.com/ladyscoutington

Myspace myspace.com/scoutdurwood

Because according to The Mirror, Cross-Dresser = Killer

2010-07-15T03:36:00.000-07:00

Has anyone read The Daily Mirror recently? No? Well, I don’t blame you, normally I wouldn’t either. But recently there was a rather interesting article on Raoul Moat, the gunman who killed himself and shot three others over a period of seven days. With a history of violence, steroid abuse and an eighteen week sentence for assaulting a relative, he was indisputably dangerous. Within three days of his release he had shot his ex-girlfriend’s new partner and a police constable. Clearly, the man was volatile and twisted – that cannot be contested.

The Daily Mirror reported as much. The article condemns him as ‘a living monster’ who, according to a previous partner, ‘made her life hell with a string of beatings that almost killed her, a vicious rape and mental torture during jealous rages fueled by a cocktail of steroid drugs.’ Fine. Dandy. I’m not going to argue with that. Why would I? I have no doubts that she’s telling the truth. The man sounds absolutely horrific; every inch the maniac that the article portrays him as.

What I am going to argue with is this: “Marissa Reid, 32, told of the killer’s kinky cross-dressing… he made her life hell with beatings, rape and mental torture.”

I’m sorry, but what? What, pray tell, does cross-dressing have to do with killing? The two don’t belong in the same sentence! Here was a sick, twisted and evil man who ruthlessly abused his partners before proceeding to shoot three people in cold blood. He was a demented, vile individual and I’m glad he’s gone. But the fact that he cross-dressed, that he “[dressed] up in [his ex-partner’s] clothes and make-up, even parading around in a mini-skirt… loved trying on [her] skirts, dresses and even [her] thongs” is utterly inconsequential. It is a tiny, insignificant fact about a malicious murderer and bears about as much relevance to his actions as the fact he has blue eyes.

What exactly are they trying to say? That cross-dressing has a direct correlation with homicidal tendencies? That his fondness for woman’s clothing was a sign of his mental instability? Because that’s what it seems like to me. And, of course, that’s absolute rubbish. It’s merely statistics: there’s a section of people that enjoy cross-dressing, and a section of people that enjoy killing. Despite the thankfully minute proportion of the latter, the two groups will, at some point, inevitably and tragically overlap, thus opening the floodgates for the bigots and zealots who declaim different as dangerous. Of course, it’s not true. I’m willing to bet a whole lot of money that there are more killers and madmen who write with their left hands than cross-dress. Are we then to assume that being left-handed is a mark of the liable killer? That all left-handers are prone to sudden and bloody murderous riots? No, of course not, because that would be stupid. We ditched the theory that the left hand was a sign of evil when we moved away from the repression of the Victorian era, and I think it’s high time that The Mirror did the same.

(The article in question can be found here).

The New Black: There’s a new networking blog site and it’s a godsend for lesbians, says Beau Jackson

2010-06-23T09:10:00.000-07:00

I first discovered Tumblr through a friend. On a Facebook status she had posted a link to an article on her Tumblr page and, liking the creativity and freedom of the posts I saw, I decided to create my own ‘tumblelog’.

Like any other blog or social networking site you first have to create a name for your page, and from there you can begin to post pictures, text, music and videos…but then, who’s going to see it?
As my friend did, you could always post links to your tumblelog on the likes of Facebook and Twitter, but Tumblr is not meant to be an extension of the network you have going with your friends. Instead it is an anonymous outlet for you, viewed by people with the same interests as you, who live in different places all over the world. These people are your followers.

Your followers are people who choose to receive a stream of your posts on what is called their ‘dashboard’, better known as a homepage. You in turn receive your own stream of posts from people you choose to get regular updates from, as with Facebook and Twitter. However, Tumblr avoids all those annoying updates from the clearly very fun party people who log in just to say “9iii’,m sdos drijmk!” on a night out.

Over my time on Tumblr I have gathered together a stream of people that seem largely of the lesbian persuasion.
Seeing the content they post and their popularity I asked a handful of them if the self professed “easiest way to blog” site lives up to it’s name and, more importantly, if they share my feeling that it is particularly ideal for the LGBT community to express themselves and receive support.

All of the users asked agreed that they post content without a fear of being judged or discriminated against – result! Still, that is not to say that prejudice doesn’t happen on Tumblr. We don’t live in a ‘perfect world’ and so we can’t expect any part of it to be without prejudice and discrimination. When such an instance of tunnel vision does occur on the site, there is, as pointed out by Claire of thenameofasong a ready-made community on hand to fight against it, probably much more so than the support you may receive from Facebook, as the people following your tumblelog generally share the same interests and opinions as you do.

The inevitability of this situation is then that users of Tumblr will strike up new friendships with each other, particularly useful for, for example, a 16- year-old lesbian living in a small town without a gay community. Allison of the blog itsbeendaysnow told me how she had met her current girlfriend through Tumblr, a relationship that probably wouldn’t have happened without the site, and others told me of their friendships with people across the globe. The same can be said in conjunction with other social networking sites, but with Tumblr there’s so much more freedom with the people you meet and it’s a lot easier to quickly find someone with the same interests.

It should go without saying that Tumblr provides a great support network particularly for younger people concerned about their sexuality. Again, the people asked unanimously agreed that they have witnessed or they themselves have helped teens with questions about sexuality. Candace of FYLL commented that her Tumblr famous blog had not only made young girls feel comfortable with their sexuality but that it also “made them LOVE being a part of this community”.

And so, it’s safe to say that the ‘Tumblr family’ is going to keep on growing. But here’s hoping that the site remains a relatively prejudice free and supportive unit, where people can share experiences, fears and ideas freely.

Teeth whitening - they're all at it!

2010-06-10T06:53:00.000-07:00

Simon Cowell's had his done. Sarah Harding looks dashing with hers, and Cheryl Cole is definitely a new woman since she had her pearly whites doctored.

I was lucky enough to have my teeth whitened by Wyman Chan , the very chap responsible for Miss Cole's scrubbed teeth. After I'd gotten over the sad realisation that this is probably the closest to Cheryl I will ever get, I jumped at the opportunity to give DIVA readers a special promotion to keep you smiling beautifully.

For £250 rather than the RRP of £595, DIVA readers can get the full treatment from Wyman and his team, simply by quoting DIVA when booking at Smile Studios. The procedure took little over an hour, beginning with a relaxing few minutes in a massage chair. The staff are all extremely courteous and adhering to your every whim. During the main whitening session, you are provided with DVD goggles and a headset, and a choice of films to keep you occupied. I was asked on numerous occasions about my comfort, and by the end of the hour I had almost melted into the dentist's chair! Not a feeling normally associated with a trip to the tooth doc's.

Dr Wyman even showed me my before and after pictures, and I have to say my teeth are noticeably whiter. If I had a pound for every comment I've had about my teeth, I'd be a very rich woman, and now, like Cheryl and Simon, they really are my pearly whites!

Call to book your appointment now: 020 7439 0888

Ever dreamed about appearing in Trueblood? check this out.

2010-05-26T03:39:00.000-07:00

If your dreams are filled with scenes that involve a starring role alongside sexy Anna Paquin in Trueblood? Well, hang on to that day job because that’s probably never going to happen, but hey, a girl can hope, right?

