Gay? Lesbian? Looking fabulous and over 50?
The Sexual Health Team at Public Health Development are currently in the process of producing a guide about relationships/sexual health and the over 50s.
The guide will contain photography of individuals and couples that will tell some story about their relationship to sensuality, sexual expression, and sexual well being.
The models will have control over the shots – they can be subtle in nature or more edgy – depending on how people want to be.
Most of the photography is taking place in people’s homes, but it could also happen outside (it’s just weather dependant). The photography is taking place at the end of June.
The Sexual Health Team are looking for gay and lesbian couples and individual lesbians and gay men, aged between 50 and 80, who are willing to volunteer to be models.
If you think that you, or you and your partner fit the bill and would like to take part in this empowering project, contact Josanne Cowell, Sexual Health Advisor at Josanne.Cowell@manchester.nhs.uk or call her on 0161 882 2309.
See Gay? Lesbian? Looking fabulous and over 50?
The Lesbian and Gay Foundation – * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Why It Matters that Adam Lambert is (Probably) Gay
It matters that Adam Lambert, the heir apparent as the next American Idol, is apparently gay — precisely because it doesn’t matter.
First, whether Lambert is homosexual or not, he definitely is “queer,” a word many GLBT (gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgendered) people have reclaimed from the dustbin of history as a proud self-identification. He gender-bends, he sings high notes, he wears makeup and jewelry. For a show about creating the next typical pop star, he is atypical. Simply being gay is, perhaps, no big deal — but Lambert flaunts his gender non-conformity. As he himself said, when photographs of Lambert kissing other men surfaced on the Internet, “I have nothing to hide. I am who I am.” Bravo!
This bravado stands in sharp contrast to previous generations of androgynous pop stars, who vociferously denied their gayness even as their obvious queerness was leveraged into worldwide pop success. Clay Aiken, George Michael, even Boy George all used to deny their sexualities — and Elton John hid behind “bisexuality” for many years as well. To most of us in the gay community, this was ludicrous; at the same instant these male stars were protesting the awful insinuations about their manhood, they flaunted their gender-bending and/or androgyny as part of their appeal. Not Lambert. He is who he is, and it’s fabulous.
See
Why It Matters that Adam Lambert is (Probably) Gay
Huffington Post * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Singapore gays in first public rally
Halfway across the world, as police moved in to break up a gay rights protest in Russia, another country known for being equally as restrictive on liberal ideals was holding its first gay rally undisturbed.
Some 2,500 pink-attired supporters of gay rights gathered in a park in Singapore on Saturday, to form a pink dot, which was photographed from a nearby building.
The organisers of the event, pinkdot.sg, say the event was held to commemorate love in all forms and between people of every orientation.
See Singapore gays in first public rally BBC News * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Katie Price and Peter Andre: ‘mystery man’ behind split is …
The ‘mystery man’ pictured with Katie Price in a nightclub and rumoured to be behind her split with Peter Andre is a homosexual dressage rider. Spencer Wilton said he was on a “fun night out” with the glamour model, also known as Jordan, after the Badminton Horse Trials.
The former national dressage champion, 35, was photographed in the Syndicate club in Bristol on Friday night with Price. It is believed the pictures were the final straw for Peter Andre, who is now filing for divorce. See Katie Price and Peter Andre: ‘mystery man’ behind split is …
Telegraph.co.uk * Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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OMG: Miss California Topless Shots Hit The Web, Could Cost Her The Crown
Miss California Carrie Prejean topless pictures are making their way to the web, and could cost her the state crown.
In a photo posted on Thedirty.com, seen in part to the left, a tan brunette in pink underwear with her arms across her chest and her back to the camera, is seen smiling over her shoulder at the camera. But with the photo, Prejean may be in violation of her contract.
According to the AP:
Pageant spokesman Roger Neal said Tuesday it appears the 21-year-old Prejean has run afoul of several sections of the 12-page contract that prospective contestants were required to sign before competing in the state contest.The contract contains a clause asking participants whether they have conducted themselves “in accordance with the highest ethical and moral standards” and if they’ve ever been photographed nude or partially nude.
