40 Years Out

40 Years Out was a Newsnight review style show presented by David Aaronovitch that was designed to look back at 40yrs of 'gay liberation' but in reality the discussion was somewhat inward looking focussing on the channel 4 season and particuarly around Clapham Junction.

The panel included Matthew Parris, Paul Sinha, Mark Simpson, Simon Fanshawe, Julie Bindel, Brian Paddick and QBoy.

Another show wasn't televised but explored whether the media helps to broaden minds and push boundaries. Clips of the show can be viewed at:
http://www.channel4.com/culture/microsites/0-9/40_years_on/debate.html

Queer as Old Folk

I've just been catching up with the rest of the Ch4 gay season. Queer as Old Folk was an interesting documentary that followed the lives of a number of "old" gay men. Proably the most likable character we met was Seventy-three-year-old Alan who came out in his teens, and has never hidden his sexuality. We also meet his partner of 40 years, Jimmy. We see them finally tie the knot in a civil partnership.

In contrast, 58-year-old Clive always suspected he might be gay, but got married to subdue his homosexual urges. Eighteen months ago, however, he decided things had to change. Clive lost weight, got fit and came out. He's still married, and living with his wife and teenage son, but this doesn't stop him from lining up dates, surfing Gaydar and cruising saunas to have sex with dozens of men each week. The details of which he shares with his son. In one worrying scene we see him informing his son he's off for a threesome later. Clive is also diagnosed with an STD in one scene but despite clear advice from his doctor continues to meet for a sexual encounter.

Unlike Clive, 64-year-old Roger always knew he was gay, but nevertheless he married and had two children, continuing his gay life on the side. He says his wife knew he was gay, but they continued their marriage, had two children and stayed together for 30 years. Then at 58 Roger met Ian, who was just 18: they've now been a couple for six years, and Roger manages Ian's career as a male stripper (yes, I'm a bit mystified too though I did learn something about how rubber bands are used by strppers).

The programme was good in showing a diverse range of men of an older generation and it was nice to to see some personal stories from a generation that have a fascinating story to say but are all too often neglected by the gay media.

Clapham Junction

Clapham Junction is the second programme in the Channel 4 "gay season". The programme opened slightly depressingly with the usual stereotypes. Like soap powder that can transform your life or deodorants that make you a sexual dynamo so too does gay drama often say "look at us, we're homosexuals and you just want to be like us". We aren't fat, middle aged, dumb, untalented...the list goes on. Instead we are bright, young and sexy. We opened with a Civil Partnership. A packed audience, not only clapping but giving a standing ovation. Even a priest cried a tear in the audience. Rose buds fell from above. Oh god I thought. But, no within a matter of moments one of the newlyweds was asking for a sausage from the waiter and then snorting coke and trying to shag him in the hotel pantry. 'Cos gay men can't get enough sex and drugs don't you know?

Terry (Paul Nicholls, pictured)(better known for his former Eastenders role) is constantly told by his Nan that he should find someone. We see him getting ready for an evening, adjusting his penis in his pants. Well more jiggling it gratuitously close to the camera really (was that a "stunt cock" is the real question methinks?). Again a good few snorts of coke to set him up. Then off we go to the bear pit of a gay club. In fact Terry is a serial queer basher who ultimately contributes to the death of the waiter mentioned above. In one scene, he goes back to a mans home where they end up listening to the Pet Shop Boys before Terry begins assaulting the other guy, forcing him to eat cigarettes and being pissed on by Terry ("you said you wanted to try watersports" Terry taunts) and being called a "filthy cock sucker".



The film revolves around a number of other characters and also takes us into the worlds of cruising and cottaging. It is in a cottage that we see our young waiter once again, entering the public toilet and standing alone at a urinal. This time he is chased by a couple of young guys who have entered the toilet and runs onto Clapham Common. This is not just a waiter. This is a waiter seeking to remind us of the death of Jody Dobrowski. A 24 year old murdered in a homophobic attack back in 2005 on Clapham Common.