However, if you are willing to set your sights a little lower, for example appearing as an extra on the hit HBO show, I may just be able to help you out.

Charity Website, Charity Buzz, is auctioning off the chance to appear as an extra in the next season of Trueblood.

The role on offer is an non-speaking one, which is probably for the best as it takes away the need to say anything intelligent when all you can think about is ‘hmmmm Anna Paquin’ whilst gazing into the mid distance and dribbling like Homer Simpson.

If you are already busy transferring money, extending your overdraft and enjoying a private fantasy of replacing Stephen Moyer in those steamy sex scenes, yeah, you know the ones I mean, then go check out this site.

Sorry got distracted there for a minute… what was I saying? Oh yeah, here’s the website; Charitybuzz.com

Courtney Love kissed and told but do any of us care?

2010-05-24T07:18:00.000-07:00

Ok, so everyone’s heard the newest hot lesbian gossip by now. The slightly less than reliable Courtney Love apparently got it on with Kate Moss, somewhere in Paris, a long time ago. Really, who cares about the particulars?

Now I am all for a bit of salacious lesbian gossip but the fact that I read this, yawned, and then spent 5 minutes flipping through the pages of the Overground timetable before going back and reading a bit more really says quite a lot about how often stories like this appear in the media.

I am not going to claim, as a certain Daily Mail journalist did, that ‘It all started with Britney and Madonna’ whose kiss ‘made a particular type of lipstick lesbianism almost fashionable.’ Or that this ‘worrying trend’ is the beginning of a big slippery slope where the whole world is going to go out and experiment and find out that they might be a little bit gay after all.

The journalist in question seems to view the idea that women celebrities kissing in public is a negative thing, ‘[giving a] veneer of acceptance to what would previously have been considered unacceptably risque public behaviour’ now, it may just be me but maybe this should be seen as a positive thing. Shouldn’t it?

If celebrities want to kiss each other, whether for publicity, or because they really do love each other, like Lindsay Lohan and Sam Ronson (cough, cough) then maybe we should just let them get on with it, it’s exposure and support for the lesbian cause, isn’t it?

Well, I have to admit that I was a member of the; ‘it’s great, the more lesbian kisses there are in the media, the better’ group, but I have changed my opinion slightly, largely because having a ‘lesbian relationship’ doesn’t really mean you’re actually a lesbian anymore, and there is also the chance that the whole thing was made up anyway. There is, after all, more than a little suspicion over the validity of Courtney Love’s claims.

At the same time quite a few other suspected-to-be-lesbians refuse to come out of the closet at all. What is going on?

If one or two female singers, who have been setting off our gaydars for quite a few years (yeah, you know who I’m talking about), or a few famous sports stars officially came out, then that might actually do something for ‘the cause’ but Courtney Love romping in a Paris hotel with Kate Moss, is just one more media fiasco adding fuel to the argument that it’s all done for publicity.

Homophobia is still rife, there’s no denying that, and while girl on girl action in the news is becoming so common that it is almost a none-story, it’s still considered a bad Hollywood career move to call yourself a lesbian.

Lindsay Lohan’s bed hopping, Courtney Love’s questionability and the legendary kiss between Madonna and Brittney might be good for a bit of late night You Tubing but, and call me a cynic, a bit more Ellen and Portia and a few less, apparently drug fueled, lesbian flings that begin with Kate Moss chasing Courtney Love around a hotel room, and end in a media circus, and maybe things would progress a little bit faster, don’t you think?

WORDS LISA ROGERS

Immigration policy is no joke

2010-04-30T03:14:00.000-07:00

Heard the one about the migrant workers who stole our jobs? Thought not – it’s a lie, says Ceri Dingle

The belief that immigrants are taking our jobs, housing, services and resources, making UK citizens worse off is a very old idea dating back to the end of the 19th century and first enshrined in law with the 1905 aliens act which blamed Jewish migrants for shortages. This idea has informed punitive immigration laws ever since. Even the popular forms of this idea are not born of any direct experience: of a foreigner kicking you out of your home; forcing you into an NHS waiting room; sacking you from your job or cutting your pay. Our reduced living standards, lack of services, housing, jobs and decent pay have always been the direct responsibility of employers and government. They make the decisions. Immigrants have less say than anyone in fact, unless they are the tiny minority of very rich ones who are employers and own homes and who are not being moaned about. In fact how well off we are or how poor we are has never been determined by numbers of people anywhere. Some of the most crowded countries in the world, take Belgium, are some of the richest and some of the least densely populated take Namibia are extremely poor. How well off a country is, hinges on levels of investment and wealth creating industries not numbers. We can also be poor in a rich country if we are not prepared to fight for more and better. The real problem is politicians have consistently allowed immigrants to take the blame for what is their fault. They may not point the finger directly at immigrants today as they have in the past but they are not going to turn round and take the blame for people being badly off or ill provided for. They will not say sorry it’s our fault we haven’t built the homes you want, invested in infrastructure or industry to create jobs and new wealth. Employers who cut pay do not say I need to screw you more to increase my profit they’ll say its ‘market’ pressure, the ‘rate for the job’ or we need to ‘share the pain’. Their default position is to happily let the public blame immigrants and to jump on that band wagon openly when it suits them. Gordon Brown has done this by introducing a new visa points system, increasing deportations weekly and enforcing a draconian borders agency to do the government’s dirty work. The government are very effective bigots in fact but happily point the finger at the public as nasty xenophobes. Immigration controls of course make non UK citizens legally second class it is hardly any wonder then that they are seen as such, treated as such and blamed for everything. In fact even East Europeans who are legally here are predominantly in the poorest housing and lowest paid jobs. Of course at street level lots of people will say they know someone who got a flat when they didn’t and so on, which while it isn’t true, it is understandable, but the real point is where are the flats we need? We would all be better off lining up with migrants and demanding the pay, jobs and services we need and not letting the government off the hook. Opening the borders would make things very clear and allow a flow of people from across the globe to challenge the status quo with us and improve our lot. After all migrants are people who refuse to be the victims of circumstance. But that takes believing in our potential, our ability to create more and not fixating on where you came out of the womb or the blob of land you were born on.

Ceri Dingle is the Director of the charity, WORLDwrite

WORLDwrite regularly provides free film training for volunteers interested in supporting and promoting Open Borders and is now recruiting runners and walkers to take part in the women’s 5k mini-marathon which takes place in Hyde Park on September 5th under the banner “The More the Merrier – Freedom of movement for all”. For full details email world.write@btconnect.com

What will the new Equality Act will do for you?

2010-04-26T03:40:00.000-07:00

The Equality Act and its aspirations for the LGBT Community

The Equality Bill was approved by the House of Commons on 6 April 2010 and is expected to receive Royal assent within the next week. The new Equality Act is expected to start to come into force from October 2010. Its development has been five years in the making and its progress through parliament something of a political ‘hot potato’, as Pope Benedict XVI’s comments earlier this year encouraging Catholic Bishops in England and Wales to fight the UK’s Equality Bill with “missionary zeal” emphasised. Whilst there have been different views on what the new law will achieve, it’s overarching purpose has been to simplify existing discrimination laws by putting them together in a single place, and having greater consistency between the protections. The new Equality Act will replace almost all existing discrimination laws, it also aims to strengthen the law further to protect the LGBT community.

