Pink Sauce

No, this is not a post about the gay metatext in the Harry Potter books. A friend of mine (my scottish ex ) wants us to meet from time to time to go the theatre basically because his current partner is not that fussed about the idea. With this in mind, he repeatedly mentioned his desire to go and see a new play at the Guilgud Theatre called Equus which is opening on February the 27th . I have just discovered why he is so keen... I saw this pic on the front page of the Daily Mail this morning while shopping at Tesco and so I had to investigate. I have just found out what is going on: Harry Potter star Daniel Radcliffe, now 17, appears bare-chested with a white stallion and with co-star Joanna Christie in photos promoting Equus. He was 11 when he made his first Harry Potter movie, appears completely naked in the play, written by Anthony Shaffer. Radcliffe plays a stable boy in the care of a psychiatrist for his obsession with harming horses. Producer David Pugh told the British press ...

Yesterday the Prime Minister announced that faith based adoption agencies would not be given any exemption under the forthcoming Sexual Orientation Regulations. They would however be given 21 months to adapt to the new situation. The decision has to be welcomed as a victory for fairness. The Regulations are about giving LGB people the same rights as any other citizen, including religious ones. Something which, the Catholic Church should remember, did not happen such a long time ago for its own people. I am however not sure I understand the need for an adjustment period. It seems to be nothing else but a way to appease the Catholic Church. If, as they claim, they can really not change their minds on the subject of adoption by gay couple what difference are those 21 months going to make? They either go along with the regulations or they don't. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor's reaction to the news were most interesting and I thing clearly prove what I was hinting at in my previou...

It looks like Scotland will feature quite highly in the news for me this year; and I am not talking about the elections in May , which may or may not take place but rather of my ( and the Chorus' ) first visit to Scotland at the end of May, as it happens. Scotland already featured fairly prominently once in my life some 5 years ago. My first boyfriend in this country and the record holder for the longest of what I am reluctant to call my "relationships" (only three months) was (and still is) Scottish. He unfortunately did not impart much of his cultural heritage to me, so last night I was quite excited and intrigued to have been invited by czechOUT (please mind where you put the capitals!) to a Burns’ Night (normally celebrated on 25 January) with the promise that I would also eventually get my first taste of that infamous indigenous delicacy: Haggis . Read about the preparations here and here . It seems that another theme for the year, after my visit to the pie and m...

This is a revised and extended version of my two previous post on the subject After the recent demonstrations outside Parliament, the first salvo of the predictable attack on the forthcoming Sexual Orientation Regulations in the delivery of goods, access and services for the rest of the UK, was shot on Monday, quite unsurprisingly, by the Catholic Church. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, sent a letter to every Cabinet member with apparent intent of blackmailing the government into giving the Church further exemptions in the regulations to those they already have. Something he has since then denied . Ruth Kelly, the Communities Secretary, herself a staunch Catholic, had been reported over the week-end to be considering granting the Church an opt-out clause with the apparent support of the Prime Minister. However, several members of the Cabinet have already come out against the move, prompting rumours ...

The Church of England had always seemed to me to be quite tolerant. I even know of churches in its fold who actively welcome LGBT people. It seems I have been mistaken. At the very time when Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor is defending himself against accusations of blackmailing the government, the C. of E. in the persons of its two highest ranking prelates (Rowan Williams, Archbishop of Canterbury and John Sentamu, Archbishop of York) have just come out in an open letter to the Prime Minister in support of Murphy-O'Connor's threat that some adoption agencies may have to close because of the forthcoming Sexual Orientation Regulations. This argument is actually relatively new in the debate. When the law was changed to allow gay couples to adopt last year, nothing (strangely) was heard from religious people. And when some of them decided they did not like the new regulations, they focused their energy of the rediculous fallacy that Christian B&B owners would be in tr...

The first salvo of the predicted attack on the forthcoming Sexual Orientation Regulations in the delivery of goods, access and services, was shot today quite unsurprisingly by the Catholic Church. Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor, the Archbishop of Westminster and head of the Roman Catholic Church in England and Wales, sent a letter to every Cabinet member basically trying to bully or blackmail the government into giving the Church further exemptions in the regulations to what they already have. Very fine tactics to use, if you ask me, as a responsible institution perporting to give vulnerable youths a positive moral example. In his letter, Cardinal Murphy-O'Connor said: "We believe it would be unreasonable, unnecessary and unjust discrimination against Catholics for the government to insist that if they wish to continue to work with local authorities, Catholic adoption agencies must act against the teaching of the Church and their own consciences by being obliged in law to provi...

Maxxi Jazz , the black rapper from Faithless . I was on my way back from rehearsal with the Chorus, like any Monday evening. We had had our own little brush with fame. A small team from Big Brother's Big Mouth (a new programme around the show, I am guessing, not having a TV) joined us at our usual rehearsal venue to film a few shots of us singing and interviews of some members. This will apparently be braodcast tomorrow at 10... Maxxi Jazz was outside the Jazz Cafe in Camden Town. He probably couldn't get no sleep (ha!). There was a woman with him possibly Sister Bliss or Rollo's sister Dido... I don't know... I don't look at girls... Tags: London , Maxxi Jazz , Faithless , c'lebs , celebrity .

