Gay News

Nearly four years after the final episode of Will & Grace, actor Sean Hayes who plays Jack in the series confirms that he is gay in an interview with The Advocate. On the verge of his Broadway debut the revival of the 1968 musical Promises, Sean chats with Ari Karpel over lunch at the Italian restaurant Marino Ristorante in Los Angeles.

Sean Hayes Interview - The Advocate

For some it’s no surprise that Sean is gay after playing over the top gay character Jack for eight years, but this is the first open interview on the subject since a brush with press over his sexuality, not wanting to jeopardize his career the standard answer was always:

“When I play a gay character I want to be as believable as possible. And when I’m playing a straight character I also want to be as believable as possible. So the less that people know about my personal life, the more believable I can be as a character.”

It was following his performance in the gay romantic comedy film Billy’s Hollywood Screen Kiss that he was spotted and asked to audition for Will & Grace.

LÁNZATE hace, en el 8 de Marzo, una llamada de atención a la exclusión de las mujeres transexuales

En el Año para TRANS-formar se pone especial énfasis en las reivindicaciones de un colectivo especialmente vulnerable según la UE

[07/03/10] Las mujeres transexuales, bisexuales y lesbianas integrantes de la FELGTB (federación a la que pertenece LÁNZATE) han elegido el Día Internacional de las Mujeres, 8 de marzo, para reivindicar sus derechos y exigir el fin de la discriminación por orientación sexual o identidad de género, que se une al machismo imperante en nuestra sociedad. Ellas exigen apoyos en visibilidad para normalizar su realidad: un instrumento clave para alcanzar la plena igualdad.

Este 2010, Año para TRANS-formar para LÁNZATE que se centra en las reivindicaciones de las personas trans, ponen el acento en las mujeres transexuales en busca de la solidaridad y el compromiso de las instituciones públicas y privadas, también de los medios de comunicación, para luchar contra la transfobia y también contra la homofobia y la bifobia.

Las mujeres transexuales representan, según la Unión Europea, uno de los colectivos con mayor riesgo de exclusión social y pobreza. La discriminación a la que se enfrentan en su día a día está multiplicada por su doble condición de mujeres y de personas trans, lo que lleva a tasas de hasta el 70% de desempleo y en el caso de estar empleadas, están condenadas al trabajo en precario.

Es por ello que desde LÁNZATE se reclama la atención a los siguientes puntos:

- La educación es una herramienta clave para luchar contra el sexismo y el machismo, fuentes de las que beben la transfobia, la homofobia y la bifobia. Por ello reclamamos el fomento de una educación libre de prejuicios y que trabaje la diversidad afectivo-sexual, lo que sirve para aumentar la comprensión y respeto, garantizando la igualdad de condiciones sin marginación, tanto del alumnado como del personal docente.

- En el ámbito laboral proponemos que se garantice el acceso al empleo de estas personas en igualdad de oportunidades y que se sensibilice a sindicatos y empresarios para evitar discriminaciones.

- Que se implementen políticas de integración social y laboral para las mujeres transexuales.

- Que las mujeres transexuales que aún no han registrado su cambio de nombre y de sexo sean tratadas como el resto de las mujeres a la hora de acceder a los recursos públicos, como pueden ser aquellos destinados a víctimas de violencia de género o a las mujeres que se encuentran en situación de privación de libertad, etc.

- Demandamos que las personas inmigrantes puedan optar a la rectificación del nombre y sexo en sus documentos provisionales de identificación en España.

- Que la discriminación por identidad de género sea agravante de delito, como lo es la que hace referencia al sexo o la orientación sexual de la víctima.

- Que desde los medios de comunicación se de un trato respetuoso y objetivo de la transexualidad sin fomentar los estereotipos que contribuyen a la estigmatización del colectivo.

- Un sistema sanitario acorde con las necesidades específicas de mujeres transexuales, lesbianas y bisexuales. Reclamamos también que todas mujeres transexuales reciban los mismos recursos ofrecidos por las distintas unidades de referencia con independencia de la comunidad autónoma en la que residan.

