New Radio Show: Being LGBT

SparkFM, the Sunderland University radio station, has launched a new show, 'Being LGBT'.  The station has deservedly won a stack of awards, and this latest show marks a new project for the extremely talented Sam Willey.  It's every Wednesday at 2pm (and you may hear a familiar voice in the near future) , and you can catch it on listen again if you missed it.

This week:

Kieron Brady former Sunderland football player, now equality expert with CICI speaks about homophobia in the game.

Lindsay England from the Just a Ball Game? initiative says more needs to be done to tackle homophobia in football.

Megan Worthing-Davies from Football V Homophobia chats to us live about the campaign and her involvement with the Justin Campaign.

Lewis Moody, former England Rugby international speaks out, calling for more open LGBT people in Sport.

Gentoo and the Tyne and Wear Fire Service talk to us about being a North East employer included in the Stonewall Top 100 of LGB friendly employers.

Check it out here.

Book Launch: The Declining Significance of Homophobia

Unfortunately I'll be unable to attend this launch for a book which is already making waves in the media - hopefully some of you will be able to make it along.

Gay's The Word is hosting an event to celebrate the UK launch of The Declining Significance of Homophobia: How Teenage Boys are Redefining Masculinity and Heterosexuality. There will be a short talk by the author (Mark McCormack), and refreshments will be provided.

"Research has traditionally shown high schools to be hostile environments for LGBT youth. Boys have used homophobia to prove their masculinity and distance themselves from homosexuality. Despite these findings over the last three decades, The Declining Significance of Homophobia tells a different story. Drawing on fieldwork and interviews of young men in three British high schools, Dr. Mark McCormack shows how heterosexual male students are inclusive of their gay peers and proud of their pro-gay attitudes. He finds that being gay does not negatively affect a boy's popularity, but being homophobic does.

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

You can indicate if you're attending here.

Gay-Straight Alliance Club

The Guardian carries a wonderfully uplifting story today concerning Copland community school in Wembley which imports US model in which gay and straight pupils join forces to tackle discrimination. 

The Guardian notes that: 'In the US, where there are such clubs in more than 4,000 high schools, the alliances support gay pupils, creating an environment where they can socialise with straight friends and work together against discrimination. At the London school, the alliance was the brainchild of sixth-former Kimberley Duah, 18, who ran for election as head girl pledging to set one up.'

For me, the most powerful aspect of the story is that posters in the school were initially ripped down.  This has result in ladders now being used to place the posters higher.  Too often these initiatives can be an opportunity for an organisation to tick another box, to appear able to say "look at us, we're brilliant" but the ripping down of these posters  -and the continued need to place them high on the walls - serves to evidence the very real need for this group.  It's not just some PR exercise, or media stunt.  It is a positive and very real attempt to address what is clearly an environment in which homophobic attitudes continue to be evident.  Things seem to be starting to change in the school which is to be welcomed and how wonderful that these bright kids have taken ownership of the problem and sought to lead a solution.

Nonetheless, there are evidently challenges ahead.  Although the school indicates they have had no complaints from parents etc, the Guardian piece does note that the school is located 'in an area with a substantial south Asian population, many children's views are shaped by the religious beliefs of their parents.'  This raises questions about the course schools are on in tackling homophobia and the potential challenge that may well come at some point from groups arguing that their religious freedom is being infringed.  A long culture war continues to stretch before us.

Read the full Guardian piece here.

Why Does Hollywood Hate 'Gay' Sex?

Absolutely fascinating piece in the Daily Beast about whether Hollywood is terrified of gay sex. The piece argues that 'as Hollywood portrays it, the homosexual man is, astonishingly, sexless.'

Read the article in full here.

The Shareef Don't Like It

The Sunday Times carries a wonderful little piece about living as a Western white gay man in the city of Dubai.  The UAE is a country in which homosexuality is illegal, reduced to clandestine activity and knowing glances.  Yet, as this piece reminds us, it continues to attract many gay men who live fulfilling lives, and foster gay networks - as in many other Arab nations - despite the law.  The piece is (annoyingly) behind the Sunday Times paywall but if you do have access, it can be viewed here. Alex Richardson, the journalist in question summarises the environment below:

'The gay community here is secretive and close-knit. It’s not as drug-fuelled and bitchy as back in London, though apparently STDs are rife — because these dangers are never advertised, it’s assumed everybody is clean, so people are a bit looser. Unlike in Europe, where you have different groups of gays — the arty ones, the lawyers, the clubbers — here you have just one: the materialistic, body-beautiful type. They are in their twenties or thirties and have come to Dubai for escapism, money or career opportunities.'