Some of the changes include the following:

All public bodies will be required to consider equality issues when exercising their functions as a public body. In particular, public body policies should aim to:

Eliminate discrimination and harassment on the grounds of a person’s actual or perceived sexuality;
Advance equal opportunities between gay, bisexual and straight persons;
Foster good relations between gay, bisexual and straight persons.

For example, local authorities should consider creating and promoting services to benefit the LGBT community specifically in order to assist integration and foster good societal relations.

The prohibition on civil partnerships taking place in religious premises has been removed – this amendment was made recently to the Bill during the House of Lords report stage. The government has made it clear however that this will place no obligation on any faith or denomination to do so if it does not wish to
Employers will be allowed to take “positive action” in recruiting candidates where one candidate is from an under-represented group. For example, where an employer interviews A and B, and both are as qualified as each other and A is female, the employer might decide to recruit A instead of B because women are under-represented in that workplace. This is likely to be harder to implement in situations involving gay people given that sexuality is frequently an invisible issue.
At present, if an employee brings a claim for sexual orientation discrimination against an employer, a Tribunal can only make recommendations regarding improvements in the workplace in limited circumstances. In most cases, employees will only bring a claim against an employer once they have left employment and recommendations cannot be made in such cases. Extending the power of employment tribunals will mean that Tribunals can make recommendations that benefit the whole workforce and not just the individual who brought the claim, even if the successful claimant has left the organisation. For example, if a lesbian is bullied at work because of her sexual orientation, the tribunal could recommend that her employer conducts some focussed awareness training to ensure homophobic bullying is dealt with specifically. A failure to follow tribunal recommendations could form important evidence in future tribunal claims.
The Equality Act also protects against “dual discrimination”. This is where an individual considers that discrimination has occurred on a combination of grounds – an example might be a lesbian couple refused IVF treatment on the basis that they are not trying “naturally” to conceive. This is unlikely to affect gay men, and so it would be hard to show that the treatment was on grounds of sexual orientation alone, when in reality it is based on a combination of discrimination due to sexuality and gender. However, the new dual discrimination protection applies only to two (and no more than two characteristics).
The Equality Act will also eliminate homophobic discrimination based on a perception of someone’s sexuality (even if they are not of that sexual orientation) or if they are associated with someone of a particular sexuality. For example, a child who is teased at school for having gay parents might be able to challenge the way the school implements its anti-bullying policy if the policy does not tackle associative discrimination.
The Bill will make it unlawful for private members’ clubs, and other member associations, to discriminate against gay members or guests of members. This means that a gay person invited to a private club could not be refused a drink, for example. However, it does not mean that the private club would have to allow a gay person to become a member even if the reason for the refusal is on the grounds of sexual orientation.

Having said all of the above, the new law does still leave some holes in anti-discrimination legislation: one area that is specifically excluded from the Bill is protection against harassment on the grounds of sexuality by goods, facilities and service providers. In other words, a lesbian cannot be refused a room in a hotel because of her sexual orientation, but if she was subjected to harassment by an employee at the hotel, she could not claim for harassment. In this example, however, she might still be entitled to bring a claim for discrimination. Gay people are also not currently protected against harassment on grounds of sexual orientation in the context of education in schools. During the consultation period prior to the drafting of the new laws, good evidence was produced to justify extending protection to gay people outside of the employment sphere, in particular to tackle homophobic bullying in schools, but no such provision is actually contained in the Act.

Overall however, although in some aspects it represents missed opportunities, the Equality Act is welcomed and is a positive step towards a more integrative and equal society.

Kiran Daurka, Solicitor at Russell Jones & Walker

www.rjw.co.uk

Clegg for PM?

2010-04-16T08:45:00.000-07:00

Surely the unthinkable couldn’t happen…Liberal Democrats to lead the country? Last night Nick Clegg, leader of the Lib-Dems ‘won’ the first ever televised leader debate and is proving popular amongst the instant polls.

Our online results see over 50% of you swaying towards the Lib-Dems in what could see a shocking outcome in the General Election in May.

In our recent ‘sex’ edition, we interviewed each of the leaders on their LGBT policies and obviously Clegg hit all the right buttons.

Speaking about the issue of civil partnerships, Clegg said: “ I don’t quite understand why we don’t just all grow up and call civil partnerships marriage.”

Great news you might think. However, on 14 April, when the Lib-Dems released their manifesto this detail was left out, leaving the LGBT community out in the cold.

Clegg’s party did however promise lots of things to the community. Included in the manifesto were the assurances of more LGBT MPs in Parliament, broadening the rights of transgendered people, getting tough on hate crime and ending deportation of LGBT people to countries where they will face discrimination.

Bullying in schools is high on the agenda for Clegg who said to DIVA: “I think there needs to be a statutory obligation on all schools to have anti-homophobic bullying policies in place. That’s where I would place the biggest priority – by a long way.”

The potential leaders battled it out on issues including immigration, crime, national debt, the NHS and education on television last night.

It seems as though Clegg is promising good things to all as he consistently came out on top in instant polls by Channel 4, YouGov and ITV. Things are looking glum for Prime Minister Gordon Brown, whose results were decidedly lacklustre.

Speaking to DIVA magazine, Brown said: “I’ve always made absolutely clear my support for the repeal of section 28 and my support for civil partnership.”

Brown does sit fairly well the LGBT community, however our online results see him getting just 30% of the vote, just over half that of the Lib-Dems.

Conservative leader David Cameron, who asked to ‘stop for a second’ during his interview with DIVA, has a meagre 5% of the votes as his policies on LGBT issues are way behind those of his competition.

“The Conservatives are on a journey,” said Cameron, who is continually um-ing and err-ing on all gay issues. Speaking about IVF treatment [his party voted for the requirement of a father figure], the Tory leader said: “It was not voting against IVF or lesbians…we haven’t got any plans to change it”

Cameron needs to do a lot more if he is to win the vote of the LGBT community.

Personally, I’m pleased that Clegg has made this more of a three horse race. It’s always good to see the underdog come through and perhaps, with a little luck on his way; we’ll see Prime Minister Nick Clegg come May.

By Rosie Blackwell-Sutton

Prom: A Lesbian's Point of View

2010-04-15T05:08:00.001-07:00

It’s Thursday evening, my friends and I are getting dolled-up; high heels, big dresses and excessive make-up. It’s prom night. There’s a buzz of excitement and anticipation in the room. Tonight will be remembered for the rest of our lives.

Sadly, American teenager Constance McMillen never got to experience prom. Why you ask? Because she wanted to dress in a tux and take her girlfriend as a date. On a similar note, Ceara Sturgis, a student from Mississippi had her yearbook picture removed after wearing a tuxedo in the photo.

This shouldn’t be happening in the 21st century where lesbians are ‘allowed’ to get married, have children and celebrate their rights at Pride festivals worldwide.

Although there hasn’t been a case like McMillen’s and Sturgis’s in the UK (hopefully there never will be!), It seems to me as though we’re going backwards.

I wasn’t out when I went to prom, however if I had dressed in a tux, a girl on my arm, I’m pretty sure I’d have got some funny looks from my classmates. Surely this shouldn’t be the case.

