Catch a Cruiser

Interesting item that one cruising site draws attention to. Craigslist (an American based site) currently includes the following post from one user:

'I am seeking a partner to help me launch a website that exposes men that have sex with each other in public parks. You must have photography skills( Camera equipment provided) A vehicle in good condition and most importantly not uncomfortable with seeing guy on guy sex and no issues with exposing them for violating public parks. Excellent revenue potential. Serious responses only as I know this will enflame certain people and will not waste time answering silly emails. Am searching for an equal partner.'

This has massive moral and civil liberty implications and I look forward to the ACLU challenge the second a photo appears on this so called 'expose site'.

Only one in a hundred gay?

Really interesting story in Pink News: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6676.html

They report that Only one in 100 people have described themselves as gay in a government survey into British sexuality. The Office of National Statistics asked 4,000 people but admitted that the results of the survey were: "not a reliable estimate" of the gay population.

Still Black

I've just been sent details about an experimental documentary currently in production that investigates the lives of six black transmen. You can check out the rough-cut trailer and more about the film at: www.stillblackfilm.org

This looks a really exciting project and I wish them every success.

Scotland

Gay Times ran a rather depressing story on Scotland this month suggesting it was somewhat behind the rest f the UK on the issue of LGBT equality. This is perhaps compounded by a story on Pink News today that focuses on a young gay couple being discriminated against for the second time on a Stagecoach service. Read the full story at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6669.html

USA300 Can Be Cured!

The Pink Paper reports focuses on the stories around USA 300 which I blogged on last week. This 'flesh eating virus' can in fact be cured. The infection can be killed by ordinary washing with soap and water, and it is only fatal if left untreated for so long that it spreads to the lungs. The article criticises much of the media for creating a hysteria. Like this blog, much of the stories stemmed from local SF reporting. The story can be viewed at: http://www.pinkpaper.com/pinkpaper/story.asp?aid=3226

Seattle University Law and Sexuality

I've come across this briliant law and sexuality blog by Julie Shapiro of Seattle University Law School. The blog can be viewed at: http://sulawandsexuality.wordpress.com/

Westboro Baptist Church and Heath Ledger

In the aftermath of the death of actor heath Ledger, the Westboro Baptist Church wasted no time in announcing that it would be protesting outside his funeral. The group featured in a high profile Louis Theroux documentary a couple of years ago - 'The Most Hated Family in History'. The Westboro press release can be viewed at: http://www.godhatesfags.com/written/fliers/20080122_heath-ledger-brokeback-mountain.pdf

Because edger appeared in Brokeback Mountain he has will apparently be burning in hell. There is no doubt in my mind that this is a family of cranks who preach hate but UK proposals on inciting hatred because of someones sexual orientation would make similar action in the UK illegal. Whilst I find the group offensive I am uneasy about banning forms of speech and expression because we find it offensive. Particularly when it is the state that judges what is offensive.

You can view the Louis Theroux documentary in full at: http://video.google.ca/videoplay?docid=-4413388146858417528

Let them protest, but let them be marginalised and drowned out by the fans.

Manchester Trip Photos

Sorry it's taken so long to sort these and thanks to Sean and Laura for the pics. Here are the photos from the 2007 field trip to Manchester. Follow the link to Flickr:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22953918@N07/sets/72157603751900889/

If you want to view them as a slide show click this link:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/22953918@N07/sets/72157603751900889/show/

Huckabee: Preacher for President?

Folksy Mike Huckabee became the talk of the media and western chattering classes in the last month after sweeping to victory in the Iowa caucuses. This week he further demonstrated his preacher credentials in declaring he wanted the constitution amended so as to ban abortion and gay marriage plus return school prayer to American schools. The McLaughlin Group discussed him at length this week and ultimately seemed to reach a consensus (unusually!) that Huckabee would be neither the Presidential candidate or Republican nominee. Good news, but the fact that this guy is even talked about in a western society is something of a mystery to us crazy Europeans. As I've blogged several months ago, I really hope Obama gets both the nomination and the presidency. His election would be good for both America and the world. The only prediction I would make is that if the Democrats go for Clinton and the Republicans McCain, I think the Republicans have a strong chance of keeping hold of the White House.

View the McLaughlin Group pages at: http://www.mclaughlin.com/

You can lsiten to a CNN report on this below:

GT Escorts

It is less than one month after Harriet Harman, the Secretary of State for Equalities and Minister for Women (amongst her many jobs) went on the BBCs Today programme congratulating MEN Media (Part of the Guardian Media Group) on deciding to stop publishing classified escort/sauna and massage adverts in the back of their local papers.

Yet the February issue of GT (Gay Times), just published, includes and advert for GTESCORTS.co.uk launching in February 2008 which will allow you to view '100's of escorts online'. If ever a timely story showed how out of touch the Government's approach to sex work is, this does. I really don't have an issue with these sites or these adverts. I just wish the Governemnt would be up front, honest and grown up in its sex work policy. I'm sure GT would point out that these adverts are just for 'escorts' but as many of the linked profiles suggest, that often includes a little more than a chat over coffee. I have an article due to be published in the New Law Journal in the next couple of weeks that will further explore this issue.