A young black school boy who is learning the violin is continually chased by gangs but apart from that appears to serve no real role. If anything that character highlights a major deficiency in "gay culture" and in screen representations of gay men. Namely, where are all the black men? How can homosexuality be squared with "black culture" and the images of young men influenced by American black culture? We need dramas and documentaries that also explore these themes.

Many of the characters meet together at a dinner party. One of the attendees (who incidentally is the mother of a 14 year old engaging in his first sexual encounter with a neighbour while she is at the dinner party) says "We accept you now. Can't you behave like normal people?". Yet the film answers back. We are not the same as you it says. We can not conform to hetronormative values. The very quest for legal equality is in a sense the wrong mission in that context. The aim is not equality. The aim is to for a legal framework for men who have sex with men. We fuck in bushes and toilets not because we must but because we choose to the film suggests. Our values are not your values. It also challenges law itself. The film suggests (perhaps rather obviously) that legal equality is not enough in any case. A shift in social values is even more important and still something the eludes the gay community.

A Very British Sex Scandal

Channel 4 celebrates the fortieth anniversary of the Sexual Offences Act 1967 with a series of "gay" programmes this week with ga themed films also being shown on late night Film4. The first of these was shown on Saturday night. 'A Very British Sex Scandal' was a docu-drama seeking both to explore the arrests of Lord Montagu of Beaulieu, Peter Wildeblood et al and the emergence of the Wolfenden Comittee. If there was to be on criticism of this programme it would be the lack of a pipe in the mouth of John Wolfenden. I find it ahrd to belive that he would have been without one (at least available on the desk) during the meetings of the committee.

Apologies for Being Too Raunchy!

Apologies for my entry yesterday on Gay Times. It seems I was being far too raunchy in showing the picture of the GT cover. According to thelondonpaper an advert with that cover for GT has been banned by the London Underground. Instead the ad had to be replaced with the one shown here. The particular irony of it was that this is the 40the anniversary of Wolfenden themed issue. If anything the second cover seems more raunchy than the last one. You see more body and his designer underwear. Not to mention the fact that the mind simply boggles as to what the chap behind is doing. Ahhhh, how far we have come...

Link to story:
http://www.thelondonpaper.com/cs/Satellite/london/news/article/1157148257231?packedargs=aid%3D1157148257231%26suffix%3DArticleController

20/20 - My Secret Self

One episode of the American series "20/20". It features Barbara Walters as she interviews the families of young transgender children (here in five parts).

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3


Part 4


Part 5

Pride Not Prejudice DVD

The Law Centres Federation in partnership with the community of the London Borough of Southwark, Southwark Law Centre and the Southwark LGBT Network have produced this DVD (here in 3 parts). The film focusses on employment law and provides information on the options available to deal with discrimination and Harassment.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act

Pink News reports that a US Senate vote on the Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act is due soon. The Act has been dubbed the "Matthew Shephard Act" after the American teenager brutally murdered (see the film "The Laramie Project"). Accoring to Pink News: 'In May, the bill passed in the House of Representatives on a historic 237-180 bipartisan vote. The Local Law Enforcement Hate Crimes Prevention Act of 2007 expands the categories covered by existing federal hate crimes law to include gender, sexual orientation, gender identity and disability.'

It's one to watch.

Gay Times: The Age Gap?

Interesting letters page in this months Gay Times. Since the magazine was re-branded "GT" earlier this year and took on a general new look the letters page has been packed with letters bemoaning the change from older readers and young readers welcoming the shift. This month there is a really interesting letter "Eddie". He wrote:

I now feel that I'm being ripped off by GT. I've read it since it was Gay News in the broad newspaper format. To find a copy then, even in London, took a 200-mile round trip to buy it from a newsstand. It was well worth it, though, with many interesting articles. The broad paper became a magazine, which was still full of interest. But...gone are the free National Club Ads. Gone is the ability to place an ad at reasonable cost, and have a post box number that others could respond to with nothing more than two envelopes with stamps. Gone is the "Meeting Place" and venues, as are lots of other things that were of use to the community. By trying to be more acceptable to the general public, GT is losing its way. In the advent of the larger magazine, the situation is getting worse. The front cover always looks appealing, but it's what's inside that counts. The advertisements are increasing month on month, and now spreading to the front of the mag. My partner says it's about 90% ads - I wouldn't go quite that far, but it's certainly a very high percentage. All this is good revenue for you, but are you giving your readers what they really want? It's possible to pick up magazines, free of charge, from various venues that do include the things that GT should...