I know prom is an age-old tradition, treasured far more in the US than here, but so is marriage yet we’re ‘allowed’ to do that. So what steps can we take to ensure Constance’s situation isn’t repeated?

Channel 4 had a go with their programme ‘My Big Gay Prom’ highlighting the separation between straight and homosexual counterparts in the world of school dances. And in San Francisco there’s an annual ‘lesbian prom’ that Constance and Ceara have been invited to along with an expected 2,000 others.

However, unquestionably, there shouldn’t be a need for a ‘lesbian prom’ or a separation between gay and straight dances. I don’t mean to sound like a ‘why-can’t-we-all-just-get-along’ type but why can’t we?

Thinking ahead to a time when two girls going to an integrated school dance together would be normality, I have come up with some suggestions on how to enjoy your ‘gay’ prom.

1. Ask the right girl! Don’t get stuck with someone who doesn’t want to be seen with you.
2. Dress well. Dress it down with a tailored suit jacket and t-shirt or a classy LBD.
3. Don’t be afraid. Don’t worry about holding hands or kissing your date, everyone’s seen it before.
4. Steady on the alcohol. Don’t make a fool of yourself before the dancing’s started!

Were we to try these things now I’m not sure what would happen, hopefully in the UK not much – stares and giggles, maybe. But in America, especially the South, who’s to say?

Constance’s case was a big step in changing things, putting pressure on all learning centres to accept the sexuality of their students and incorporate their beliefs in to plans for proms and other events.

And media wise, lesbians are becoming more mainstream with big TV shows like Greys Anatomy and Skins running popular gay storylines, perhaps having a lasting effect on how the gay community is perceived.

So hopefully, the powers that be will get a grip and realise there’s nothing to be worried about and, fingers-crossed, those of you who want to take your girlfriend to prom will be able to, and be proud when you do.

Oh, and by the way, we want the real deal: limousines, corsages and tuxes. Who knows maybe we’ll even get a Prom Queen and Queen!

By Rosie Blackwell-Sutton

I’m the Drag King of the Castle and you’re the Dirty Rascal

2010-04-15T04:57:00.000-07:00

It wouldn’t surprise me if you’ve never heard of the Drag King outbreak that is becoming hugely popular on the underground lesbian scene as, until a few days ago, nor had I.

Keeping a pretty low profile in comparison to their more flamboyant friends (Drag Queens), Lenna Cumberbatch, founder of gingerbeer.co.uk and organiser of King of the Castle, is making sure they’re on everyone’s radar.

Thanks to Lenna’s annual drag competition in London, Kings are now getting their chance to shine after a small revival in the 1990s that saw an influx of popularity, featuring in Sarah Waters’ novel Tipping the Velvet (‘Nan’ Astley) and of course Ivan on the L Word.

But that’s not where it all began. Way back in the early 1900s, British music hall performer Vesta Tilley said: “I felt that I could express myself better if I were dressed as a boy” and went on to impersonate men along with Ella Shields and Hetty King, to adoring crowds.

With a nod towards these popular music hall performers we spoke to Lenna (a.k.a Leon DaLuva and Uncle Lenny), about why she set up the King of the Castle event: “I was Dragging in the states where there’s quite a big Drag King community. When I came over to the UK, there wasn’t much going on and I really missed the environment of it.”

Now in its third year, King of the Castle is making a name for itself. With three Kings in its first year, and four in its second, popularity in the competition is always rising. Contestants must compete in three events; Evening/Club wear, Sleep/Swim wear and Performance, which are judged by the always welcoming, and consistently sell-out audience.

The audience also has the chance to win an award, the crown for ‘Dirty Rascal’, which, as Lenna fondly remembers, saw 20 people run on stage the first time round.

As the name would suggest, Elvis is a popular choice for Kings to impersonate, though past competitions have seen Otis Blue and Stevie Wonderful take to the stage. However, performers don’t just do impersonations. Singing, dancing, comedy routines and lip-synching are all common amongst the competitors.

Stevie Wonderful was a big hit having won the 2008 event and will be returning to host this year’s competition at the Oak Bar, London, in May (see our online listings). After winning the event Stevie, real name Fiona King, went on to perform at UK Black Pride and York Lesbian Arts Festival.

If you reach these levels of success, Ingo from woteverworld.com has a warning for you: “you will get a lot of fans and groupies, so you might need help in keeping them at a distance…I recommend bodyguards.”

Fiona was a first time Drag King when she belted out ‘Signed, Sealed, Delivered I’m Yours’ to take the crown so who exactly can be a Drag King? Surely its not as simple as pulling on a suit and pencilling in some facial hair? “Really anyone can be a King, it’s simple” said Lenna: “It tends to be women and lesbians but some men who identify as women do it as well – it’s just something completely different.”

As well as Lenna’s ventures there’s Bar Wotever, that often has Kings on stage, and Transfabulous, two London-based social groups that are making a name for the ever-growing community.

So has there been a change in attitude towards Drag Kings over the past years? “There’s definitely been a lot more interest, especially since our article in the Metro. I’m just really enjoying the visibility we’re getting,” said Lenna.

With the scene growing bigger by the minute, we’ve asked Lenna and the people from Wotever and Transfabulous to give us their top tips for you budding Kings, and who knows, maybe some of you will even be crowned King of the Castle in future years.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

HOW TO BE A SUCCESSFUL DRAG KING:

1. Have a reason for going up on stage and performing.

2. Think about the way gender is represented. Really study men, all the little details are important.

3. For being a King, facial hair is good, but swagger is better!

4. Attitude - you can do it!

5. A sense of humour always helps. -----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
thanks to Cleo Lang and AbsolutQueer for the photos

In order to compete in or watch King of the Castle, visit: www.lennaland.com/castle

Other trans-friendly websites:
www.woteverworld.com
www.transfabulous.co.uk

By Rosie Blackwell-Sutton

ROLLER DERBY REVOLUTION

2010-04-12T07:19:00.000-07:00

With Drew Barrymoore’s first feature film Whip It recently released, it’s high time the roller derby revolution got itself noticed, writes Rosie Blackwell-Sutton.

Many of you are probably unaware of this relatively new sport, in the UK anyway, until today that is. Roller derby is an all-girl, heavy-contact sport played on roller skates. Two teams of five go round in bouts with the aim to skate past the other team as fast as they can, knocking them over as they go.

Unless you’ve had your eyes closed for the past few months, you’ve probably seen Ellen Page and Drew Barrymore, padded up to the high heavens and covered in bruises, not because they’ve been in a scuffle but because, in new film Whip It (out now), they play Babe Ruthless and Smashley Simpson two roller derby girls in Austin, Texas.

The film sees the rise of Bliss Cavendar (Ellen ‘Juno’ Page) as a roller derby hero as she fights to gain respect from her pageant-loving mother and football-obsessed father.

This coming-of-age film is cliché-ridden yet still thoroughly enjoyable, with great characters. Juliette Lewis and Drew Barrymore are hilarious throughout, immersing themselves in their snarky, take-no-prisoners roller-girl roles whilst Marcia Gay Harden is fantastic as Bliss’s uptight mother.