Prejean has released a statement about the photo seen below, an implicit confirmation that this photo, and others reportedly being shopped around, are indeed of her. Her hair is brown and the photos are from before her pageant-funded breast implants.
See Miss California Topless Shots Hit The Web, Could Cost Her The Crown
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Hugh Jackman in Wolverine
By now you’ve heard all the hype about X-Men Origins: Wolverine and, most important, you’ve salivated over the still photographs of Hugh Jackman‘s newly jacked bod. We know …
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Annie Leibovitz and the gay tax
Poets swoon about it and singers croon about it, but LGBT people can calculate the cost of love down to the last penny. In my household it comes to around $329.25 monthly: that’s the gay tax my wife and I shell out for me to be on her health insurance plan, because her company must treat that benefit as additional taxable income. It doesn’t matter that our Massachusetts marriage is recognized in New York. Companies pay for their employees’ health insurance with pre-tax money through a federal program, and same-sex marriage isn’t federally recognized.
But that’s chump change compared to what love is currently costing celebrity photographer Annie Leibovitz. Back in late February the NYT noted that Leibovitz had borrowed a total of $15.5 million from a company called Art Capital Group using “as collateral, among other items … town houses she owns in Greenwich Village, a country house, and something else: the rights to all of her photographs.”
But what the NYT missed, along with every other straight newspaper that picked up the story, is why Leibovitz suddenly found herself in such dire financial straits. It took AfterEllen’s Julie Miranda to put two and two together and figure out that “most of Leibovitz’ financial woes stemmed from her inheritance of her longtime partner, Susan Sontag’s estate.” Writes Miranda (who, in turn, is channeling Suze Orman’s Valentine’s Wish for Gay Marriage):
“Same-sex couples do not have the same privileges as straight married couples when it comes to inheritance. If your partner passes away and leaves her estate to you, you have to pay up to 50 percent of the value of your inheritance in taxes. However, if you and your partner were recognized as a married couple, you wouldn’t have to pay a dime…When Sontag died in 2004, she bequeathed several properties to Leibovitz, who was forced to pony up half of their value to keep them.”
See Annie Leibovitz and the gay tax @ Salon.com
* Tags = gay men gay news lesbian news transgender bisexual
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Beijing’s ‘happy couples’ launch campaign for same-sex marriages
With her bouquet of roses and fluffy white dress, Han Xincheng looked the epitome of the glamorous modern Chinese bride. But, although her parents had been pressing her to marry, the photographs were not what they might have expected: she is gazing adoringly at another woman, surrounded by onlookers.
The series of “wedding pictures” staged by lesbians and gay men in the heart of Beijing might not raise eyebrows any longer in most western countries, but they are evidence that attitudes are finally changing in a country where gay sex was illegal until 1997 and homosexuality classified as a mental illness until four years later.
There is still no legal protection against discrimination in China and few role models: no mainstream figures are openly gay. Yet now parts of China’s gay population are calling for the right to wed – and meeting with some sympathy.
“Many reactions were quite positive and some people even came up to give us their blessing,” said Han, though she acknowledges that overall the public reaction was negative.
SeeBeijing’s ‘happy couples’ launch campaign for same-sex marriages
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SENEGAL: Jailing of gay activists sets back AIDS fight
The men, who were involved in providing HIV prevention, care and treatment services to Senegal’s lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) community, have been sentenced to eight years in prison.
Homosexuality is punishable by up to five years in prison, according to the Senegalese penal code. In this case, the judge added three years for criminal conspiracy.
In a statement released last week, the International AIDS Society, which promotes new HIV research and best practice and is the custodian of the International AIDS Conference, and the Society for AIDS in Africa (SAA), which works to slow the spread of HIV, said criminalising and discriminating against any group of individuals only served to fuel the HIV epidemic by denying services and relevant prevention messages.