This letter can be contrasted with the "Letter of the Month" from Laurence in Chippenham (interestingly he also gives a full name in contrast to Eddie). He writes:

I recently purchased my first copy of GT. It was liberating. I sauntered into my local WH Smith's and demanded they hand over a copy. The checkout girl gave me the bitchiest look ever. However, after a 20 second standoff, she waved her hand in the general direction of the magazine. I rushed over in a slightly frenzied manner and grappled my way though various gossip magazines till I spotted you snazzy front cover...

Now quite apart from the fact the Laurence sounds a complete arse he also sounds a young arse and very different from Eddie. The idea that it was "liberating" when he approaches the purchase as if entering into combat seems unlikely. He is confident, perhaps even arrogant and enticed by a sexualised cover. Eddie in contrast wants to engage with some form of community. For him Gay Times was a way of reaching that community, finding out what bars exist, where they are, what times the operate, what crowds they attract. It was also a way of meeting people through cheap "post boxes". The world Eddie knew has vanished. Replaced by the confident youth personified by Laurence. I remember in 1999 as a 19yr old student (yes, you can work it out)on my way back to a new term at Uni plucking up the courage to buy one from the WH Smith at Piccadilly station (surely they wouldn't notice as much as at Preston station my logic went). This is also reflected in the play/film Beautiful Thing where the central character steals a copy of Gay Times and uses the listings to find and then visit his first gay bar.

The "post boxes" have been replaced by the world of Gaydar and other "dating sites" that are focused on rapid and frequent sexual encounters. That creates a very different culture and I would suggest socialises young people into patterns of sexualised behaviour to a much greater extent than previous generations. If your over 30 forget it. As one 16 year old college student recently told me on a workshop visit: "you're alright for the next couple of years but then you're struggling". Another commented that 19 was "ancient". Is this typical of attitude amongst 16yr odls in genral I don't know. The traditional idea of the odler gay man supporting a young man on his journey into the gay community. Instead the over 30 generation are seen as just "wanting to get to my cock" and are cast aside with the same flair that Laurence walked into WH Smith. A casual glance at Gaydar reflects this with constant references to "respect my age restrictions" which usually end at 30 and almost always start at 18 (the youngest age allowed on the site).

For me, the loss of the listings section is more significant. They are now online and arguably more comprehensive than ever: The difficulty is that there is no link in the magazine. For someone exploring their sexuality they might not want to visit such a site. You can't hide it under the bed. If they live with their parents they might not have a PC/laptop available in a private space or not feel comfortable accessing the site if their parents can view their tracks. Of course, all this might just be showing my age.

Toi T'en Reves (version non censurée)

Just found this cracking video linked through from the OII site. The Organisation Intersex International is a non-profit organisation incorporated in the Province of Quebec, Canada. See more at: http://www.intersexualite.org/Index.html

Toi T'en Reves (version non censurée)
Uploaded by narcyssik

Massive thanks to Izak for tracking down the lyrics and translating them into English:

Paroles de Toi T'en Rêves (Narcy)