Just when I was thinking that my life couldn't get more atrophied, my internet access died on me. I am doomed! That was on Monday morning. I am currently using pay-as-you-go dial-up as emergency life support; logging in twice a day to check for possible important emails. Salvation may not take place until Monday or even Tuesday. Or perhaps even later if the techies f*ck up more. All this because Orange, my ISP since August last year , have suddenly "realised" that I do not have a broadband account with them and turned off the flow... That doesn't stop them from sending me emails and bills... Tags: Orange , broadband , internet , doom .

Now with added picture as per request in comments. Don't say, I don't spoil you! In the past week or so, I have been lazy with my shaving. As a result I am now sporting a beard. This is not the first time that I experiment with facial hair. When a was at university, I had a goatee for about 7 years. And up to last week I had a little wisp of hair under my lip complemented by sideburns. I also had to grow a beard for my appearance as an Orthodox Jew in Nine Dead Gay Guys . In any case, "hirsuteness" seems to be quite en vogue at the moment, at least on the gay scene. This interesting thing about this is the people have been rather complimentary about my new look. First they tend to ask if it is new and when I (so far) cautiously reply that I am being lazy and will probably get rid of it soon; they say that it looks good or they like it. The fact most of the people who said that were members of the Chorus which is itself a notorious bear heaven, might give a hint as to...

I have just been asked to join a team effort in the writing of an unofficial blog around the next venture by the London Gay Men's Chorus (of which I am, of course, a member). Last year, we (I too, for that matter) went to Wales for the first time. This year it is Scotland's turn with a concert in Edinburgh and one in Glasgow later in May this year. The provisional title for the show is Bad Boys . Here is a link to my first offering on the new blog. http://badboyz2007.blogspot.com/2007/01/youtube-fame-welcome.html Tags: London Gay Men's Chorus , Scotland , gay , LGBT , GLBT , blog , Edinburgh , Glasgow , Bad Boys , singing .

With Thanks to Craig Nelson for the quote (interesting links to comments in the Guardian from his post too): Here is a link to the breakdown of the voting in the House of Lords as well as a link to the Hansard report of speakers [transcript of Parliament debates] . Of particular note are speeches by Lord Smith, Lord Alli and Lord Lester. Interesting that the majority of the votes against are from Conservative peers and that a large majority of Conservative voting Lords were against. Clear and uncontrovertible evidence, if any were needed, of the probability of any Tory Government (even with Cameron at the helm) enacting any socially progressive legislation at all. All of the Labour and Lib Dem peers who voted were in favour. Previous Posts: * No Comment Needed * Christians: "Get Over It and Get On With It" * Further "Christian" Attacks * Sexual Orientation Regulations - The Demo * Anti-Freedom Demo Today Outside Parliament * Sexual Orientation Regulations, Lett...

Thought for the Day , 12 January 2007 The Rev. Dr Giles Fraser The Rev Dr Giles Fraser is the vicar of Putney and lecturer in philosophy at Wadham College, Oxford. giles.fraser@parishofputney.co.uk As a Christian I'm protected by the law against discrimination - and I'm grateful for it. No one can legally deny me access to goods and services because of my faith. No one is allowed to put a sign up in their hotel window that reads 'No Christians' - or 'No Muslims' for that matter. Discrimination on the grounds of race and gender is equally outlawed. All of which is an unambiguously good thing. As indeed, I believe, is the extension of these provisions to include sexual orientation. For no one should be allowed to display a sign that reads 'no gays' either. Some Christians, however, are strongly resisting this legislation. They argue that being obliged to provide goods and services to gay couples makes them complicit in what they regard as sin, and that thi...

It is not very often that I find myself agreeing with religous people. I was all the more surprised this morning while listening to Thought for the Day on Radio4 to find myself not only nodding but even quietly clapping at what the Rev. Joel Edwards, the general director of the Evangelical Alliance, was saying. On their website, the Evangelical Alliance is calling the Regulations a " threat " but while "strongly support[ing] the right of concerned Christians to protest outside Parliament, the Alliance is not convinced that in the present case this type of response is necessarily the best way to express their understandable and real concerns about the threat posed by the regulations." On the whole the Alliance seems quite happy with the regulations and only expresses concern that the wording of the regulations is too open too interpretation and might make the doctrinal exemption unworkable. They are not asking for further exemptions or a repeal of the regulations. T...

The fundamentalist Christians (despite the claim that this is a multifaith movement, it is clearly overwhelmingly led by marginal Christian groups) have lost the vote last night for the annulment of the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 , but one can certainly expect a repeat of the farce in the coming months as the regulations are extended to the rest of the country. Already, a Judicial Review has been launched into the way the regulations were brought to Northern Ireland. On Monday 18 December the High Court in Belfast granted leave for a judicial review of the Sexual Orientation Regulations (Northern Ireland) and set a hearing date for March. The legal action was taken by The Christian Institute and five Christian denominations from Northern Ireland representing 15,000 Christians in the Province. It argues that the Sexual Orientation Regulations interfere with the rights of religious groups to act according to their religious beliefs under the Hu...