- Una identidad de género femenina libre de todo concepto estereotipado. Manifestamos una concepción más amplia de la transexualidad no ceñida a los criterios psiquiátricos que constriñen y etiquetan las diversas vivencias y que deciden sobre qué es ser mujer. De la misma manera instamos a no confundir los conceptos de identidad con los de orientación: una mujer transexual puede ser heterosexual, lesbiana o bisexual.

The popular TV presenter Kristian Digby was found dead at his London home on Monday 1st March 2010. Kristian who was only 32 years old was openly gay and refused to camp it up on screen, his untimely death is a terrible loss for British TV and he will be sorely missed.

Kristian was born into a family of property developers, his best known TV shows were predominantly property related with:

To Buy or Not to Buy

Open House

Buy It, Sell It, Bank It

To Build or Not to Build

Trading Up

Living in the Sun

House Swap

Further details about Kristian’s death can be found in The Daily Mail. A BBC spokesman said 'Kristian was a much-loved and talented presenter for BBC Daytime. He brought a real sense of energy and warmth to all the shows he presented for us and will be sorely missed. Our thoughts are with his family at this very difficult time.'

Australia’s annual Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras Parade is now one of the world’s largest processions with more than 9,400 participants and 135 floats at this years event which took place in Sydney at the weekend. The theme was a look at gay history entitled “History of the World”. The parade first began as a protest march in 1978 by homosexual and transsexual men and women and is now supported by hundreds of thousands cheering spectators waving rainbow banners and Aussie flags.

During the weekend event more than 5,000 volunteers headed to the Opera House to help artist Spencer Tunick with his special project “The Base”. On direction from Tunick the crowd stripped off with all shapes, sizes, ages and sexuality on display surrounding the Sydney Opera House.

Below is an extract from Charles Purcell’s account of the day at the Sydney Morning Herald:

Those blessed with magnificent pelts of chest hair - something of a rarity among the waxed and trimmed crowd - fared best in a sea of goosepimpled flesh.

The ferries appeared to slow down as they came and went at Circular Quay, passengers witnessing more bare breasts than in a Russ Meyer film, while news helicopters flew overheard. But we were not daunted. The mood was happy, strong. Young and old, straight and gay, we were united in our nudeness. We were declaring to the world: "Yes, these are our bellies, our tuckshop arms, our hairy backs. Love them as we do."

The Arrecife Carnaval Gala Drag Queen election was a sell out event on Sunday, 1,700 tickets were sold at €2 each to raise funds for Cruz Roja who are donating the €3,400 raised to Haiti. Unfortunately at least 50 people were refused entrance as the venue was deemed full although capacity had reached 2,000 for the Concurso de Murgas held on the Friday.

The Drag Queen has become an important part of the Carnaval celebrations and this was the IX edition, during the evening homage was paid to Willie Díaz who has directed these popular Lanzarote events from the start.

Drag Queen Asharik  “Bitch Spunk” beat the other nine contestants to be crowned Drag Queen 2010 with designer Rayco Santana Peña.

First Finalist: Drag Senegon “Garuda” with designer Juan Miguel Sosa Hernández

Second Finalist: Drag Agamenon "¡Entre joyas pulcras.dios qué cuadro!" with a fantastic costume designed by Oswaldo Machín y Oliver Benítez..

The drag float was spectacular as it made its way through the streets of Arrecife, with Asharik’s arse clearly on display whilst he proudly balanced on his incredible platform shoes.

The float L'Cabaret was full of men in drag wearing glittery red dresses and dancing the night away! We love the local tradition that the Spanish men and boys regardless of their sexuality embrace the chance to cross dress at these carnaval events.

Swedish MP Frederick Federley has been in the news recently for accepting an all expenses trip to the island of Gran Canaria in the Canary Islands. Frederick’s response to the allegations was that Ursula his drag queen alter ego accepted the trip and not him!

The trip was taken in January to coincide with the annual drag queen carnaval in Gran Canaria and was sponsored by a number of companies.