Curiously, despite the influx of Westerners  - gay and otherwise - into spaces such as Dubai, there doesn't seem to be the pressure for change in the same way that were the UK government to turn the legal clock back to pre-1967.  I'm not sure entirely why this is but I suspect it owes a lot to the mobility of the players involved.  Rather than an all engaging homosexuality, the account of homosexuality in Dubai by Richardson matches accounts from others I've heard regarding Arab nations - including Egypt and Dubai - in which the affluent and mobile can enjoy a type of homosexuality that other sections of society don't.  Those who are working in Dubai are paid good wages, enjoy an affluent lifestyle and can always pop on the next flight the moment things start getting a bit sticky.  As long as this remains, there will be no pressure to change, and the UAE will entrench this situation as the status quo.  This, it seems to me, is deeply undesirable.

This Never Happened on Saint and Greavsie...

Many boys growing up in late 1980s Britain will be familiar with Ian St. John and Jimmy Greaves.  This duo of ex footballers presented a weekly football show on ITV - and despite the best efforts of their enthusiastic endeavours, did little to persuade me that football was nothing more than a rather pointless use of 90 minutes.

Had their footage more closely resembled Iranian football coverage, I might have taken more of an interest.  First of all, yes, there is such a thing as Iranian football coverage (I was surprised too) but - as you might expect - they must follow Iran's strict rules of public chastity.

A congratulatory hug seems to be OK, but, based on a decision this week, the grabbing of buttocks is not OK.  Two footballers have been fined and face the threat of imprisonment and/or lashings.  Looking at the footage, it looks as if one player accidentally/on purpose appear to slid his fingers in the anal cavity of another player after a successful goal.  Check out the footage below:


In order for decision to have been made, it means that officials must have sought to interpret the chastity law - creating visions of deeply religious men watching and re-watching the above scene and debating the extent of anal probing, and the 'probity' of such a gesture.

It is tempting to re-post this video on Facebook and Google+, to regard it as nothing more than a humorous incident but it's a reminder of the fear that innocent brushing/misinterpreted gestures, and un-intentioned physical contact can result in harsh punishments within the Iranian regime.  Law remains a tool of sexual oppression in Iran, and it's important that we don't lose sight of that.

Follow Friday: Ian Rivers

My special Follow Friday mention this week goes to Professor Ian Rivers.  Ian has devoted almost two decades to studying bullying in schools.  His 2011 text on homophobic bullying instantly re-enforced Ian's position as an expert on bullying, and set against a backdrop of a series of teen suicides, established Ian as a key advisor on homophobic bullying in the United States.  Based at Brunel University, in the UK, Ian occasionally blogs here, but can be found on Twitter here.  Get following him.

Sexuality and the International Aid Agenda

One of the themes that seemed to emerge at the two coalition partner conferences was that both the Liberal Democrats and Conservatives saw an 'internationalisation' of homosexual rights to be a priority.  These essentially means that the British Government should not be neutral where governments torture, kill or criminalise their citizens because they believe them to be homosexual.   The latest idea, according to the Daily Mail, is that the British Government will withhold aid to developing countries if they persecute homosexuals - and points to the announcement that Malawi has had aid cut by £19 after two men have been sentenced to hard labour.  The Daily Mail line seems to be 'f you're going to be tough on governments that oppress gay men and women, what about regimes that do xyz'.  It's a position I have some sympathy with but aid is often used as a way of keeping regimes 'on side'.  Take Pakistan, not a gay friendly nation and one that is currently battling with corruption and terrorism.  It's an imperfect state and a good argument could be made to cut aid.  However, a Pakistan without aid is likely to become more radicalised and less supportive, presenting a danger to the region (with a nuclear conflict with India a real possibility) and a potential exporter of terrorism globally (let's not forget where Bin Laden was found).

The consequence of this real politic philosophy is that I should support regimes financially that frankly, would like to see me dead.  In truth, I don't think this in area that can be 'politically pure', and sexual rights can not be divorced from a wider international political agenda.  Yes, the British government should condemn regimes that oppress people because of their sexuality, but stop aid, I don't think so.  I suspect this fudge will actually be the end result despite the headlines but it's a position that is likely to satisfy few.

Read the full Daily Mail piece here.