Knife Attack in Toilets

Another story in Pink News; they report today that the trial has begun of a man who allegedly stabbed and killed a gay man in a Surrey Public Toilet. Whilst it's unclear as to whether the victim was cottaging, the Police have said the toilets are a well known cruising site and the defendant alleges that the deceased made a sexual advance. I've just taken a look at one cruising website for the toilets in question the and they remain very much in operation with a lot of sexual activity apparently continuing to take place and little concern about further attacks. One cruiser complained yesterday posting: 'Just returned from Walton. Some old tosser was standing with his trousers down, his shirt wide open right in the middle of the toilets wanking. Its idiots like these that will close this place down again. Anybody could have walked in, its half term, need I say more. Incidentally the window in the 2nd cubicle is missing - great if you want to watch from outside!'

This is also further evidence of the self policing that takes place within the cruising 'community' which is always going to be more effective than the outside interference of law enforcement agencies.

Here we have an out gay man with a partner apparently cruising in public place. When will we learn that public sex is part of our society and will continue to be irrespective of the number of bars, clubs and other 'mainstream' space we create.

Sarah Palin Calls for Federal Ban on Gay Marriage

I've not blogged much on the US election for a while but that's not to say I've not been watching it. Sarah Palin, the moose shooting hockey mom Governor from Alaska and self styled pit bull with lipstick could be placed a heart beat from the Presidency next month. Given Senator McCain doesn't look like he's got that many beats left in him she has deservedly received a lot of coverage in the world media.

Tina Fey has been catapulted to world fame because of her likeness to Palin in a series of Saturday Night Live Sketches (and this weekend the real Palin appeared alongside her). You can see a clip here and the Guardian ran a piece today examining the phenomenon.

It's easy to dismiss her as a joke but you never know in America. They did elect George W Bush. Today Pink News reports that Palin came out (if you pardon the pun) for a federal ban on gay marriage today after speaking to a Chinese TV network. Such a move would set America back decades on this issue and undo the minimal progress that has been made assuming of course that gay marriage is viewed as progress (by either the queer or straight community).

Come on America, how many reasons do you need to vote Democrat???

The Bilerico Project

I've just come across this amazing resource today. The site describes itself as follows: 'The Bilerico Project is the web's largest LGBTQ group blog with 50 lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, queer, and genderqueer contributors. The Project is the coming out and together of LGBTQ activists, politicos, journalists, novelists, advice columnists, and video bloggers'. Well worth a look!

Embryology Bill Controversy

The media is working itself into a mild frenzy (and by American standards on this issue, a comatose state) over the Embryology Bill. Pink News reported last week that whilst the focus is on abortion the Bill does remove the requirement for doctors to consider the need for a father when assessing women for fertility treatments. Today, the Guardian carries a piece detailing how Harriet Harman has now intervened to stop MPs voting on liberalising abortion laws - a move that offered the opportunity to transform the law in relation to Northern Ireland. Whatever side of the issue you are on this surely seems undemocratic and ill-judged. That said, Harman is a well known pro-choice figure and this seems more about getting the bill through than her own personal wishes. All of these is largely being overshadowed by the allegations first made in The Times overnight relating to George Osborne (the Tory Shadow Chancellor) and which dominated the news this morning (the BBC Today programme carried an interesting bit than be listened to here). That may help a more liberal focus on the Embryology Bill as there won't be the same media hoo-ha.

Employment Tribunal Flaw

Pink News has an interesting piece relating to a bid to include a new provision in the Employment Bill, currently before Parliament, to strengthen to powers of an Employment Tribunal. At present they can not enforce a monetary award. This means that those who might win a claim based on sexuality discrimination (protected since 2003) might not actually get the financial award they are awarded from an employer. The proposal seems a sensible one and comes on the back of report by Citizens Advice called 'Justice Denied'. The report is linked to on the Pink News story.

Critiques of Queer

In the last workshop I briefly mentioned queer scholarship and we'll be examining it much more this Thursday but John Lauritsen has just sent a link out on one academic/activist email list citing a number of works that counter queer and a brief paragraph explaining his own rejection of the term. As a 28 year old I don't have the "history" that John had and my perspective is a UK one. Nonetheless, I don't understand how 'gay' can be OK and 'queer' not when gay has become the dominant term of abuse in the UK - beyond its original sexual meaning. Nonetheless, the link is really useful link and you may all disagree with me!

Mosley and the Right to Privacy

The Guardian carried an interesting piece today in their G2 section. The article was an interview with Max Mosley who found himself in court earlier this year taking on the News of the World (and winning!) over a video they had of him engaging in S&M practices. His honesty and forthright response to the allegations was as refreshing as it was unusual to see in a public figure. He is now bring an ECHR challenge to establish a privacy right. He may just succeed and the proposals he puts forward seem both sensible and practical. My favourite line in the interview reads: 'Has he had lots of support and messages from what he calls the S&M "community"? "I've had no interesting offers," he smiles'. You can also listen to the interview here.

EU Commission and Same Sex Partnership Rights

There are some interesting developments on the EU law front this week. Vladimir Spidla, the Commissioner for Employment, Social Affairs and Equal Opportunities has stated that a new EU directive will continue to allow individual member states to decide same sex partnership rights. Whilst this might not seem to represent a step forward the fact that the EU commissioner is forced to say the directive won't do that means there is pressure to do so which in a convoluted sort of way is positive. Pink News also reports some positive developments in the EU parliament but they are unlikely to lead to any legal changes.