Federley explained that the purpose of the trip was to prepare travel tips for people intending to travel to the Spanish island's annual drag queen carnival. The invitation had come from gay community website Hanky.se where the politician maintains his blog. Reading Frederick’s blog website which translates to The Other Side of Federley he wrote "Sometimes I get asked if I want to do something extra that has nothing at all to do with my parliamentary work. If it doesn't clash with the job, I'll take on a commission. And like anybody else I'll ask to be paid for it,"

Its official, French magazine Ledorga has announced that the cheeky Fiat 500C has captured the heart of the gay community and won the title European Gay Car of the Year 2010.

The most popular votes were for the:

Aston Martin DBS Volante

Alfa Romeo 8C Spider

Fiat 500C

Toyota IQ

In the final days it looked like the winner would be either the Fiat or the Aston Martin and the chubby faced Italian revival won.

Thomson have launched their Freedom Collection on the 22nd January 2010,  bringing a new range of holidays aimed at the gay market. Designed with gay and lesbian travellers in mind, it’s the only collection of its kind to be offered by a mainstream tour operator.

All holidays featured in the e-brochure have a GayComfort seal of approval which means that the hotel staff have received training to remove any awkwardness regarding same sex couples. You won’t find that it's a problem to ask for a double bed rather than a twin and there will be a Holiday Advisor on hand to give you the inside information on the local “scene”, nightclubs and beaches.

Thomson Innovation manager, Philippa Morgan, says: “This is a hugely exciting launch for Thomson. There’s definitely an appetite in the market for gay-friendly holidays that come with the security and peace of mind that only a big tour operator can offer.”

Philippa continues: “The reason we’ve taken this approach is because research has shown that three out of four gay or lesbian holidaymakers actively search out hotels they believe are genuinely welcoming.”

The hotels which include some Gay Exclusive properties are spread across seven ‘pink’ destinations (Gran Canaria, Tenerife, Sitges, Ibiza, Majorca, Mykonos & Lesbos), all of which have either well-established or blossoming gay scenes.

Nearly a week has passed since the Haiti 7.0 earthquake on Tuesday 12th January 2010 at 04:53:09. Although aid and help are now arriving on the scene it is chaos amongst the devastation and the Haitians are desperate for food, water, medical treatment and shelter.

Local help has been sent from two different Canary Islands:

Cruz Roja España has been able to send aid from their new logistics centre in Las Palmas which was inaugurated in September 2009 and holds emergency supplies such as blankets, tents, water purification tablets. The package for Haiti which is being dispatched via airplane from the military base Aérea de Gando today also includes a water treatment plant, two all terrain vehicles and a huge base tent.

Lanzarote has a flotilla of 24 boats leaving from Playa Blanca today to sail across the Atlantic to Haiti. The island’s Rotary club together with Cámara (chamber of commerce), Marina Rubicón and local businesses / residents have donated medicine kits, light sheets or blankets, candles and lanterns, small generator sets, first-aid kits and rescue materials.

In the States the owners of the LGBT cruise ships Atlantis, Olivia and RSVP have joined forces with the gay community to raise disaster relief funds. Rich Campbell the CEO of Atlantis events explained that their cruise departed from Miami yesterday with a scheduled stop on the northern coast of Haiti he said  "our guests have been watching with horror and concern as the painful images of suffering in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince come spilling forth on our televisions."  Claire Lucas worked with the American Red Cross to set up a dedicated donation site http://american.redcross.org/LGBT-pub. American Red Cross Senior Vice President and Chief Diversity Officer Floyd W. Pitts stated "We are thrilled with this partnership with the LGBT community and we are delighted to be working with organizations which take such a strong interest in humanitarian response". Rich Cambell emphasized  that "now is the time for us to lend our gay dollars to a compelling human tragedy that knows no gender or sexual orientation,"  Atlantis & RSVP have pledged  $15,000 in matching contributions and Olivia has pledged an additional $7,500 raising a total of $22,500 towards the fund.

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