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June 17, 2013

First episode of My Husband's Lover praised for 'mature, nuanced and honest' depiction of gay characters

A new TV serial about a woman who finds out her husband is having an affair with another man has garnered positive feedback from viewers and the LGBT community in the Philippines.

The first of 16 weekly episodes of My Husband's Lover was shown on Filipino TV last week (10 June) and received competitive ratings and a trending hashtag on Twitter.

June 11, 2013

Filipino gay rights activist say that a study showing the Philippines as the most gay-friendly country in Asia, and the tenth in the world, doesn't reflect the reality for LGBT people living there

Filipino gay rights activist Oscar Atadero has told Gay Star News that a study that found the Philippines is the tenth most gay-friendly country in the world, and the most gay-friendly country in Asia, is a 'dubious honor'.

'The results of the survey should be taken with a bit of caution,' said Atadero, who is a researcher for Rainbow Rights, adding that with a global survey cultural and linguistic nuances can be lost in translation.

June 10, 2013

Christopher Pearson, a gay conservative intellectual, died at home in Adelaide yesterday

Christopher Pearson, columnist for The Australian and speech writer for Australia's conservative former Prime Minister John Howard, has died aged 61.

Opposition leader Tony Abbott paid tribute to Pearson saying he was one of Australia's 'finest conservative intellects' and a 'steadfast' friend.

'I valued Christopher's counsel and his wisdom,' Abbott said, Sydney Morning Herald reports.

May 30, 2013

Websites accessed in Singapore subject to regulations that prohibit 'material [that] advocates homosexuality or lesbianism'

The Media Development Authority (MDA) of Singapore is introducing a tough new rule that will censor websites that are read from inside the country, even if they are not hosted there.

The new rule, which will come into effect on Saturday (1 June), will require local news websites and those that report regularly on Singapore and get at least 50,000 unique visitors from Singapore over two months to apply for an individual license.

May 29, 2013

Lesbian comic is to join the cast of a new UK sitcom set during the women's rights movement

Lesbian comic Sandi Toksvig will join a cast of well experienced British talent in BBC4’s new studio sitcom.

Up The Women, is set in 1910 Britain at the height of the suffragette movement and follows a group of local women starting their own women's rights branch, with hilarious outcomes.

May 29, 2013

Release of film comes as US Supreme Court is poised to announce ruling

After nearly a year on the film festival circuit, the drama I Do is being released in theaters just as the US Supreme Court is poised to announce its ruling on the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act.

'This film is relevant now but it’s been relevant to the hundreds of thousands of people that DOMA’s affecting,' the film's star and writer David W. Ross said on MSNBC's The Cycle this week.

'Hopefully, we can look back and see this film and realize why DOMA has to go - the devastating effects it has on families and human beings.’

May 19, 2013

In an interview with Gay Star News, writer Jeff Chu takes on Dan Savage and gays who hate gay Christians

Jeff Chu's Does Jesus Really Love Me?: A Gay Christian’s Pilgrimage in Search of God in America has earned the type of press writers dreams of. Positive reviews for a work that searches for grace and humility when there is usually fire and brimstone. However, liberals and conservatives have found fault with the work for that exact reason. What can be expected when tackling the third rail of US politics and culture: gay sexuality and Christianity.

May 16, 2013

Is also donating part of the proceeds from pre-sale of his new album to the Human Rights Campaign

Matthew Morrison once had to awkwardly come out as straight to a magazine writer who assumed he was gay.

But that doesn't mean the Glee star is not a fully supportive of LGBT equality. Earlier today, he  released new video for the Human Rights Campaign (HRC) in which he speaks out for gay marriage.

HRC, the largest LGBT advocacy organization in the US, got Morrison to take part in its Americans for Marriage Equality campaign which also recently featured Hillary Clinton, among others.

May 1, 2013

British comic reveals the wise words of advice she gave to a man spouting homophobic slurs on a late night train

British-Iranian comic Shappi Khorsandi has revealed the wise words of advice she gave to an anti-gay bigot on a late train this weekend.