What we learn from the film is that roller derby is a long-standing tradition in the US. Having started in the 1920s and reaching its peak of popularity in the 70s, it underwent a reincarnation in the early 2000s, when young women began to set up DIY clubs all over America. The sport grew and before long, a club launched in the UK, the London Roller Girls (LRG) (www.londonrollergirls.com).

Since 2006 the LRG have grown and grown as the sport has become more popular. There are several teams in London – the Suffra Jets, Steam Rollers, Ultraviolent Femmes – along with many new leagues and squads all over the country, such as Cambridge’s Romsey Town Rollerbillies (rollerbillies.wordpress.com), Edinburgh’s Auld Reekie Roller Girls (arrg.co.uk) and the Tri County Rollers (tricountyrollers.wordpress.com), based in Staffordshire.

Anyone can be a roller girl as 36-year-old Iron Maven (Juliette Lewis in Whip It) proves. So what exactly is so attractive about derby? Surely the beaten-up look isn’t exactly a good one? Shaolynn Scarlett of the LRG told us exactly why she began skating: ‘It’s a uniquely exhilarating sport, you have to challenge yourself mentally and physically to get to the top of your game, and do it all on eight wheels. It's unlike anything else, although you have to push yourself it's incredibly fun.’

Fun it may be, but those injuries look a killer. Having read about one girl who broke her leg whilst training, I’m not sure how I’d fair in a real bout. However, according to Shaolynn, the injuries aren’t THAT bad: ‘Injuries are part and parcel of the game, but they're not as frequent as many people assume. As long as you play by the rules and keep fit and strong, you can avoid a lot of injuries that would normally come out of contact on skates.’

Hmm… I’m still not convinced. However, I do like the names the skaters take on, be it as an alias, or alter-ego. Some favourites are Missyle Elliott, Misha Naccomplished and Rose Misconduct. But what impact do these witty names have? ‘It's a way to prepare yourself for an aggressive bout, and something you can leave on the track when you go for drinks with the other team afterwards. Your skate name is really just a by-product of the sport – it shows the personality of the sport,’ says Shaolynn.

There’s a big social side to the roller derby. Drinks with teammates and other teams are common and food fights also are also featured, if Whip It is anything to go by. It seems like an excellent way to make friends and be part of a well-established community. At the end of the day, however, it’s all about skating as Shaolynn puts it: 'We're all there to play dery, and play hard.'

If after reading all the gory details, you want to play hard then get involved. Roller derby is getting bigger by the minute and teams are always recruiting so find your local team and get in touch.

Alternatively you can take the easy option and watch roller derby instead. The Suffra Jets play the Steam Rollers on Sat 22 May, Tottenham Green Leisure Centre, Phillip Lane, London, £10. Book in advance at www.londonrollergirls.com. Admission includes free after-party for ticket-holders!

Or take the even easier option and watch Whip It at cinemas everywhere… at least there’s no chance of getting a bloody nose there!

Thanks to Lustmaikamra and Steve Newton for the photos.

Lesbian sets up new political party

2010-03-18T08:36:00.000-07:00

The Commons party is about connecting with those people who don’t vote says Tamsin Omond, PPC for Hampstead and Kilburn

The King William is the only gay pub in Hampstead. I’ve been hanging out there since I was 14. I used to be coy, quiet and underage. More recently I’m pretty loud. I come in off the streets with my sandwich board and brass megaphone as leader of the The Commons - a new political party shaking things up in Hampstead and Kilburn.

The team and I grab a couple of tables and start talking to the locals. People are never quite sure how to react. Why are this merry band asking for their opinions on crime, health and transport? I guess the questions we’re asking seem a little out of place from the image we present. After all politics isn’t supposed to be engaging is it? Surely it’s about projecting and telling, not asking and listening.

Not with us. The Commons is a completely new kind of political party. We’re going to make democracy relevant to all of our lives.

It’s strange but since becoming a politician it’s difficult to sound genuine. And that’s because most (not all) politicians just aren’t. We want to take the focus off of suits in Whitehall and turn it onto our communities, the real people out in the streets. Only then do you have democracy. If nearly 50% of people aren’t motivated to go out and vote, then whoever it is, Cameron or Brown, they won’t represent the people.

The Commons is about connecting with those people who don’t vote. We’re not interested in telling people what we think they want to hear. I’m going to be out on the streets, looking at community issues, finding out what would make people the people of Hampstead and Kilburn tick come Election Day.

Gay people know how it feels to be misrepresented. We know how it feels to have power taken from us all in the name of policy. I grew up under Section 28. I remember. If we’re going to sort out society then we’re going to have to start a conversation that involves everyone. If I’m elected I will be the youngest woman and first lesbian inside Parliament and that’s long overdue.

Politics isn’t working. We’re all left out of decisions that affect our lives. Gay people know how to make their voices heard. I’m inviting all of society to have the pride to do the same. Get in touch and join the conversation.

Check us out at www.tothecommons.com or follow us on Twitter @tamsinomond @tothecommons. Look forward to hearing from you...

App-off: The battle of the best lesbian phone app is on!

2010-03-10T08:28:00.000-08:00

The battle for the killer phone application aimed at lesbians has commenced as big mobile brands pull off their best tricks to make us tick.

Little gadgets that will enhance our phones and make our lives complete with the latest applications to rock our L world.

From queer news, to lesbian entertainment sites or second life games-these apps do the hard work so that we have it all in a click of a finger.

Most importantly these gadgets want to raise issues surrounding lesbian and gay rights such as Factory Games’ Valet Hustle for iPhone.

The main characters are Ren and Akira, a lesbian and a gay man, who get thrown out of school after kissing another girl/boy respectively.

The story is set in San Francisco which comes off as a total slap in the face after the Californian Marriage Protection Act banned same-sex marriages in 2008.

The game has been so successful on the iTunes App Store that Factory Games has already announced new additional chapters that will include a wedding.

And just to top it up part of the money raised from the game will be donated to the Human Rights Campaign.

The application frenzy continues with the arrival of The Rachel Maddow Show in the Apple App Store. Yes, that’s right, Rachel is all yours and, what makes it even better, all her content is for free.

If politics is not your thing, then you can always challenge Ellen DeGeneres in a dance off battle where going crazy on top of coffee tables earns you points.

Ouch, but be aware that this is only for fast-paced fingers. Do you still wanna challenge Ellen?

If after all these crazed-up dance routines you feel like you need a fashion fix just turn to Shane McCutcheon for style advice.

That’s right, The L Word’s favourite hairdresser has got her own application to create your perfect very Shane look.

Now grab your phone and get the latest mobile apps. You won’t get enough of them!

Kathryn Bigelow's Oscar victory isn't all that, says Maria Tadeo

2010-03-09T09:01:00.000-08:00

The 82^nd Academy Award ceremony may have seemed the ultimate celebration of female talent but Uncle Oscar still played it safe in a predictable night with few surprises.

Women may have ruled the Oscar ceremony as Kathryn Bigelow made history as the first woman to win an Academy award for best director. But the night was all about the All American flicks that took conservative Hollywood by storm.

Bigelow’s Oscar winning picture The Hurt Locker proved yet again that nothing works better than a bit of war drama where American heroes are presented as heroes to make the members of the academy tick.

