Pink Sauce

After the adventure that was the organising of my first protest, and thinking back on poorly attended protests I have been to in the past, it occured to me that the LGBT community can be fairly disorganised when it comes to coordinating protests. In an attempt to partially remedy this, and in view of the importance that the site has had in the success of "my" protest, I have created a Facebook group that people (that includes straight people) who want to want to hear about opportunities to get involved in a protest in support of LGBT issues can join. The group is called Lesbian Gay Bi Trans Queer (LGBTQQI) activism in the UK and can be found here . I am also mindful of the fact that not everybody is or wants to be on Facebook. They can therefore join our Yahoo! Group here . Feel free to join either or both and invite your friends. Thank you.

Here is what we have so far (I will be added as and when I get more): - Over 100 Protest Outside ‘Cure Gays’ London Conference , UK Gay News - 100 protest outside London "gay cure" conference , PinkNews - Christians protest at Sex and the City , ekklesia - 100 protest ‘gay cure’ conference , lesbilicious.co.uk - Londoners protest at 'gay cure' conference , gaynz.com - 100 Protestors at "Gay Cure" Conference , QX Magazine , view it here (1.5MB jpg). - Two pictures and a few lines, PinkPaper, issue 977 (pdf file) - see picture above. - Protesters picket conference on gay ‘cures’ , Church of England News (not available online - positive report of the protest) - Pro-gays hold protests outside London gay cure conference , Uganda People News - Protest at 'Gay Cure' Conference in London LGBT History Month - Anglican Mainstream "Sex & the City" Conference , discussion thread on the Queer Youth Network boards (more here ) - Protest at the ex...

A celebrity, three drag queens and about 100 people of mixed background, ages, race, gender, beliefs, ability and sexual orientation. This could sound like the ideal premise for a glamourous party. Why Jimmy Somerville and the Sisters of the Perpetual Indulgence found themselves gathered together on a sunny London pavement on Saturday was however for altogether more serious reasons. Two religious groups (Anglican Mainstream and CARE) had come together to organise a two-day conference entitled Sex and the City, Redeeming Sex Today. The key contributors to the event were controversial American 'psychiatrists' Joseph Nicolosi and Jeffrey Satinover, and Doctor (of law) Arthur Goldberg, co-director of JONAH and president of PATH. All three have built a career on the premise that gay people can be turned straight if they want it hard enough. Talks at the conference included 'Myths we live by: The gay gene, once-gay-always-gay, gay sex is just like straight sex' by Jeffrey Sat...

The pictures of the protest can be viewed on the dedicated flickr photo pool here . Please feel free to add your own if you have any. Thanks. Below is a selection of some of mine.

Thanks to an ingenious young lady, I have managed to get my hands on a copy of the the programme for the Sex and the City, Redeeming Sex Today conference, organised by Anglican Mainstream, and with American 'psychiatrists' Joseph Nicolosi and Jeffrey Satinover. I have also got a copy of the letter sent to the delegates confirming details of the event (see below) and thanks to another source, a copy of the promotional material for the conference (click on the image on the top right corner for a better view). The programme is a delightful little piece which informs us, had we bothered to pay our £50, that would could have been treated to such pieces of anthology as: - The Sexualisation of Culture by Lisa Nolland - Myths we live by: The gay gene, once-gay-always-gay, gay sex is just like straight sex by Jeffrey Satinover - Sexuality, marriage and the family by Arthur Goldberg - The psychological, cultural & political agenda of LGBT activism: Past, present & future by...

RELEASE: IMMEDIATE A coalition of protesters in support of the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Trans (LGBT) community will gather tomorrow afternoon outside a conference promoting so-called "aversion therapy" for gay people. The conference, which is taking place over two days in central London has been organised by a religious group called Anglican Mainstream (AM) and will play host to the controversial American psychiatrist Joseph Nicolosi who claims to offer a ‘cure’ for homosexuality.  The conference will also feature talks by another American psychiatrist, Jeffrey Satinover, on topics including "Myths we Live by: The Gay Gene, Once-Gay-Always-Gay, Gay Sex is just like Straight Sex" and "The Psychological, Cultural & Political Agenda of LGBT Activism: Past, Present & Future". The protest movement, mostly driven by young activists (gay and straight) through the social networking site Facebook, aims to peacefully challenge the views expressed at the ...