‘On Saturday night, as I got off a train, I whispered ‘you LOVE cock’ in to the ear of a drunk twat shouting homophobic bile…’ she tweeted today (1 May).

Khorsandi admitted it was a 'stupid risk' and advised people to donate to Stonewall's Equality Walk in Brighton on 5 May.

April 22, 2013

Famed author Bret Easton Ellis goes to Twitter and charges he was banned from GLAAD ceremony

Writer Bret Easton Ellis and GLAAD are feuding.

The author of Less than Zero and American Psycho went to Twitter and claimed he was banned from the LGBT organization's weekend ceremony.

April 18, 2013

South Florida Gay News staff at odds after featuring Lambert

A public war of words has emerged among the staff at the South Florida Gay News after it featured an interview with Adam Lambert that was so popular it crashed the paper's website.

Publisher Norm Kent wrote in a column this week that the story was done while he was on leave and seeing it 'made my partner and me puke.'

April 17, 2013

Beautiful Thing writer, whose play and film defined coming out in UK under Thatcher’s anti-gay law Section 28, attacks ‘fawners’

Writer Jonathan Harvey, whose play and film Beautiful Thing defined coming out in Britain under Section 28, has Tweeted against Margaret Thatcher on the day of her funeral.

Thatcher’s Conservative government introduced Section 28 to the UK in 1988. It effectively stopped teachers from talking about being lesbian, gay or bisexual to their pupils in schools.

Writing on Twitter today (17 April) Harvey states: ‘Young gay men fawning over Thatcher clearly have no knowledge of gay history.’

April 12, 2013

ITV has released the first trailer for Vicious, a comedy from the writer and creator of Will & Grace

The trailer for the eagerly awaited Ian McKellen and Derek Jacobi comedy Vicious was revealed today (12 April).

The two knighted British actors star as ageing partners Freddie (McKellen), a retired actor, and Stuart (Jacobi), a former barman.

With a script by Will & Grace writer Gary Janetti, the show also stars Misfits actor Iwan Rheon and Frances De La Tour, who plays the couple’s best friend Violet.

April 11, 2013

Batgirl writer Gail Simone says the time is right for a transgender superhero, teasing it could happen very soon

DC Comics has revealed what they claim to be the first transgender character in mainstream comic books.

In Batgirl #19, on sale from now in both print and digital formats, Alysia Yoeh came out to her roommate main character Barbara Gordon (Batgirl) as a bisexual trans woman.

Speaking to Wired, Batgirl writer Gail Simone, said comic books fans inspired her to create the civilian character.

April 2, 2013

Chairman of the Estonian Writers’ Union, broadcaster and poet Karl Martin Sinijärv has called for the legal recognition of same-sex relationships in the former Soviet state in response to comments from a homophobic MP

A leading Estonian intellectual has called for the legal recognition of same-sex relationship and says it could even be useful to recognize non-sexual dependent relationships between heterosexual friends.

Chairman of the Estonian Writers’ Union and poet Karl Martin Sinijärv made the call in response to comments from IRL party MP Erki Nool that homosexuals should be avoided and given medical treatment.

March 22, 2013

'What do we do now?  Both our sons are gay.' 'We don’t do anything.  We let em be gay and if some kid calls em a faggot we go to their house and raise hell with the parents like normal'

While the dad who posted the letter to his gay son may be up for Parent of the Year, he might just have some competition.

Two guys, described as ‘construction worker types’, were recorded chatting about their gay sons on a New York City subway.

Posted on SoLetsTalkAboutThis.com by writer Ravi D’Angelo, he claimed he overheard the two middle-aged white men looking like ‘you’d expect to see on a building site’ starting to talk about their families.