The Hurt Locker is based on the lives on explosive disposal experts as they struggle to accomplish their lethal missions across a bomb-infested Iraq.

However the film tells us very little about the political implications of the Iraq and the ordinary life of both soldiers and civilians after seven years of heavy combat that has turned Iraq into a ghost nation.

The other big winners of the night included Sandra Bullock and Jeff Bridges for their leading performances in The Blind Side and Crazy Heart respectively.

Both critically acclaimed dramas where Bullock plays a caring mother who rescues a black kid from a miserable life and leads him to success as an American football player.

Jeff Bridge’s Crazy Heart is all about redemption as he plays an alcoholic country singer who tries to turn his life around when he meets a young journalist played by Maggie Gyllenhaal.

Hollywood can’t help but love a good old story about forgiveness and atonement where the leads become better people sobbing their sins away.

It may have been a night to remember for women but the Academy played by its own rules under conservative choices and turned its back yet again on Hollywood’s gay film industry as Tom Ford’s A Single Man left the Kodak Theatre empty-handed.

A critically acclaimed drama centred on the life of a gay English professor who struggles to cope with death and loss after his lifelong partner passes that was barely noticed by the US critics.

So too was Colin Firth’s performance as the film’s leading man that won him the Volpi Coup for best actor at the Venice International Film last year.

It may have seemed a glorious night for female talent reaching the top in the generally male-dominated categories. But it’s all always good to scratch the surface beneath the Hollywood razzle-dazzle.

Italian Big Brother: Veronica's lady love makes Italians swoon

2010-03-09T03:15:00.000-08:00

By Franca Torrano

Since emerging from the week’s confinement on Monday night Veronica Ciardi, still not quite in the world of reality as we know it, has received a slightly different welcome from the one she was dreading. Her biggest fear, she revealed, was a hostile reaction from the Italian press and public who have been following her string of tempestuous affairs and fiery arguments over the last four months. When you throw in her sultry good looks and the growing relationship with Sarah Nile, it’s not difficult to see why she has become the most hotly discussed contestant of the Italian Big Brother’s tenth season. Hotly discussed does not necessarily mean popular but as she stepped out in front of the studio audience for the live show she was greeted with a loud and rapturous welcome. Her fans had turned out to support the twenty four year old Ciardi on what could turn out to be a difficult night.

Taking her solitary seat in the centre of the arena she looked nervous. Sarah, watching protectively from the front row blew Veronica a kiss of encouragement that made thousands of hearts miss a collective beat. Then one by one, each of Veronica’s difficult affairs in the house was paraded across the big screen. Not looking good. A sizeable part of this audience could go either way tonight. Then Sarah herself appeared on the screen and on seeing some of their infamous kisses Veronica’s expression changed. Her uncertainty fell away and she proceeded to defend herself against accusations of profligate behaviour in a performance worthy of a fellow Roman, Julius Caesar himself. She denounced ‘e tu, e tu, e tu’, the male contestants who would have had her if they could but trashed her as a whore and a porn star when they couldn’t. And in an implicitly wider attack on all those out there who think the same way she defended passionately her right to live her life from the heart and not be judged by the double standards applied to the sexual behaviour of women.

With that behind her the focus has since shifted to the nature of her relationship with Sarah. The media coverage has been intense but strangely disjointed as it caters to the tolerance levels of different audiences. The hosts of the daytime TV circuit continue to sideline Sarah and quiz Veronica instead about the future of a relationship, long over, with one particular male contestant. The interviews that all the BB contestants have to endure on exit from the house have all included the question, ‘Is this a lesbian relationship?’ And while the grandees of the national media muse on whether the new ‘star’ couple will get engaged and make a life together, the gossip magazines have been falling over themselves to get the hot new cover out, questions of sexuality somewhat secondary in the frenzy to increase circulation figures.

With Sarah now permanently at her side, Veronica continues ever more openly to declare her love for the cool Neapolitan who stole her heart in the BB house. She is fearless and on TV she rates Sarah the tops in the kissing stakes and declares theirs a love that will last forever. But - and for many followers this is a big but - it is not sexual. And they are heterosexual. On both these (their oft repeated) statements, the jury is still out but the fundamental truth is apparent. These two individuals as a couple, breathe new life into the word amore as they describe the meeting of mind, soul and body that transcends anything they have previously experienced. To witness their intense physical affection for each other, and to see that they expect nothing less than total acceptance from a potentially hostile public, is to receive a maximum strength oxygen boost that lasts the day.

The media love this story right now and they are running hard with it while the two are newly reunited and interest in BB is still in the air. Sarah and Veronica. Unless you’ve been locked away in some other BB household yourself for the last 128 days, you know who and what they’re talking about. This is the celebrity couple of the moment in Italy and the Sapphic twist is more a matter for curiosity than a prurient focus. Their beauty and wit will ensure them publicity for a while at least but for their growing band of supporters the dream is that their love, this special love, will continue to flourish and delight.

A special thanks to the fans on the canale di Mari.

Italian Big Brother: Will Sarah and Veronica's love survive the media circus, asks Franca Torrano?

2010-03-02T02:53:00.000-08:00

The words ‘big’ and ‘brother’, normally send me running but recently I stumbled across the growing and very public love affair between Sarah Nile and Veronica Ciardi on Italian Big Brother. On the face of it they are the usual publicity seeking, attention demanding BB types, behaving badly and melodramatically as they strut their beautiful stuff across the vapid scene of yet another third rate BB drama. No doubt both girls came on to the show to further their glamour careers. Superficially, their image and behaviour puts them firmly in the arena for male consumption - Sarah is a model and Playboy cover girl; Veronica leads the ‘dual life’ of a nightclub dancer and nursery teacher. But since their first public kiss on New Year’s Eve something intriguing has developed that has attracted the attention of fans and enemies alike and has taken both contestants somewhat by surprise. They have fallen in love. And via 24 hour live feeds and You Tube downloads they have played out a love story that fascinates supporters and enrages bigots in unequal measure. The growing band of fans, Italian and worldwide, has followed, 24-7, in a state of hyper anticipation for each and every next moment of Il Sogno – the dream, a living soap opera that teeters on a fine line between celebrity spectacle and grand romance.

The -large- sector of Italian society that is influenced by the triumvirate of the Vatican, the Berlusconi dominated media and the right has struggled to find its feet on this one. Used to keeping the likes of Sarah in their place, amongst the scantily clad dancers that form the background to most Italian TV, and happy to condemn the likes of Vero as loose, sexually wanton and a danger to their sons, they have battled to find the most appropriate voice for their attack. Homophobia or misogyny? A real threat to society or just another shallow Grande Fratello story that they have foolishly (and once more) allowed into their lives?

The inevitable outlet has been the daytime TV show. Against the cacophony of the audience, Sarah, evicted on 25 January, has been given the insidious opportunity to declare her sexuality and the nature of the relationship. C’mon girl, we are in Italy after all. Amore is amore, is it not? She has played it cool so far and denied them the opportunity for outright homophobia but at the same time has frustrated fans with only elusive references to a ‘a different kind of love’. In pressing the issue the (mainly female) daytime TV hosts have increasingly found themselves competing to be the first to be cool with this love between women. This unwitting and amusing outcome should perhaps not be underestimated.