Toi t'en rêves, toi t'en rêves, de leur montrer qui tu es,Et t'en crèves, et t'en crèves, de n'pas pouvoir exister Dans tes rêves, dans tes rêves, tu ne veux qu'être aimer ! Et t'en crèves, et t'en crèves, t'as mal a en crier ! Quand il s'prenait pour un cow-boy, toi tu recoiffais ta poupée, Et tu passais les heures à te demander si ça s'faisait, Tu regardais ta mère toujours si calme, toujours si douce, Tu regardais ton père et tes yeux tombaient sur tes pieds… Toi t'en rêves toi t'en rêves de leur montrer qui tu es, Et t'en crèves et t'en crèves de n'pas pouvoir exister Dans tes rêves dans tes rêves tu ne veux qu'être aimer ! Et t'en crèves et t'en crèves, t'as mal a en crier ! Maintenant il joue avec les filles, toi tu restes au fond d'la cours… Si sur de lui, comme tu l'envie ! mais ton coeur brûle d'amour… T'écris des lettres que t'envoie pas, il les lirais même pas, Il penserait même pas que c'est toi puisqu'il ne te voit pas … Toi t'en rêves, toi t'en rêves, de leur montrer qui tu es, Et t'en crèves, et t'en crèves, de n'pas pouvoir exister Dans tes rêves, dans tes rêves, tu ne veux qu'être aimer ! Et t'en crèves, et t'en crèves, t'as mal a en crier ! (x3)

Narcy: You, you dream about it

You, you dream about it, you, you dream about it, to show them who you are
And it tires you, and it tires you not being able to live/exist
In your dreams, in your dreams, you only want to be loved
And it tires you, and it tires you, it hurts you to cry it out loud

When he was pretending to be a cowboy, you were restyling your doll
And you spent hours asking yourself if it was good enough
You were always looking at your mother, so calm, always so sweet
You were looking at your father, your eyes fell to your feet

You, you dream about it, you, you dream about it, to show them who you are
And it tires you, and it tires you not being able to live/exist
In your dreams, in your dreams, you only want to be loved
And it tires you, and it tires you, it hurts you to cry it out loud

Now he is playing with the girls, you stay at the back of the playground
So sure of himself, how you envy him! But your heart burns with love
You write letters that you don’t send, he won’t even read them
He wouldn’t even think it was you since he doesn’t see you

You, you dream about it, you, you dream about it, to show them who you are
And it tires you, and it tires you not being able to live/exist
In your dreams, in your dreams, you only want to be loved
And it tires you, and it tires you, it hurts you to cry it out loud

You, you dream about it, you, you dream about it, to show them who you are
And it tires you, and it tires you not being able to live/exist
In your dreams, in your dreams, you only want to be loved
And it tires you, and it tires you, it hurts you to cry it out loud

You, you dream about it, you, you dream about it, to show them who you are
And it tires you, and it tires you not being able to live/exist
In your dreams, in your dreams, you only want to be loved
And it tires you, and it tires you, it hurts you to cry it out loud

Let's Have a Heated Debate

Now here is something I don't see happening in the UK for a very long time (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4910.html). Gay USA cable Channel LOGO (we just get porn gay channels in the UK) is hosting/presenting a debate for Democrat Presidential hopefuls. This is very exciting. If they seek to play to the audience (who represent around 4% of those who will actually vote) then they risk alienate a much larger audience. For Hillary in particular this will be really interesting. Her husband was responsible for the "don't ask don't tell" military policy and it will be interesting to see how she plays that. Obama, the hope for many on the left is actually a strong Christian and again it will be interesting to see how he plays it. I suspect he''ll actually be disappointing for the LGB community. Whatever they say they are seeking to engage with the LGB community in a way that I just don't see happening here. Blair wouldn't do a leaders debate with anyone for any audience let alone an LGB one and I don't see Brown changing that.

You can watch the debate live on August 9 at: http://www.logoonline.com/

Tories & Homophobia

Here we go again! Interesting story in Pink News about Sayeeda Warsi (http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-4917.html). She's the Tory recently appointed to 'Shadow Minister for Community Cohesion' by David Cameron and with it gets a seat round the Shadow Cabinet table. In leaflets aimed at the Muslin community she allegedly wrote in her 2005 election material: "Labour has scrapped Section 28, which was introduced by the Conservatives to stop schools promoting alternative sexual lifestyles such as homosexuality to children as young as seven years old."Labour reduced the age of consent for homosexuality from 18 to 16, allowing schoolchildren to be propositioned for homosexual relationships." Her agent then apparently used the same leaflet last year. For those seeking to portray the rank and file Tories as homophobic this is gold dust. For me, the greater significance is a much wider one. We generally talk about an equality agenda yet in reality this is very misleading. On the one hand David Cameron is seen as promoting the 'equality agenda' by bringing the first Muslim into such a high ranking position. Yet no the other hand she is actually someone with ultra conservative views who just happens to be of Asian origin. If it wasn't for her skin colour would she be in a Cameron cabinet given her views on this social issue? Does anyone think Cameron would have appointed a racist lesbian to the shadow cabinet? More to the point, would that have had more media coverage than this did?