A Fumble on the Beach and Turning a Blind Eye

Public sex has featured in the media this week and today Minette Marrin pulls two stories together in her Sunday Times comment piece. Marrin is a pretty independent voice but her column is typically designed to stir up strong views. That said, she's a pretty good windsock of traditional and indeed mainstream opinion. First she turns to the story of Michelle Palmer and Vince Acors who were sentenced this week to three months in a Dubai prison after being found having sex on a beach. That they weren't married added to their woes. Marrin describes them as a 'couple of well-to-do British expatriates in Dubai shamelessly and drunkenly doing it on the beach'. The pair had denied they were engaged in sex and for me the interesting aspect of the story was that a Police officer had to go down to the beach with a torch to find them (so it was presumably pitch black) following someone telling him that there was a couple on the beach having sex. In other reports they had been warned first. ITN reported the story as below:

It seems to me that they should have respected the cultural values of the country and having been warned should have stopped and moved on to an indoors location. However, the mere act of having sex in the pitch black in a place that people would need a torch light see/be fully aware of is surely not a wrong per se?

The other story in the news concerns Deputy Chief Constable Michael Cunningham, of Lancashire Police, who said that the police should not become a "moral arbiter" by arresting those who engage in public sex. The comments follow the leaking of draft new guidance on the policing of public sex. I've not seen the report as it's not yet in the public domain (or indeed finished). I didn't advise ACPO in the production of this advice but it does strike me as very sensible and mirrors the evidence I recently gave to the Communities and Local Government Select Committee. Marrin brands this leaked document as 'the kind of attitude that gives freedom a dirty name' but the reality is that people do not always know that these sexual acts are taking place and are often unaffected by them beyond a sense of moral outrage. The law allows those acts to be left alone and they should be. The difficulty arises with sex in a public toilet which the reports suggests ACPO hasn't realised (although I suspect the full document does) in that the police can not turn a blind eye to S71 offences. Those acts that breach S71 of the Sexual Offences Act 2003 (sex in a public lavatory) must be acted upon as that is a criminal act regardless of whether anyone can see the act or not. The public have a right to demand enforcement of that section (however stupid it may be) where as the blanket policing of public sex locations in the hope of "catching someone" is largely without basis in law and seems a poor use of what we are routinely told is a limited resource.

It should be added that documents do not just leak themselves. It is seems quite possible that someone at ACPO or who had sight of the document didn't like the contents and leaked it to the media to ensure that the final proposals were watered down following a media and public outcry. I hope that doesn't happen and that we finally get some progressive policing of this issue. Calm down people, its just sex.

Do Your Duty!

We touched on the idea of camp in the last workshop, and as I sat in bed this morning working my way through the Sunday paper (don't linger on that particular mental image) my attention was re-focused on the TV where Sky News reported that Andrew LLoyd Webber was to intervene in that most camp of events - Eurovision, penning the entry for 2009. He's also made a little video that's on the BBC News site. You can view the video here and it seems the campest thing I've seen in ages.

Swindon Police in Sex Work Crack Down

I was struck by a story in the Swindon Advertiser last week that reported the Police were going to be recording number plates spotted curb crawling in an attempt to clamp down on street prostitution. I have highlighted the current focus on tackling 'visible' sex work in a number of papers over the last year and will be further speaking on the subject in Sydney later this year. The current strategy of the UK government is not, as they say in public, or as the tone of this article suggests to tackle sex work. It is to tackle specific forms of sex work, namely those with visibility to the general public. You can read an early article on this at Ashford, C (2008) 'Sex Work in Cyberspace: Who Pays the Price?', 17(1) Information & Communications Technology Law, 37.

Return of the Gay Mafia?

Lance Price has written an excellent little piece in The Guardian today. The former Blair Spin Doctor has found a fresh angle on the Mandelson return. He notes a cliamte of homophobia within the media surrounding the return of both Peter Mandelson and Nick Brown in the last reshuffle. They formed aprt of what the Sun called 'a gay mafia' ten years ago. My starting point was to disagree with Price and put it down simply to Mandelson being such a hated figure but Price cosntructs a persuasive argument (but then he was a communications chief!) that points to our subtle forms of homophobia. As a proud owner of a 'Bring Back Mandy' Mug which has adorned my office desk for some years I'm just glad to see its value go up in this time of financial instability.

Gay Marriage

Gay Marriage has been in the spotlight again over the past few days. In Portugal the main parties untied to vote down a proposal to introduce gay marriage. Given this seems to be an issue with support amongst the small left of centre parties of Portugal I don't see any progress being made in the short term. Brighter news from America (not four words that you often hear together at the moment) comes n the form of the Connecticut Supreme Courts decision to overturn the ban on same sex marriage in that state. It joins California and Massachusetts in allowing gay marriage. The 85 page judgment can be read here. My first glance over the judgment suggests arguments that could be applied in the English jurisdiction regarding sex equality legislation. That said, I continue to believe there is little appetite for such reform int he UK since the introduction of Civil Partnerships.

TV Gay Kiss

Now the course is up and running I'll be posting more regularly! In the last workshop we had an interesting discussion at one point about gay characters in television and film, so it struck me as timely that the Pink News carried a story relating to this subject over the weekend. Eastenders (which you'll have to forgive me I gave up watching some years ago) included a scene where two male characters kissed in last Tuesday's episode. This has been controversial in the 80s and 90s for the soap but what surprised me was that the BBC had 145 complaints, some complaining that the kiss was shown before the watershed.