Not So Queer up North?

This coming week will see the Arts Council make a final decision regarding the funding of the Queer Up North Festival. The Arts Council England had announced plans to end its annual funding of queerupnorth in March 2008. This will lead to the cancellation of the 2008 festival in Manchester, halt all future touring plans, end our unique programme of work for young people, and result in the immediate closure of the organisation.

It's a scandal and the decision must be reversed. The event has been an essential part of the cultural transformation of Manchester and the North that has led to a more vibrant, metropolitan and prosperous lifestyle for so many people who reside in Manchester and the surrounding areas. That funding needs expanding not cutting!

It's not too late to sign the petition. You can do so at: http://www.gopetition.com/petitions/save-queerupnorth-from-arts-council-cuts.html

Morocan Men Arrested After YouTube Video

The latest Pink Paper has a worrying story about a number of men arrested and imprisoned in Morocco after a YouTube video appeared to show two men "marrying". The Paper reports that:

'They were convicted of “lewd or unnatural acts with an individual of the same sex”, which is prohibited in the north African country’s criminal code, even though the video does not show any sexual activity and the video was the only evidence in the prosecution case. The owner of the house where the party was held, Fouad Friret, was sentenced to 10 months in prison for lewd acts and the unauthorised sale of alcohol. Three other men were sentenced to six months in prison, and two to four months. They range in age from 20 to 61 years old.'

Amnesty International has called on its members to write polite letters in English or French to the Moroccan authorities demanding the release of the men. The head of mission at the Moroccan embassy in London, His Excellency Mr Mohammed Belmahi, can be reached by email at ambalondres@maec.gov.ma.

I've managed to track the YouTube file down and embedded it below. What do you think? One thing I do now for certain is that these kind of stories are a reminder of just how far our society has progressed in the last twenty years.

New York Bathhouses and HIV

There was a really interesting story in the New York Observer this week entitled 'Tearoom trade in 2008'. The article argues that the panic reaction of health departments in closing down bathhouses as a response to rising HIV rates is not the answer. It makes for an interesting read in an area that I haven't made my own mind up about. In our health financing model (the NHS) there is an argument that we owe a duty to one another not to become sick if avoidable due to the financial drain on society in terms of meds. In an insurance based model that isn't the case so do we still worry about HIV/AIDS too much in our era of modern medicine or is that exactly the kind of irresponsible comment that is leading to this growing trend of infection rates? I don't know but I don't think it's as simple as some activists and health professionals claim.

Read the full story at: http://www.observer.com/2008/tearoom-trade-2008

Sex in a Cubicle Private?

Some readers might be familiar with the Hansard debates that accompanied the passing of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 in which the privacy of a cubicle was discussed. Well the USA may be about to have a similar discussion after the ACLU stepped in to 'help' Sen. Larry Craig (he of airport toilets fame).

The ACLU filed a brief Tuesday supporting Craig. It cited a Minnesota Supreme Court ruling 38 years ago that found that people who have sex in closed stalls in public restrooms "have a reasonable expectation of privacy."

That means the state cannot prove Craig was inviting an undercover officer to have sex in public, the ACLU wrote.

Read the full story at: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080116/ap_on_re_us/craig_appeal

Read some earlier posts on the Larry Craig story: http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2007/09/aclu-steps-into-craig-saga-are-sting.html

http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2007/09/more-on-senator-craig.html

http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2007/09/even-more-on-craig.html

http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2007/09/senator-craig-story-led-to-whole-series.html

http://lawandsexuality.blogspot.com/2007/09/republicans-in-toilets.html

Police crack down on gay cruising

Interesting story from Sacramento, California, USA. Sacbee reports that: 'the Police Department has declared war on "cruising," or the practice of seeking anonymous gay trysts in public areas.

Cruising has been a mainstay at many Sacramento area parks, according to law enforcement officials and Web sites dedicated to the practice. Among the most popular is Tempo Park, according to the Citrus Heights police and San Juan Recreation and Parks District officials. '

Read the full story at: http://www.sacbee.com/101/story/639018.html

'Pegging' for 2008?

A slightly odd story from the illustrious media outlet 'Metro'. I have the
Skrufff e-letter to thank for the story. It says:

Two out of four sex columnists quizzed by London's Metro newspaper for trends in 2008 predicted that female to male role reversal will be Britain's next big sexual thing, this week with strap-on sex toys their tip for courting couples.

"Gender play and role reversal will be big in 2008," said Kathryn Hoyle, the owner of Sh! Women's Erotic Emporium in North London, "We have noticed that more women are curious to explore their masculine side in the boudoir."

'Greatest Sex Tips In The World' author Julie Peasgood told Metro 'Pegging will really grow in popularity this year," explaining, "This practice of female-to-male penetration is already big in the US."

"You may want to take things a step further by using a strap-on with your partner, Kathryn Hoyle added, though warned 'male partners may be a bit apprehensive about this'.
Pegging website 'Take-it-like-a-man.com' advises women to 'remain calm and act like you exactly what you're doing', in detailed instructions for first time strap-on sex.