Conference Update: Wolfenden50

Every now and then a conference comes along that blows you away. The short Wolfenden50 Conference held at Kings College, London was one such conference (see: http://www.wolfenden50.org/ ). I wasn't able to attend the whole conference though I was able to attend the Thursday and Friday (the Friday being slightly disrupted first thing with the attempted London bombings). The conference was opened by Jeffrey Weeks who was as optimistic as ever and flogging a new (no doubt brilliant) book. I'm not sure I share his overly optimistic view of the world though. The latest edition of the Pink Paper is a good example (see: http://www.pinkpaper.com/pinkpaper/story.asp?aid=350 ). The front page reports that Sixty-five per cent of lesbian and gay school pupils have been bullied because of their sexuality. Whilst Weeks is absolutely right to point to the legislative achievements of recent years there remains a huge amount to tackle social attitudes. It's no good talking about how brilliant the repeal of section 28 was when kids are still getting the crap beaten out of them in the playground because their queer. The full figures are even more disturbing. 143,000 children have suffered from anti-gay name-calling, 64,000 have been physically attacked and 26,000 have had death-threats.

Other notable presentations at Wolfenden50 were an amazing presentation by Welby Ings (AUT University, NZ) who talked about the language and law relating to New Zealand Public Toilets 1860-1967. Welby is also an award winning film director and his presentation was fascinating. Over lunch we had a long conversation and it seems many of the themes and issues I've discovered in my own work (see earlier post for this month) are applicable in NZ too. There's clearly scope for some interesting comparative research in this area. Robert Reynolds (University of New South Wales, Australia) talked about Wolfenden's 'grandchildren' in the form of the current queer "youth" generation in Australia. He's publishing a book that focuses on a number of young people alter this year. His research found that many young people can't relate to 'queer culture' with its bars, clubs and saunas and so seek out alternative space. For some this meant their first sexual encounters might take place in a public sex environment. Worrying stuff.

The whole conference had been based around the 50th anniversary of the Wolfenden Report which ultimately paved the way for the Sexual Offences Act 1967 which legalised homosexual acts between two men over 21 in private. Fifty years! A lot has changed but there is so much socially still to be done.

Conference Update: Saskatoon, Canada

Well this is the first of a series of updates about what's been going on whilst preparing for the start of this module. In June I was fortunate enough to attend the Canadian Law & Society Conference in Saskatoon (http://www.fedcan.ca/congress2007/). A quiet city in Western Canada in the state of Saskatchewan not too far from Calgary. As you can see from this picture taken on the "town side" of Saskatoon (it is allegedly a city) it's a fairly quiet place. The Unviersity is over this bridge where you will also find wild Pellicans and hundreds of cute gophers popping up next to the pavement. I'm getting sidetracked...The conference drew together people from a range of disciplines though my conference seemed dominated by sociologists from Canada and the USA. My paper was entitled 'Sexuality, Public Space and Legal Control in the Cyber Age' and drew primarily upon research published last year in Information & Communications Technology Law in an article entitled 'The Only Gay in the Village: Sexuality and the Net' (details at: http://www.informaworld.com/smpp/432725918-92286129/content~content=a768124925) combined with an article due to be published in the Journal of Criminal Law later this year entitled 'Sexuality and the Criminal Law: The Cottaging Phenomenon'. Essentially I argue that in addition to the emergence of the 'Cyber Cottage' the Police are now using these sites with varying degrees of success as part of their policing strategy. Through the monitoring of such sites a number of different polcing approaches emerge from the draconian to the liberal. You can view the whole conference programme at: http://www.acds-clsa.org/fr/acds/FINAL_CLSA_PROGRAM_MAY_7_2007.pdf