Pink Sauce

...the second edition of LGBT History Month UK. To know what events are being organised in your area (if you live in the UK of course), click on the picture and follow the links to the calendar of events. Tags: LGBT , history , GLBT , gay , local history , Southwark , lesbian , bisexual , trans .

I recently blogged on how Christian Voice was trying to distance itself from the BNP who were apparently supporting their planned demonstration of rightuousness against Jerry Springer, the Opera. in that post, I drew a parallele between this and some Texan religious group fighting back the advances of the Klu Klux Klan on the subject of gay marriage. It seems that the parallele with the United States is becoming increasingly relevant where racism is not a valid political standpoint while the religious right is seemingly ever more powerful and vocal. The BNP is now calling for its adherents to show their opposition to LGBT History Month (due to take place in throughout February) Which they call an “indoctrination of our children” and an "unwholesome 'alternative life-style' propaganda”. At the same time, they advocate a "return to the teaching of traditional and time proven Christian standards of morality in our schools”. Although they did already attack the Month l...

Those of you, temerous enough, who wenture on the Other Side will know that Slightly was introduced to one of his readers from the Chorus during the award ceremony referred to below. He and AD (A Name check in two exceptional blogs in as many days, this is fame at last for you! just remember where it all started dear Ad!) seemed to get on well. After those auspicous beginnings, I arrange for an MSN threesome on Sunday morning and we quickly arranged to meet up in the after. AD and myself would go and see Where the Truth Lies and Slightly would pick us up at the end of the film. The film was quite good. A sort of who-done-it with a twist set in 1970's LA. I particularly enjoyed the look of the film and how it was directed. Strangely enough, although the characters in the film are fairly despicable, the viewer doesn't really manage to dislike them. I am not sure if this had to do with the fact that Kevin Bacon and Colin Firth, the two leads, are usually perceived positively. I ...

Each year, for I think the past 9 years, the London Gay Men's Chorus hosts a party for its members, usually around Christmas time. Because we had been rather busy for Christmas, this year's party on took place last night at the Black Cap in Camden Town. The evening, which finished with the doors being to the general public at 10, usually consists of a cabaret/entertainment part followed by the now infamous award ceremony. There are a few serious awards but mostly this is an occasion for fun, sillyness and a healthy dose of back-stabbing. In addition to the list of official awards (Performer of the Year, Slapper of the year (aka choir slut), best web presence (read Gaydar profile) and so on), people can make up there own. Nominations are anonymous to ensure maximum bitchiness. Gone are the heady days of my first ceremonies (a few years ago now) when I won the "Rear of the Year" and the "Most Fanciable Member" awards; things have started to sag (so to spea...

Background to this post: Big Brother, Rula Lenska and Me Big Brother, Rula Lenska and Me - Update 1 Big Brother and Other Madness I promised this post earlier this week but I have had so much to blog about in the past few days that I thought I would save it for a quiter time. I was expected to be lynched at Monday's rehearsal after the week-end's events (see links above). As usual with the Chorus, the tempest had retreated as quickly as it had come and hit. I even had the guy who sent the first salvo come and basically apologise for being so irate about it all. After almost a year as an elected officer of the Chorus, I am started to get used to being critised more or less out of the blue and mostly by people who are not otherwise involved and giving of their time and energies. My skin has thickened and bit and I am learning not to take things too personally. I have to say, however, that I was rather surprised by the reactions in the particulare case, which seemed surprisingly i...

It looks like I have started a debate of some sort with my previous post on the difference in paying for sex between straight and gay people. Two people left comments on that posts which I invite you to check out. Thanks to both of them for commenting. I have left a short comment myself on MrHâf's post on the subject. Before I answer to her comment, here is the Guardian article Marie is referring to: Secrets and lies (incidentally, I agree with what Max says in the article about the Oaten couple (and all other couple in a similar situation) being the victim of social pressures). Marie, I am not sure if it is less problematic, or what you mean by problematic. Is it the fact that gay men pay for sex in general or is it the idea of paying for sex for gay men that should thus labelled or not? I think again this all comes down to the different attitude towards sex between men and women. Most women can not dissociate sex from feelings of some sort for their partner (you illustrate tha...