On Monday, Veronica was evicted. The live transmission showed nothing of her departure once beyond the red door and she was apparently whisked away to the now standard week’s confinement to which GF subjects its torn asunder couples. By all accounts Sarah threw a true Neapolitan fit on not being allowed to see her beloved and anticipation is running high at the prospect of their first meeting on next Monday’s live show. How will GF choose to present this? Mediaset, the Italian television company behind the show, has been accused by some followers of cutting the more risqué live feeds as a form of censorship against their relationship so it is believed that they will force them to downplay the romantic nature of their love. Others believe that the producers have acted protectively towards them by preventing their more intimate scenes from being made public. The fans’ distrust of Mediaset results partly from a legal action taken against YouTube, who are now forced to pull the unstoppable downloads on a daily basis. Confusingly though, it emerges that Mediaset was involved in Viola di Mare, a film based on the (true) love story between two women in nineteenth century Sicily. So the public face of Saronica in the short term, at least for as long as the girls remain under contract, seems to be at the will of Mediaset. How this will pan out when both girls are in each other’s presence is anyone’s guess as they have reassured each other more than once that non se ne fregano, they don’t give a damn about what people think.

Given the Big Brother context of this it’s difficult to avoid cynicism. Are the girls playing the game with one eye on the mirror and the other fixed on the glamorous whirl of interviews and celebrity appearances that will follow the show? Or are their declarations of amore true, at least for now? There’s no denying that it has been fun to watch the interactions between this contrasting pair. Sarah, controlled and cool and game savvy, using her rapier wit to keep the gagging males at bay as she subtly seduces and claims for her own the sultry, fiery Veronica. And then Veronica, Vero the true, who wears her heart on her sleeve and her tattoos over her vulnerabilities and declares her love for Sarah at any and every opportunity.

The question now is can the sogno survive outside this Truman show for the senses or will it shatter beyond the protective confines of the red door? And more importantly, if the dream becomes reality will GF’s tenth season have helped remove a little bit of bigotry in the world? The fans call themselves sognatori, dreamers in support of the love between Sarah and Veronica. In this world, our world, where reality can be truly harsh for transgressors, there is still surely a vital place for dreaming.

BBC newsreader comes out. Or does she?

2010-02-17T02:57:00.000-08:00

I bet you’d never think that if you filled in a few words about your home life for an interview in your work’s newsletter you’d be splattered over whole-page spreads in every paper on the racks by New Year.

You might have thought the five little words “FAMILY: lives with partner Sara” buried in a three-hundred-odd word article about working on Christmas day, which was published in mid-December, would have had very little impact, since all your colleagues knew all that anyway.

So, pity Jane Hill, then, who did precisely this and made the journey from BBC newsreader to tabloid sensation (“Male Fans of BBC Newsreader Jane Hill, Brace Yourself For Disappointment” as she “admits” and “reveals” and “outs herself”) in the news-barren week between Christmas and New Year.

I did actually read the actual article in Ariel, the BBC in-house magazine, in the week it was published, because my own partner, who also works for Auntie, tossed the paper at me one evening after work and said “See - I said.” I did see. It did say. But it didn’t say very much, just those exact words above, along with a whole lot of other stuff about mince pies and breaking news. I didn’t text or tweet or Facebook; it said so little that it wasn’t really worth passing on.

The papers, though, were a different matter. The holiday period is a notoriously barren time for news, so they really went to town, squeezing the Ariel article like a toothpaste tube to ease out every last droplet – Jane is an Archers fan, likes the gym and has a dog called Mavis. She found the Madeleine McCann story hard to do - and faking sensation from a single matter-of-fact statement.

The Daily Mail, usually a purveyor of the finest ‘why-oh-why-do-homosexuals-believe-we-need-to-know-the-details-of-their-private-lives line’ was exercised enough to wring out not one but two articles from it - in the same edition.

Several hundred members of the message board community were so unbothered by the news that they felt it necessary to commit the fact that they didn’t care to writing. You should read some of the comments, though, treading as they do that delicate line between uproariously funny and grimly depressing. I have harvested some of the best ones:

“Why do we all have to tell the world what our sexuality is! I thought that was private between two people!!”

“I am really annoyed!”

“WHY oh why do we need to know what people get up to sexually or who they kiss and so forth????? Because that's what it comes to by saying I am a virgin or gay or blah blah blah ...”

“i dont mean to be cynical but why is it some gay people seem to need to parade their sexuality around. there is a certain conceit and smugness about the whole thing. 'look at me - im gay' . well im pleased she is happy. but to be honest. most of us dont care.”

“who cares. Did i mention, i'm NOT gay? Just thought i'd mention it as i'm sure people want to know what i do behind closed doors.”

“Women and men are not GAY they are lesbians and ****sexuals. Why have they taken over one of the best words in the English Language?”

“Why does ANYONE think the NATION needs to know that they prefer Brand X entertainment in the BEDROOM!!!???”

The most unfair thing is that the excessive exclamation mark-using sections of society pour its ire on Hill for broadcasting her bedroom antics to the nation, when she did no such thing. She talked to her employer’s newsletter but it’s papers like the Mail (hellfire! I’ll single it out for criticism because it deserves it!) that manufacture sensation because they employ people to rake through in-house publications looking for something they can flag up as tittle-tattle to fill a couple of pages in the slack news week after Christmas.

It must have been difficult to know what to do in the circumstances, because there’s a whole world of difference between being out to everyone around you in your everyday life and having “BBC NEWSGIRL: I’M GAY” staring back at you when you open the morning papers.

There was not an entirely dissimilar issue in my household several years ago, at a time when my girlfriend was the newsreader for a particular larger-than-life DJ whose star was in the ascendant. Because he knew that this newsgirl was gay, he would make sideways remarks about lack of boyfriends and stuff about how badly dressed she was. Now, she can give as good as she gets (example: she called him a “fat twat” on air), but I thought that she should just say it outright in a programme and pop his little bubble of innuendo. She didn’t, though, not least because she’d only just come out to her parents and didn’t think it would be a good time to have it splashed all over the papers. Which it probably wouldn’t have been. Unless it was a particularly slow news week and the Daily Mail was looking for a couple of pages to fill.

Also, there is another issue at stake: that the general public can behave, sometimes, a little oddly. If you’re in the public eye at any level whatsoever, people can feel like they have some kind of share in you. At one end of the scale there are the people who post on internet sites, outraged in their mistaken belief that Jane Hill had done some kind of exposé on her sex life, and at the other end there is Jodie Foster. I used to be all Michelangelo Signorile about her and think she was a wuss for not coming out, but now I kind of understand that if a stranger shoots the President of the USA in the belief that it will make you love him, you might not actually want anyone to know anything at all about your private life.

And people remember the oddest personal details, as my girlfriend discovered just the other day when she read about herself on a website. A fact-fan with a microscopic eye for detail had written, in the last couple of months, the precise date (in 2001!) that she’d left a particular job. “I didn’t even know that, and I’m me,” she said, slightly unnerved.

It’s a shame, but perhaps not a surprise, given what happened to Hill over the last couple of weeks, that the other lesbian journalists on the telly and radio aren’t more vocally out. There are a few, for sure. I’m not even sure if they’re even in, but I’m not going to say who they are here. After all, it just might be a weak week for news.

