France convicts homophobic tweeters
Three French Twitter users have been convicted of hate speech for using the hashtag #brûlonslesgayssurdu, or “let’s burn the gays on . . .” French LGBT groups see the convictions as a groundbreaking victory but were disappointed with the relatively light fines of 300 to 500 euros.
Chinese gay people use dating app to find beards
Under constant pressure from their families to find marriage partners, Chinese gay people turn to the app Queers to find gay members of the opposite sex for fake marriages. Homosexuality is legal in China, but marriage is not, and many gay people choose to conceal their identities their whole lives.
Read more at the South China Morning Post.
Historic Fire Island club goes up for auction
A strip of waterfront property in Fire Island Pines, New York, that has attracted gay men since the 1950s has gone up for auction. Home to the Pavilion nightclub, the strip was bought by developers in 2010 but then gutted by a fire. While the new owners rebuilt, gay crowds went elsewhere, and the property is now again for sale at a starting bid of $8.5 million.
Read more at The New York Times.
Billy Crystal and the sexless veneer of gay rights
Actor Billy Crystal raised eyebrows last weekend when he (sort of) complained about explicit gay sex on television. Steve Friess at Time, however, says reactions like Crystal’s are more the fault of gay-rights activists who have tried for years to desexualize gayness only to have the straight world react in shock when the gay sex comes out. Spencer Kornhaber at The Atlantic says that Crystal’s remarks show how far we have come on gay rights and how far we still have to go to make gay sex seem normal.
Richard Dawkins reads homophobic fan mail
Want to experience the darkest, most repressed and homophobic underbelly of humanity? Listen to Richard Dawkins read his fan mail. Even though Dawkins is heterosexual, his haters seem to return obsessively to the topic of homosexuality, no matter how non sequitur. For example: “You accept every single fact of science without ever questioning it. Because you’re gay.”
Guardian: Russell T Davies series is “very funny”
Guardian reviewer Sam Wollaston says the new series by Russell T Davies, director of the British Queer As Folk, is “dead funny and — most of all — very, very human.” Davies’s three new parallel dramas on BBC Channel 4 are called Cucumber, Tofu and Banana and follow the lives of gay people in Manchester, England.
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