Check back regularly and read the latest offerings from our leading team of bloggers. Updated throughout the week, our bloggers give you insight and opinions on everything from popular culture to sport, books to movies, stage to spoken word and fashion to politics - both within our community and the world at large. Current bloggers include Gavin McGuren, Daniel Smith, Fiona Wong, Nigel Etherington, Danae Gibson, Ania Anderst, Damien Douglas-Meyer and Kieran Bycroft. We are always looking for new bloggers too - so if you have something to say, be it once or on a regular basis, please send us an email.
Murder most Fab: You'd Kill to be That Famous, is Julian Clary's shocking and very funny debut novel that follows the progress of a young drama student through his career as a rent-boy to his final destination as major TV Celebrity, Johnny Debonair. Lots of sex, drugs and chortles.
As
far as I can tell, Irish rock band U2 make enough money to rival the GDP of
many a small country. I’m not
entirely sure I know what they are doing with most of that money but
I’ve just seen the new film of their Vertigo world tour – U2 3D – and I’ve been
reminded why they have money than God.
They never offered mud wrestling at my school, so I never developed an early taste for it. But some of our young lezza's seem to love it, and the injuries that come with it. A medical certificate stating 'dance floor injury' is pretty funny, but one that says 'lesbian mud wrestling injury' is just well, a shame-job.
Apparently there are now “over 100 federal laws which discriminate against same-sex couples and their families.”
The Attorney-General’s office has been conducting an audit of all
legislation to see what else there was and has apparently now come up
with “over 100” laws. What the other 42 plus laws are, we still don’t
know.
Sequins, stilettos, club dance music, athletic men and women in PVC costumes and faux fur... no, it's not Mardi Gras entertainment. Get this... it's the Circus! And it ain't like it used to be!
Over the last few months, I have written a number of blogs arguing that Pride needed a large injection of cash and a way to attract the right number of appropriately skilled committee members to survive. Now that we have one, there is a real chance of getting the other.
A dear friend of mine used to end a fabulous night out with a fresh air
kiss and the familiar farewell "love your work!" followed with a quick
question: "what is it again that you do?"
Starting new events in Perth is always a risky business and the staging of the first Love All at Loton Park was no different. With the benefit of having both the event behind us and the responses of hundreds of completed surveys, we have concluded it was a risk worth taking.
The 2008 Pride Parade may have been among the smallest, and certainly
the fastest in Pride's 19 years, but it remains a relevant and
important event according to this year's convenor, Charles Denham.
Gay favourite Rachel Berger is among the headliners this year as the Wild West Comedy Fest returns
to Perth for 26 days of hilarity and hijinks. Other Australian comedy
stars on the bill include Bob Franklin, Tom Gleeson, Fiona O’Loughlin
and Scared Little Weird
Guys.
Rebuilding trust was the key to the success of this year's Pride events
according to festival convenor, Kieran Bycroft. While some events did
less well than expected, many attracted good crowds and some film and
theatre sessions were sold out.
African-American and Latino voters were a powerful force in electing Barack Obama and also in passing Proposition 8 to ban same-sex marriage. Exit polls
showed 70 percent of black voters, and a majority of Latino
voters, voted yes to the ban. More here.
Three US states ban marriage
Three US states passed amendments banning same-sex marriage in the historic vote that also saw the election of the nation's first black president. Voters in California, Arizona and Florida approved proposals to outlaw same-sex
marriage. More here (free registration retired)and here.
California's marriage war rages on
Having failed to save same-sex marriage, GLBT Californians are taking their fight to court. City attorneys from San Francisco, Los Angeles and Santa Clara will seek to invalidate Proposition 8 on the grounds that it conflicts with the equal
protection pillars of the state Constitution. More here, here, here and here.
Caught with their pants down in Malaysia
Malaysian police raided four gay "parties" on the weekend and arrested some 70 people after finding DVDs, gay magazines, lubricants and boxes of condom. A small reminder to be cautious in Malaysia and Singapore, where the aptly named Straits Times gleefully prints your photo. Details here.
Burning in hell on Earth
God Hates Fags! posters have become one of the symbols of the great divide in America. Now the son of
vile and crazy Rev Fred Phelps speaks out for the first time about the violent abuse he
suffered at the hands of his father. Read it here, along with
the response from his delightful sister, Shirley.
Circumcision HIV benefits in doubt
US analysis of data on 53,567 men who have sex with other men has
found that circumcision is ineffective in reducing HIV rates.
African trials have shown circumcision cuts the likelihood of male to female HIV transmission by up to 60 per cent. More here and here.
Only gay in the village proud but sad
Australian Olympic gold medalist, Matthew Mitcham, is proud but also sad to have been the only gay in the village at Beijing. The champion diver says his decision to come out before the games was a vital part of the gold medal performance that denied China a clean sweep. More here.
Lover cooked and served with herbs
A plague of gay cannibals threatens to overrun the planet, with the latest outbreak reported in Leeds, where a former Mr Gay UK is on trial for killing a former lover and attempting to eat part of his thigh. Anthony Morley, 36, is accused of murdering Damian Oldfield and cooking parts of his flesh. More here.
Big HIV rise among China's gay men
HIV infections have increased alarmingly among gay and bisexual men in parts of
China according to new data. There were an estimated 700,000 HIV/AIDS cases in China as of
October 2007, up 8 percent from 2006. Cases among gay and bisexual men jumped to 3.3 percent in 2007 from 0.4 percent in 2005. More here.
Dancing in a circle with your friends, it's quickly becoming the
perfect night out. However amid the fifth round of drinks and
renditions of I Kissed a Girl, you can't help but feel a rift over the
dance floor.
From the Pride theatre and film seasons through to the Great Gay &
Lesbian Debate, Parade and Party, I thoroughly enjoyed this year's
Pride Festival. View footage from the debate and Parade and read about my festival highlights and the challenges I think Pride faces next year.
In winning today’s Presidential election, Barack Obama has provided the
world with the opportunity for a new beginning and his country with the
opportunity to put the disastrous Bush years behind it.
For some time now it's been popular among members of Generation Y to
declare that something is "so gay" to indicate that it's dumb, silly,
bad, ugly, unattractive, geeky, embarrassing, gaudy or even just plain
dull. That’s so gay. That’s so gay.
That’s so gay. It's the dull that hurts the most.
While I may not be the first person to go out on a limb and declare
that Barack Obama will win this year's Presidential election, I may be
among the first to declare that Sarah Palin will win the Republican
nomination and challenge him in 2012. That is, if she hasn't
bankrupted the Republicans with her wardrobe expenses first.
The global financial meltdown and impending economic Armageddon may
have an unexpected upside. For the first time in half a generation,
there may finally be a pool of people with the time on their
hands necessary to build exciting Parade floats.