The following links were send to me by someone who had heard about the protest. David believes that they thoroughly debunk Joseph Nicolosi 's theories on "aversion therapy": Nicolosi gets challenged and leaves in a huff: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=4DOCeenjAio ( or click here) Young gay man tells of his experience of Joseph Nicolosi's "Reparative Therapy": http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=PDn7cEgxvtg&feature=related ( or click here) Young gay man tells of being sent for "Reparative Therapy": http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=5kPo7KGj1OE&feature=related ( or click here) Nicolosi sitting in his office, explains the aims of his business: http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=3SE6asGS5nI ( or click here) Protest against Nicolosi in Dallas (with some good protest chants!): http://www.youtube.com/watch? v=Z3lxGujynl0&NR=1 ( or click here) Nicolosi's famous "repaired" patient caught picking- up in a gay bar: http://www.youtube.com/wat...

PinkNews are covering the protest here : Around 150 demonstrators are expected to protest at a 'gay cure' conference in London tomorrow. The conference, which has been denounced by gay groups, will feature Joseph Nicolosi, who claims reparative therapy can 'cure' homosexuality. See also: - Protest against the 'gay cure' conference to be held in London (25 April) . - 'Gay cure' Protest - Update No 1 - 'Gay cure' Protest - Update No 2 - 'Gay cure' Protest - Update No 3

The numbers are still going up. As I write we are about to reach 150 "confirmed guests" on Facebook with another 1600 waiting to confirm what they are going to do. Against this does not take into account what is going on off Facebook. As mentioned in my previous update, the LGBTQQI section of the Green Party, the Gay and Lesbian Humanist Association are on the case. The Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is also now involved as well as the Queer Youth Network and the Gay Activists Alliance. Something should also have been posted on the UK Youth Parliament's forum by now. Talk about a rainbow coalition! My rough estimate is that we have probably reach about 6000 people, probably more. Well done to all. I heard from Stonewall's information officer last night. Here is what she said: "We are very aware that this conference is taking place, and our stance on supposed gay-cure therapies is that they are wholly discredited. Lesbian, gay and bisexual people need equal tr...

Well, part of me is, anyway. Intrigued? You should be. Various Voices: sing, if you’re glad to be gay As 60 gay choirs from around the world arrive in the UK for a special festival, our correspondent discovers what changed their tune from political anger and mourning to celebration and joy For those who are wondering, there is a hint in the lovely picture of the Tenor 1 Section of the London Gay Men's Chorus (appart from a stray Bass) reproduced below. Fame will have to wait a little longer, it seems... Seriously though, if you are in London on the first week-end of May, give Various Voices a go.

Please, have a look at " Protest against the 'gay cure' conference to be held in London (25 April) " for some background on what we are doing. You can also look at 'Gay cure' Protest - Update No 1 This is now getting slightly scary but also terribly exciting. As I write, we have 90 people on the facebook group who have confirmed they would be coming. 147 say they may be attending and another 1,415 people have yet to learn about the event! This is not taking into account the people who are not on Facebook but will have heard of the protest anyway. I know that the Gay and Lesbien Humanist Association are publicising the event and so is the Green Party. Messages have been sent to: - LGBTcampaigns (60 members) - LGBTHealthUK (324 members) - the Roman Catholic Caucus of LGCM and also the Soho Masses Community - LGBT network at Oracle - the Shell Centre LGTB Network - the TGWU LGTB association I have emailed: - the Association for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transge...