March 19, 2013

O’Brien spent 50 years of his life suppressing transgender feelings. Now he takes the female hormone estrogen but doesn’t want sex reassignment surgery

Rocky Horror Show writer Richard O'Brien has said he is now 30% woman after taking female hormone estrogen for 10 years.

He says he has long struggled with transgender feelings but did not act on them until later in life. His brother’s reaction to hearing O’Brien, at six-and-a-half years old, wanting to be a ‘fairy princess’ caused him to shut down and ignore his feelings for 50 years.

Speaking to the BBC, O’Brien said ‘you can’t just put the lid on things and pretend they don’t exist’ and began to take estrogen a decade ago.

March 18, 2013

Republicans, the New Yorker magazine, gay marriage and some humor go a long way

The New Yorker magazine has fun with Republicans and gay marriage. Using the real story of Senator Rob Portman's announcement that he now is a supporter of gay marriage, writer Andy Borowitz creates an alternative (joke) world where Republicans have decided not to talk to their children.

March 11, 2013

Iconic actress Angela Lansbury said that many women have 'given up' on men and turn lesbians because of a lack of good men

Actress Angela Lansbury, famous for her role in the Murder She Wrote TV show, said that some women have been so frustrated with men's sex obsession that they turn to women instead and become lesbians.

The American TV show, Murder She Wrote, was a hit  from 1984 to 1996 landing Lansbury with many awards for her role, including Member of British Empire (CBE).

February 16, 2013

After DC Comics comes under fire for a writer's anti-gay comments, gay author David Gerrold volunteers to write a story for a future issue

A gay writer has petitioned to author the new Adventures of Superman.

David Gerrold, a self-confessed Superman aficianado, has volunteered on Facebook to write the Superman comic after an online petition to remove a current anti-gay writer has gone viral.

Gerrold wrote: 'I see that you have hired a writer for Superman who has written strongly of his opposition to equal rights for LGBT people. And I see that there is an online petition protesting that move.

February 12, 2013

Orson Scott Card, the writer of Ender's Game, has said marriage equality would lead to the end of civilization

Fans are protesting against DC Comics for hiring an anti-gay writer to pen Superman.

Orson Scott Card, author of the Ender’s Game sci-fi series, will write a new series of comics for DC’s Adventures of Superman to be published in April.

AllOut has now started a petition, urging DC to fire Card.

It states: ‘He’s written publicly that he believes marriage equality would lead to the end of civilization. He’s also on the board of a notorious anti-equality organization [National Organization for Marriage].

February 6, 2013

John Scalzi has raised up to $50,000 for LGBT and civil rights charities in his 'Counteract a Bigot Drive'

An American author has responded to internet trolls by pledging $5 to gay and civil rights charities every time he receives abuse.

Award-winning science fiction writer John Scalzi has raised over $50,000 (£32,000, €37,000) by today (6 February).

Trolls attacked the author for a pro-choice satirical blogpost from last year in which Scalzi adopted the persona of a rapist. One troll, which Scalzi affectionately calls 'the Racist Sexist Homophobic Dipshit', took particular issue.

February 6, 2013

Matt More, a ‘gay cure’ advocate, who blogs about how Christ saved him from the ‘sin of homosexuality’, was recently discovered on gay hookup app Grindr

Matt Moore, a blogger for the Christian Post, who writes extensively about he was ‘cured’ from ‘sinful homosexuality’ by turning to Christ, has been recently caught using gay hookup app Grindr.

January 25, 2013

The fictional lawman hero with the power to deal out instant justice is seen possibly kissing a man in a gay club in a future issue

Futuristic comic book hero and lawman Judge Dredd has got fans furious as the writers suggest he might be gay.

The latest edition of the comic 2000 AD, set in 2135, is titled Closet and deals with coming out as gay.

When the first page was released online, it showed a figure that looks like Dredd kissing a youth in a gay club.

Some fans have become so hostile to the idea they have threatened to burn the comic if the masculine hero is revealed to be homosexual.

Writer Rob Williams has continued to tease the idea of the character being gay.