Two posts below, I mentioned that 27 January is Holocaust Memorial Day. In the same post, I highlighted the fact that for many years, the sheer number of Jewish victims of the Holocaust, probably combined with a good dose of prejudice, prevented other minorities to be recognised as having been victims of the Nazis. I also mentioned the death in November last year of Pierre Seel, the only French person to actually come out and tell their story as a homosexual victim of the camps. He then went on to fight for the official recognition by the French state of homosexual victims. As one can expect, there is not much available on the net to celebrate and publicise this man's ordeals and struggles. As of tonight, there is a little more however. I have spent my evening compiling and publishing a page dedicated to Pierre Seel on the excellent Wikipedia. You can read it by clicking on the pictures. I hope you find this of interest. Tags: Holocaust Memorial Day , history , genocides , intoler...

There has been much comment on the blogosphere on the recent revelations of gay sex within the Lib Dems party. I have, of course, commented myself . Among others, I came across this post , expanding the debate slightly, and I left the following comment: I hate to start my commenting on this blog with a negative note but it seems to me that you are making an erronous amalgam in this post. While Oaten probably did pay for sex (although I am not sure how one can have a "relationship", as the business has been described, with someone one pays), Hughes does not seem to have paid for sex and as far as we know the sex he got was conscensual. As for using chat lines, that is what they are: phone lines allowing men to hook up for sex: the forebears of Gaydar if you like. Again no money has changed hands between the parties involved (although the operators of the lines do get some money). I think their is a big difference in this between the straight and gay world. Straight men, to fi...

... the anniversary of Mozart's birth. I am sure everybody who isn't living under a rock will have heard of that; even Google are celebrating this in their logo. More importantly, however, today is Holocaust Memorial Day . Nothing as interesting as moving and powerful as last year for me today, unfortunately. Spare a thought for ALL the victims of the Nazis but also of the other genocides which have taken place since then and are still taking place now. People tend to tag these "events" as inhuman. I contend that they are indeed all too human. Xenophobia and intolerance are at their root and both spring, I think, mostly from ignorance and religous sytems taken to extremes. --------------------------------------------------- For many years, the plight of homosexuals (and of other minorities; one thinks of the Roma people) in the camp have been eclipsed by the huge amount of Jewish victims, when not simply negated . Sometimes it still is. Lest we forget; lest it happen...

My blogchild is launching a new blog, appealing to two of the higher instincts of mankind in general and gay men in particular: their stomach and their libido. The blog, the concept of which I claim full responsibility for, will be dedicated to recipes and pictures of hunky men. I figured out from various observations that this would probably be the surest way to gain high traffic very quickly. Consider this blog an experiment. Tags: blog , cooking , men , nude pics , nude pictures , gay , LGBT , GLBT , food , hunks , naked men , eye candy , traffic , soft porn .

An interview with James Schamus, producer of Brokeback Mountain . Tags: Brokeback Mountain , film , movies , Heath Ledger , Jake Gyllenhaal , Ang Lee , gay , LGBT , GLTB , romance , James Schamus , Annie Proulx .

Of course for those in the know (and there were probably quite a few of us), this is hardly news but after denying twice in the past few days that he was gay, Simon Hughes , president of the Liberal Democrat party and contender for leadership of his party finally came out today in the Sun. I suppose technically, and if he really had both heterosexual and homosexual relationships, that indeed doesn't make him gay but rather bisexual. He could probably also argue that, even if he is attracted by men, he does not identify as gay (which can be seen as refering to a very specific lifestyle). In any case, this business is quite different to what recently emerged about another contender for the leadership of the Lib Dem party. While he indeed kept his private life a secret and some can argue lied about it by denying it or some of it, Hughes is not married and doesn't have children; he did not try either to pass himself as a family man. I think these stories, take us back to some of...

The tour of Jerry Springer, the Opera is about to open and Christian Voice and their local friends (Action Group Springer) are about to start demonstrating against the show in Plymouth. It seems however that there is an unexpected and unwanted guest to the party: the BNP . Stephen Green (director of Christian Voice) and his friends are not happy that Graham Green (local BNP man) and his friends should want to join in the fun and help handing out leaflets: Action Group Springer's leader, the Reverend John Hollins, said he was "horrified" by the BNP's claims. "I would be appalled to think any of our leaflet distributors were members of the BNP," he said. " They are purveyors of hate and we are purveyors of love. We're Christians . "I don't go around asking our leaflet people what their political persuasion is. "They claim they've been supporting us and maybe they hold the same view on this issue but we would repudiate their invol...