Kim Renfrew

Coming out of the neverending closet

2009-09-26T11:53:00.000-07:00

I’ve come out of the closet at least seven times this week. To my newsagent, to my friend’s mum, to the Wood Green Cineworld ticket attendant, to you… The list goes on.

I thought when I finally spat it out four years ago that that was that. I was OUT. How wrong I was. Every time you meet a new acquaintance who doesn’t have inbuilt gaydar, and can’t instantly pinpoint you as a homosexual from 500 paces, you have to announce yourself AGAIN. If I gathered up everyone I’d ever come out to and laid them end to end, they’d reach from here to Hebden Bridge.

The intricate coming out process never gets any easier. There inevitably comes a stress-inducing point in a conversation with a new person where you feel the absolute necessity to reveal your status at that very second, like you’re keeping a great secret and can’t conceal it any longer. It’s like Year 11 all over again. This will unavoidably lead to you dropping in the fact of your gayness at totally inopportune moments, strategically mentioning your girlfriend at the earliest opportunity, or confessing that you’re currently reading Sarah Waters. Anything to get over that coming out hurdle.

I personally would have thought that my short back ‘n’ sides would be a dead giveaway, along with my decidedly non-flouncy attire. Not so, it seems. The fact is, I’ll have to come out on an almost daily basis until the sacred day, the long awaited day when all our awkward come-outs will cease: the day Blackberry finally come up with their newest application: the Lez Detector.

My so-called life as an intern

2009-08-26T09:16:00.000-07:00

So Caster Semenya is indeed female, but, according to the BBC, one with three times as much testosterone as the average woman. Nature or nurture? Her coach, Dr Ekkart Arbeit, head of the South African team, was notorious for his doping techniques during the 1970s and 1980s, but insists that his coaching methods are now clean. As I watched coverage about Semenya's return to an ecstatic South Africa, I wondered what would happen if it was discovered that she *had* cheated, or, like several athletes before her was found to be genetically male. There is something about the cautiousness with which the British media has approached this issue that intrigues me: on the one hand I think it's great that she is given the benefit of the doubt. On the other, I don't think her controversy has led to a mainstream discussion of gender; rather it has led to heated debates about privacy, sensitivity and racism.

Being a mere intern, I do not claim to have any special knowledge about gender, but I have been called 'sir' enough times to empathise with Semenya's coolness about the whole thing: despite being 5'4, having a B cup and hair fast approaching my shoulders, I am mistaken for a guy at least two or three times a month - usually by security staff, washroom attendants and the elderly. I don't see anything wrong with it and sometimes I enjoy the fact that a hulking security guard is showing (inadvertent) deference to the fact that I am, admittedly, a bit of a lady-boy. But the more I read about Semenya, the more I wonder about how society might look if it were organised around different criteria; why male and female in a sports competition? If characteristics over-lap, why not have groups according to how much testosterone you have? It would be akin to the paralympics, which is grouped according to the severity of the athlete's disability.

That said, here in the DIVA offices we discovered the folly of attempting to organise society into arbitrary halves; what if there was the intelligent and unintelligent toilet? Or the ugly / beautiful changing rooms? What if a plane was divided up according to Dog people and Cat people, instead of first, business and economy?

Oh, what then.

In other news: climate camp in London. Well done to the campaigners in Blackheath who are out-smarting the police. I happen to have two friends who will be joining the camp and they've encouraged me to visit. But oh how I will boil in my own hypocrisy; I fly, I use plastic bags, I eat terrible things like palm oil and tuna. Can you imagine?

"Intern, why are you here at Climate Camp today?"

"To abate my crippling sense of moral worthlessness."

Saying that, there was a mini poll this morning about how everyone had got to work; most of us had taken some combination of foot, bike and bus. One staff member, however, gave a suspicious description of her 'bike'; apparently she had to touch in with her oyster card before getting on...

My so-called life as an intern for DIVA

2009-08-25T08:13:00.000-07:00

Usually the Transport For London website is a convenient tool for planning bike routes around London, but today, on my first day as an intern I found myself riding in ever widening circles around the Holloway Road trying to follow the omissive directions I'd found online. The site said fifteen minutes from A to B, so I gave myself thirty, and forty-five minutes later I was muttering obscenities loud enough to startle pedestrians, doing giant U-turns in the middle of busy roads and zooming through red lights. It was already ten minutes past ten in the morning and despite the relaxed hours kept my magazine journalists, I knew I was pushing it.

The thing is, I've just returned from Canada where I became very used to cycling on the right hand side and being able to SEE street signs because they were on posts on the corner of the street, not TACKED TO THE SIDE OF A BUILDING or strung up against some railings being rapidly overtaken by The Bush. So maybe it wasn't all TFL's fault, but couple their failure to mention CRUCIAL TURNINGS in the journey description plus London's medieval layout - I'm not a local, in case you were wondering - and you've got yourself a stereotype: sweaty, bedraggled, be-dreadlocked, arms festooned with ragged festival wristbands, I struggle in to the office wearing a purple tank top and bright yellow trainers half an hour late. My heart is pounding, my shirt's stuck to my back and suddenly I'm aware that I am dressed like a courier.

Despite having worked in the DIVA offices before, I paused for a moment wondering if I might be subject to the evil stares of well-dressed queers, but within an hour of arriving at my desk my fears are abated as all editorial eyes scrutinise a heart-warming calendar - available NOW for 2010! - depicting lesbians from New Zealand posing with their pooches. Flicking through it I notice there's a sad truth to the myth of the lesbian urge to merge. The two women on the front cover look like kissing cousins. It's not all glamour at DIVA though, my next task involves doing research on how to get out of it. If only the editor knew how much I've been practicing for this moment for the best part of my adult life.
- The Intern

DIVA's exclusive Martina Navratilova auction closes at £310!

2009-08-25T07:09:00.001-07:00

DIVA magazine's exclusive auction for a signed photo of Wimbledon champion Martina Navratilova has sold for £310.All proceeds from the online sale, which closed at 11.17am on 16 August, will go to the charity, Save the Rhino International.

Save the Rhino works to conserve viable populations of critically endangered rhinos in Africa and Asia.

Speaking to DIVA, Cathy Dean, Director of Save the Rhino International, said: “Martina is such a star; she has supported us for years. Her help now is so valuable, because despite our best efforts, rhino poaching is at a 15-year high.

“The £310 raised from the sale of this signed photo is enough to pay the salary of one of our game scouts for a year – every bit really does help.”

The auction, which started 6 August 2009 at 99p, lasted for ten days, steadily rising day after day with a total of 30 bids.

The stunning magazine shoot, including the aforementioned photo, is part of a 5-page spread in the new issue and took place in central London, last month. The edition is available to buy now.

During her interview, Navratilova talks romance, press intrusion and, of course, sport. Speaking to editor Jane Czyzselska, she said: "When I've cried after matches, it wasn't about the tennis. In 1976 it was the first anniversary of my defection from Czechoslovakia and the cry was about 'Oh my God, I've lost the first round and what's my life coming to. Did I make the right decision?"

For more information about Save the Rhino, visit them at savetherhino.org.