Changes in the Gay World

[Chris James]

For years some of us have ridden the news wave on the internet looking for gay subjects. I have shared many of them here with you. But although I have a long list of sites I visit weekly there will now be one less.

http://www.bilerico.com/2015/06/turning_the_page_bilerico_project_is_ending.php?utm_source=front_page&utm_medium=top_story&utm_campaign=Top_Story

Bil has been a consistent and dedicated researcher on LGBT subjects, passing along what he discovers in his blog. It has been his service that kept us informed in the past decade about the important issues affecting the gay community. The marriage issue is still on the table no matter what SCOTUS has decided, there is still opposition which will take time to resolve.

Perhaps now the community will move on to other issues that need solutions among gay youth: the homeless situation, bullying at school and workplace discrimination.

Bilerico will be missed.

[Resurgam]

Definitely not US politics but very on topic in wider meaning of Chris' title "Changes in the Gay World" is BBC Radio 4 documentary which was transmitted last week entitled "How Gay Became OK" - here's the programme précis:

"Why have British attitudes towards homosexuality changed so far and so fast? Less than 50 years ago, sex between men was a criminal act. Now they can marry. It's not just the law that has changed: we have. Surveys suggest that public opinion about homosexuality has undergone a dramatic shift over the same period. Jo Fidgen asks what drives this kind of change in collective attitudes."

IMO it's another great listen from R4's Analysis team and is available both as an MP3 Podcast (26MB) from the link above and the usual time limited (30 days I think) "Listen Again" audio-player feature common across most BBC Radio output nowadays.

More of a shock to me (naive, old fashioned, just old, more moralistic than hedonistic, plain scared?) was the trailer which ran immediately after the programme for an upcoming edition of BBC R4's Report programme "Chemsex" be broadcast tomorrow - a small part of the promo reads:

"Crystal Meth, GHB/GBL and Mephedrone form what some health workers call an 'un-holy trinity' of drugs that together can heighten arousal and strip away inhibitions. They've become increasingly popular on London's gay scene, and the effects can see some users taking part in weekend-long sex parties, involving multiple partners..."

So sad, sounds just awful - the worst excesses of bathhouse culture reinvented for the smartphone age?

[JamesSavik]

I really think it's far too early to declare victory and go home.

[Resurgam]

I really think it's far too early to declare victory and go home.

Good point... and if you listen to the final few minutes of that BBC doc "How Gay Became OK" you will hear well known UK radical LGBT campaigner Peter Tatchell expressing his concerns along exactly those lines - what happens when social attitudes plateau? Job done?

"Danger with equality agenda is that once you win it the movement collapses e.g. Black Civil Rights, Woman's Movement..."

[Nigel Gordon]

I really think it's far too early to declare victory and go home.

I agree, to quote from my old politics lecturer "Any freedom not continually fought for will be lost."