Yesterday was a busy day indeed. Before going to the demonstration , I spent some time in deepest Deptford with Slightly . We had a bit of work to do on our new project LIVE.PLAY.RIDE. (more about that soon, I expect). We met at the Witcomb Cycles shop and then he took me to Manze's an "authentic" pie and mash shop he has been harping on for ages. His ( "famous" ) gran used to work there and they apparently do the best pies in the whole world. Slightly had tried to convert me to pies and mash some time ago by taking me to a now defunct shop in Greenwich. I can't say I had been impressed as the was rather tasteless (note to the Brits: you don't necessarily need to boil something to make it edible). So we walked up the colourful and rather exotic Deptford High Street almost all the way Evelyn Street. The shop itself, appart for a soft drinks chill cabinet, seems in the time wrap since the beginning of the last century: narrow wooden benched, marbletop ta...

I am still a little cold almost an hour after I got home. But looking back and having listen to the news, it was all worth it. The World Tonight on Radio4 have just reported that after 3 hours of debate which were unusually well attended, the challenge to the new regulation lost the day by a majority of 131. 68 Lords supporting Lord Morrow's motion to annul the regulations. Outside of the House of Lords where I found myself tonight, there were "hundreds of people" (again according to the BBC but I would say about 2000) demonstrating in support of the motion. Of those, there were about 100 gay and lesbian people in total who had come spontaneously to show their disagreement. Linda Bellos , Ben Summerskill and other Stonewall people, someone from Outrage! and gay Christians were in attendance too. Considering the amount of free publicity achieved by the event in the media today (and that included the unusual inclusion by BBC News of all the details of location and times on...

Tonight, in the House of Lords, there will be a debate on whether a Humble Address should be presented to Her Majesty praying "that the regulations laid before the House be annulled". The regulations in question are the Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2006 which were introduced on 01 January. The purpose of Regulations is to make discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation unlawful in the provision of goods, facilities and services, education and public functions in relation to Northern Ireland. Similar regulations are under consideration for England, Wales and Scotland, but these have not yet been finalised. They are due for April this year. Christians, Muslims and Jews will demonstrate outside Parliament today against new regulations whicht they claim will force them to "actively condone and promote" gay sex. A petition signed by 10,000 Christians will also be handed to the Queen asking her to use her "position and pow...

While the Brits are clearly obsessed with sending cards. Christmas and its orgiastic card sending, the fact that Royal Mail can barely cope and have deadlines for the sending of post around that time of the year are only the tip of the iceberg for the Brits have cards for almost all possible occasions. The French are much more restrained in that department, however. The sending of cards is generally limited to Name Days , Birthdays and wishes for the New Year (you have the whole January to send your cards). NO, my dear British readers, nothing at Christmas! That's my excuse for not sending any cards at Christmas anyway... The above picture (and yes, it is the same I used here ) is the visible result of having at hand a picture of an empty Trafalgar Square very early on Boxing Day, Photoshop, bad typographic skills (that is what Slightly says anyway and you have to give him that: he has a few good reasons to say it), and obviously too much time on ones hands. For the record, a tree...

I am currently designing a website for an illustrator friend to show off his work and hopefully get more. Yesterday, I was scanning picture from a children's book he illustrated a few years ago. I will use them for the portfolio section of the site but also to illustrate the site itself and make more lively. As I was doing this, I was reminded that I used to draw too when I was in my teens. I even considered making it a career at some point. I have no idea what could have made me think I could have done that! I haven't touched a pen for several years now, I am sure and looking for examples of what I did at the time, I could only find the following yellowing photocopy of a pen drawing (from a black and white picture, so that was quite easy) I did around 1990, I think. All the rest (and there isn't much anyway) is at my parents' house. The picture represents the Peute Bête. A fantastic creature whose legend escapes me, which was immortalised in stone as the central founta...

As I mentioned recently , the Polish government, led by the Kaczynski brothers, has gone all out against communists and homosexuals. It seemed that because of the facts that 95% of Polish are Catholic and that Law and Justice, the Kaczynskis' party, is very conservative and based its electoral success on Catholic values that members of the Church would not be worried by the government's attempts to "cleanse" the country. When you open Pandorra's box, however, things have a tendancy to go pear shaped and out of your control. This is how , about a month ago, Gazeta Polska, published allegations that the upcoming Archbishop of Warsaw, Stanislaw Wielgus, had been an informer for SB, the security services, for 22 years during the communist era. Rzeczpospolita (a very prominent paper in Poland) and other publications claim to have found Mr Wielgus's file in the archives of the communist secret police, which have yielded evidence exposing several prominent priests as...