“The arrest of these men, based purely on their sexual orientation represents a major setback for the Senegalese response to HIV, which is widely viewed as a model in Africa,” said Joanna Mangueira, President of the SAA.
Cheikh Niang, professor of anthropology at Cheikh Anta Diop University in Dakar, the Senegalese capital, and author of studies on AIDS and sexuality in the country, agreed that jailing the activists was “counterproductive”.
“The severity of the sentence has created an atmosphere of panic amongst the associations that are working on HIV prevention and treatment with men who have sex with men (MSM),” he told IRIN/PlusNews.
Michel Bourelly of AIDES, an international organisation working with men who have sex with men in Senegal, said gay activists had gone into hiding or fled the country since the judgement. “Everything has stopped. The associations that provide HIV/AIDS services for homosexuals and MSM are too scared to work.”
Contradictions
According to Bourelly, the men were arrested while attending a meeting on HIV prevention. Brochures, condoms and model penises were confiscated as pornographic material.
“The condoms that were considered pornographic material during the trial were provided by the Senegalese government,” he pointed out.
A young gay member of an HIV/AIDS organisation serving MSM in Senegal, who did not want to be named, confirmed that intolerance of homosexuality had risen.
“Physical violence is more common now. Before we had groups which helped us – they gave us the courage to meet. We would do work on prevention, but now it’s too dangerous,” he said.
The jailed men were detained just two weeks after Senegal hosted the International Conference on AIDS and STIs in Africa (ICASA), where speakers emphasised the importance of addressing the needs of sexual minorities in African AIDS programming. Over 50 gay activists attended.
In an interview with IRIN/PlusNews in November 2008, Souleymane Mboup, President of ICASA, said MSM were a reality in Africa that could not be ignored.
“This is a question that we cannot run away from if we want to advance [the fight against HIV],” he said. “Many countries, including Senegal, must open their eyes and learn. We must think about which strategies to adopt.”
In 2007 the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis and Malaria granted Senegal US$32 million to strengthen its HIV/AIDS response. Part of the grant was earmarked for targeting “vulnerable groups”, including MSM, with prevention campaigns, condoms and MSM-friendly clinics over the next five years.
“Senegal has been given considerable sums of money to address the needs of MSM in its national AIDS programme,” said Bourelly. “But now they are jailing the people they are supposed to be targeting.”
No one from the National AIDS Committee, one of the two principal recipients of the Global Fund grant, was available for comment. Abdoulaye Wade, director of the AIDS division at the Ministry of Health, told IRIN/PlusNews that the government continued to provide HIV/AIDS prevention and treatment services for MSM, but did not elaborate on what those services were.
Regressive
Joel Nana, advocacy director at the South African office of the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission (IGLHRC), said Senegal had been praised for its progressive and inclusive HIV/AIDS programmes in the past.
“Senegal was the first country in Africa to address MSM in HIV programming, so this [judgment] is really a step backwards,” he told IRIN/PlusNews.
While Senegal has maintained a low HIV prevalence of about one percent in the general population, official data and studies conducted at Cheikh Anta Diop University suggest that about 21.5 percent of MSM were HIV positive in 2005. The studies also found that over 80 percent of MSM had female as well as male partners.
“It is a considerable error to think that this is just a homosexual problem,” said Bourelly. “Most MSM have had, or continue to have, sex with women, so the impact of effectively shutting down MSM programmes will be considerable on the general population.”
Human rights groups and AIDS organisations are calling for the immediate release of the nine imprisoned men, and for a change in Senegal’s penal code. Niang agreed that it was time to debate the merits of the law.
“There is no point in saying that men who have sex with men do not exist in our societies,” he said. “It exists and it is an ancient phenomenon. By ignoring its existence we will not respond appropriately [to the HIV epidemic].”
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Official Obama portrait released
Portrait, available for download, taken by recently named White House photog Pete Souza.