"Remember that you are in charge," the site advises, "In offering his ass to you, your boyfriend is making himself extremely vulnerable and placing an incredible amount of trust in you. You must convince your boyfriend that you are up to the challenge."

One to watch...

USA300

A strange story with perhaps significant long term impact is the news about 'USA300'. As one blog put it an oddly patriotic-sounding name for this frightening new flesh eating, drug resistant staph disease'. The Jonty Skruff newsletter wrote the following:

US scientists warned this week that a new drug-resistant 'superbug' which can cause necrotizing pneumonia, is breaking out in San Francisco's gay community in the same way AIDS developed, though is also spread by casual skin to skin contact.

University of California study chief Binh Diep said infection with the sub-strain of USA300 can cause 'tennis ball size boils' and death and said the bug is currently 13 times more prevalent in sexually active gay men in San Francisco than amongst heterosexuals.

"These multi-drug resistant infections often affect gay men at body sites in which skin-to-skin contact occurs during sexual activities," Dr Diep told Reuters, "But because the bacteria can be spread by more casual contact, we are also very concerned about a potential spread of this strain into the general population."

The doctor advised people to always wash with soap and water after sex and said that sportsmen playing contact games such as American football, rugby and wrestling are also at risk.

"The potential widespread dissemination of the multi-resistant form of USA300 into the general population is alarming," he said, "Once this reaches the general population, it will be truly unstoppable."

Read more at: http://www.sfgate.com/flat/archive/2008/01/15/chronicle/archive/2008/01/15/MNUKUDB6D.html?tsp=1

and:

http://blogs.sfweekly.com/thesnitch/2008/01/keep_those_nasty_bits_squeaky.php

It might be a little OTT to make parallels with AIDS but it is striking that here is a story talked about by the SF community (and now through SF based blogs etc) but it hasn't had much coverage over here in the UK. Definitely one to watch.

Interalia

Interalia, a journal of Queer Studies have just published their second edition. The contents are as follows:

Editorial
Contributors
At What Price the Media SpotlightAnalyzing media certification of the mainstream gay movement during the 1980s and 1990s
Julie Land
''Americans Don't Want Cowboys to Be Gay:'' ''Brokeback Mountain'' and the Oscars
William Glass
Gay Pride and its AdverseEuroPride 2006 and the Counter Performance of EuroShame
Jonah Winn-Lentsky
Kilka węgierskich queerobrazówo twórczości Róberta Szabó Benke
Katarzyna Pabijanek
Neoliberalism and its Homophobic Discontents [1]
Volker Woltersdorff aka Lore Logorrhöe
Post-colonial historiography, queer historiographyThe political spaces of history writing
Howard Hsueh-Hao Chiang
Queerspace: Sexualized spaces revisited
Diepiriye Sungumote Kuku-Siemons
''Sexuality is fluid''[1]or is it? An analysis of television's The L Word from the perspectives of gender and sexuality
Niina Kuorikoski
The Limits of Virtual MemoryNationalisms, State Violence, and the Transgender Day of Remembrance
Toby Beauchamp
Towards a Philosophy of Queer Alterity. Faith and Democracyor a Post-Secularist and Anti-Fundamentalist Foray
Tomek Kitlinski, Pawel Leszkowicz
Straight macho nationalism
Henning Fischer
Distorted Autobiography - Self-portrayal and Self-censorship in Gay Memoirs
Iwona Rentflejsz
The pezula and me
Tzannis Sifneos
From there to Rehearsing Sex: A space of freedom among theory and the dead meandering to assist with resistance
Christiana Lambrinidis
Recenzja: Wolność, równość, odmienność. Nowe ruchy społeczne w Polsce początku XXI wieku.
Ania Gruszczyńska

http://www.interalia.org.pl/en/artykuly/current_issue.htm

Hadrian: Empire and Conflict

An interesting item on Pink News for those of us in the North East of England. The site reports a new exhibition at the British Museum later this year. Many of the artefact's at the exhibition relate to his male companion, Antinous, a young Greek.Antinous accompanied Hadrian during his travels. There is a poem written on papyrus, with an image of the couple hunting together, and written memorials Antinous wrote to Hadrian after his death at the exhibition. The full story can be viewed at: http://www.pinknews.co.uk/news/articles/2005-6533.html Tickets go on sale in February and can be bought via the British Museum site at: http://www.britishmuseum.org/whats_on/future_exhibitions/hadrian_empire_and_conflict.aspx

City of Vice

Last night saw Channel 4 broadcast the first episode of a new series - City of Vice. The series stars the wonderful Ian McDiarmid as the novelist and magistrate Henry Fielding who, together with his brother and fellow magistrate John obtained a grant from Parliament allowing them to bring some law and order to the crime-ridden boroughs of Central London. The series brings these historical figures brilliantly to life and explores some exciting 1750s legal history. The first episode dealt with the subject of prostitution but the February issue of Attitude draws attention to the next episode which focuses on Molly Houses (cross dressing venues). This looks like a must view for readers of this blog. I'm sure the series will go down a storm if sold to international networks. Read a guide to the full series at: http://www.channel4.com/history/microsites/C/city-of-vice/episode_guide.html