A (not always in good taste) spoof of the BBC News webpage. In the latest twist to what was already a fairly ridiculous situation, the results of the post-mortem carried out on the whale spotted in the Thames last firday, tell us that the animal died of...erm... dehydration! For some reason I can not begin to fathom, the tidbit of worthless news took the imaginations to the extent that hundreds of people gathered to watch the animal being dragged back to the sea. Bloggers, some of them, usually dealing with specific (and totally unrelated) themes blogged about it and I watched, amased as the whale story cropped up in the most unlikely locations of me feed gatherer. The Evening Standard (not exactly renowned for the high standard of its journalism, I have to admit) even published "picture souvenirs" of the event. I, myself find myself blogging about it now. Call my cynical and cold-hearted (which Slightly would probably (rightly) say I am) but as I said, I don't get w...

On Sunday evening, as ever in the company of Slightly , I was shamelessly patronising that evil posh cafe on Charing Cross Road that replaced a bookshop about a year ago. Our eyes and minds were slowly glazing over with Sunday evening boredom when suddenly my companion nudged me and pointed at the street just outside the window: "Flashing Helmet," he said excitedly. In front of us, a man on his (I think white) bicycle, wearing a white helmet and a crown of red flashing lights rushed past. At the back of the bike was some sort of blue plastic crate full of what looked like small, similar looking, plastic bags stanging upright. We watched in awe. Was it really one of the Prophets ? More on him: here , here and here . Tags: London .

I have said it before : "If I mention to someone that I live near Elephant and Castle , they usually wrinkle their nose and mumble something about a pink shopping centre. The area, after being the victim of the Blitz, had to suffer under the assaults of the developers and still hasn't recovered." Well, they are at it again. Apart from its depressing visual qualities, the area owes its bad reputation to apparent high levels of crime. I must say that in the three odd years I have lived there, I have never been witness to any crime (touch wood) although I have indeed seen police signs appealing for witnesses after shoot outs and such things. One of the main features of the Elephant is its subway system which allows people to go from one side of this constent flow of traffic to another. I gather that this is where most of the crimes take place. I have a firm believe that as long as one remains away from those subway passages (especially at night), there is little risks involv...

The Master by Colm Tóibín A fictionalised biography of Henry James, shortlisted for the 2004 Man Booker Prize. Tags: book , books , reading .

Background to this post: Big Brother, Rula Lenska and Me Big Brother, Rula Lenska and Me - Update 1 I was feeling a bit (and quite stupidly) smug on Friday evening riding the 171 bus on my way home when I got another call from a forth BBLB researcher, surrounded by those people who were probably fans of the show. This call however mark the start of a rather stressful twenty-four hours. It was to confirm that they wanted us on Sunday to sing six or seven ten second segments during Rula's interview. From there I had to liase with the musical director to sort out the details, including repertoire. There was also an issue with who would take part in the gig. Because BBLB is shot in a small studio, they could not accomodate more than ten people. For quality reason, Charlie (our Musical Director) had said that he wanted to have eight singers (that's two per voice part or section). When we asked for volunteers during the week, we got about ten people responded to the call. Unfortunate...

Talk to the Hand, The Utter Bloody Rudeness of Everyday Life (or Six Good Reasons to Stay Home and Bolt the Door) by Lynne Truss This book was Slightly 's present for Christmas... Errr thanks! At least I gave something he wanted! Is he trying to tell me something there? I wonder. Tags: book , books , reading .

Those of you who read yesterday's post and watched BBLB this morning already know that I had a full night sleep instead of being whisked across London in the wee hours. The researcher from the show rang me again yesterday and explained that because they had to invite an egal number of supporters for each potential evictee, we could not come and plea for Rula to stay in as was originally planned. However, we are still on for an appearance either on the Sunday edition of the show if she gets evicted tonight or later next week, again for the interview with Dermot O after her eviction. I was told a little secret about Rula in the House last night by someone who has remained in touch with her after the show. I can't say anything though (not until she is out of the House anyway). Sorry. Watch this space... Tags: London Gay Men's Chorus , Big Brother , Rula Lenska , Dermot O'Leary , TV , Gay , LGBT , GLBT .