As I write the numbers on the Facebook group are already looking quite impressive. 35 people have agreed to attend while anoter 47 are "maybe attending". Most amazingly, there are another 810 people who have been invited but haven't replied yet. This is truly great! We are still trying to confirm that the venue is the one we think it is (the Emmanuel Centre). IF anyone can think of a way to acertain this, then please do so and let me know. The protest is scheduled for Saturday 25 April between 1 and 3pm. The Police has been made aware of this and of the Facebook group. I haven't heard back from them yet. I would like the protest to peaceful (certainly) and possibly also silent. I welcome people's views on this. In any case, we need to be as visibly LGBT as possible. Please bring your rainbow flags along. I would also encourage people to create placards (the only slogan I could think of so far is "Gay don't need a cure".). Appart from the Facebook gro...

Well, I guess it was bound to happen sooner or later. After several of indulging my political fibres in various ways, they have finally taken over and I suddenly, somwhow, find myself the organiser of a protest. A couple of weeks ago, the Welcome Trust published the results of some research showing that a significant minority of psychiatrists and therapists are still attempting to help LGB clients become heterosexual despite a lack of evidence that such treatment is beneficial or even safe. While the ex-gay movement is quite visible in US, it came a bit as a shock to see that this is happening in the UK (see press release for more info). Yesterday, I read in PinkNews that a conference organised by the so-called Anglican Mainstream Organsation (AMO) would be taking place this week-end in London having for guests some American supporters of aversion therapy. Now all major medical associations in the US and the UK, have been clearly stating for at least two decades that homosexuality is...

A heartening Op Ed in the New York about the "gathering Storm" video, which explains how same-sex marriage is not really an issue any more in the US and how, in the word of Jon Huntsman Jr., the governor of Utah and a Mormon, who in February endorsed civil unions for gay couples, opinion has “shifted quite substantially”. On the right, the restrained response was striking. Fox barely mentioned the subject; its rising-star demagogue, Glenn Beck, while still dismissing same-sex marriage, went so far as to “celebrate what happened in Vermont” because “instead of the courts making a decision, the people did.” Dr. Laura Schlessinger, the self-help media star once notorious for portraying homosexuality as “a biological error” and a gateway to pedophilia, told CNN’s Larry King that she now views committed gay relationships as “a beautiful thing and a healthy thing.” In The New York Post, the invariably witty and invariably conservative writer Kyle Smith demolished a Maggie Gallagher...

After the disappointment that was the voting of Proposition 8 last November in California, gay marriage has made important progress in the last week. Vermont and Iowa now both allow gay marriage despite legal opposition from religious haters. And Washington DC will recognise the marriages that have taken place in other states. People who claim to be opposed to gay marriage for religious reasons are getting fearful that they are loosing battle after battle and are more and more looking like they are going to lose the war. On 9 April, the "National Organization for Marriage" (NOM; NOM!?) launched a $1.5m (yes, $1.5m!) campaign with a 60 sec video featuring actors (the audition rushes were shortly made available on Youtube but have now been deleted) making unsubstantiated and irrelevant assertions about what gay people want to do to their lives and liberty by fighting for their own (the clip can be viewed on Youtube here ). Two interesting point about the rhetoric they use in th...

"standing absolutely motionless at a slight angle to the universe" E M Forster (describing C P Cavafy). "The poetry of C P Cavafy". Pharos and Pharillion . Hogarth Press. 1923

I am having a bit of a vacuous evening looking at images of pretty rugby players. Addidas, with its latest viral campaign, Jersey Swap , seems to be squarely aiming at the gay market with a selection of five antipodean rugby players, visitor to the website can select and see take their tops off and... well... swap jersey (those interested can create posters too). My favorites of the bunch are Liam Messam and Tamati Ellison . The pictures of their pretty faces and bulging naked torsos (excuse me while I sit down for a second!) included to this post should tell you why. A job well done for Addidas. This will go round the Internet for a while, I think.

For those who haven't noticed yet, zefrog is not only rambling (hence my use of the dreaded fail whale to illustrate this), he is now also twittering (odd for a frog, I know). After blogging, we have come to the age of micro-blogging... I joined Twitter a few days ago and my profile gets updated reasonably regularly. For those interested (and let's face it, I doubt anybody really is), you can view my tweets on the side menu of the blog or, even better, you can follow me at twitter.com/zefrog .