I usually keep my mobile switched off during weekdays; only switching it on after work and at week-ends. Last night when I turned the think on, I had a voice mail from Big Brother . Well from one of the researchers on Celebrity Big Brother's Little Brother (BBLB) anyway. As some of my readers will be aware, Rula Lenska was hosting the Christmas show of the London Gay Men's Chorus in December. This apparently is the reason why she then got invited to enter the Big Brother House. She was very enthusiastic about our show (she was taking pictures of us backstage with her disposable camera) and she actually joined in the fun; singing and dancing with us. This very much engraciated her with the boys and when she got in the House, there were calls in the Chorus to get out there when she is evicted to support her. As the person in charge of marketing for the Chorus, I contacted the producers of the show to offer the Chorus. Someone from the Chorus managed to find contacts. They passe...

California Screaming by Doug Guinan Tags: book , books , reading .

Don't worry I can't pronounce that word either. It is the technical term to designate the fear of Friday 13th . No doubt, the witch on the other side would have plenty of interesting things to tell us about this. As it happens, today is Friday 13th; hence this post. I do not suffer myself of thingummyphobia. I am not generally superstitious. Being superstitious brings bad luck anyway! If I must choose, I prefer to the other superstition (which they have in France alongside that one) that Friday 13th is actually a lucky day. Don't anyone I know come to me and tell me I am a pessimist after that. I therefore started the day with no particular preconception or expectation. It was just going to be another boring day at the mill. Had I read the first page of this article however, I would have known better! As I was about halfway to work, my bus suddenly made a left instead of going straight on as it should and took us on a scenic and busy route in the general direction of wher...

Slightly on the other side has been posting in the last few days on a road accident in Wales where four cyclist got killed by a car. The circumstances of the event are not terribly clear but it seems from what I have read on Slightly's blog entries on the subject that no one is truely responsible except perhaps the bad weather. The posts have however apparently started a discussion on blame and responsibility in the comments. I just joined the fray and since my comment was so long that it had turned into a post in itself, I have decided to post it here (I have made a few changes from what I originally posted in Slightly's comments): I know that you are a keen cyclist and that you have had problems with inconsiderate drivers in the past, however, I do not think you are being very fair here. Your post (and your point of view in general) is, I think, clearly biased towards cyclists and against drivers. You assume that the driver involved in what happened had no truely justifiab...

The latest edition of Celebrity Big Brother started last night. I have for sometime now forsaken the dubuous joys of the small screen, so I did not get to see it but it is, as always, difficult to escape the buzz. When I first arrived in the country, five and a half years ago, I watched the first edition of Big Brother. I did not understand much as my understanding was still limited (I had to watch Eastenders with subtitles) but I rather enjoyed the experience. My feeling is that it has been a long slide downhill since then for the show, as Channel 4 selected more and more brainless people to try and attract the masses. In its six editions, the show has been quite consistantly gay friendly. The runner up to winning the first was a lesbian, the winner of the second edition was gay and last year's show (I think) saw a transexual entering the house. This year, there were, I think, at least two gay guys in there. The edition taking place this month, however is quite possibly, the mos...

Official website . Read the short story online . This is the story as originally published in the New Yorker. It was reworked slighlty by the author for book publication. Annie Proulx discusses the origins of 'Brokeback Mountain' “I got juice from the gay love” - Ang Lee on the film. Three very interesting articles from the Guardian: Out takes In this deeply personal essay, gay novelist Adam Mars-Jones asks, has Hollywood finally made a grown-up movie about homosexuality? Way out west What's all the outrage about a new gay cowboy movie? The American western has always throbbed with latent homoeroticism, says John Patterson . Across the great divide Brokeback Mountain is far more than a gay western. It's a great American love story, writes Rick Moody . You can read my two review posts here and here . Tags: Brokeback Mountain , film , movies , Heath Ledger , Jake Gyllenhaal , Ang Lee , gay , LGBT , GLTB , romance , Annie Proulx .

I know I have already blogged about the film but today, I received an email from the friend who went to see Brokeback Mountain on Friday like me, telling me that he "can't get the romanticism of b/back mountain out of [his] head!". I have to say that I don't really feel the same. While I still think it is a good film and I find it intellectually very satisfying, perhaps because of its very perfection and utter slickness, I don't seem to be able to actually relate to it emotionally. The two main characters are two rough ranch hands brought up in 1950's middle America and are not expected (neither probably have they been taught) to show their feelings. Indeed the whole film is about how they try to cope with this enormous unexpected thing which has befallen them. Their love for another man. It is therefore quite right for the story to be told from a detached perspective. This however doesn't really allow for identification with the characters' plight, c...

Les Amitiés Particulières by Roger Peyrefitte Tags: book , books , reading .