Monday 2 March 2015

GAY PRIDE Rainbow Routemaster bus roars into sponsorship row
	The rainbow liveried bus has been commissioned to mark the 10th anniversary of TfL's lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender staff network group, OUTbound, but is sponsored by anti-gay marriage Stagecoach standard.co.uk  2 Mar 15
STICKS & STONES Marks and Spencer sorry for banning words 'gay' and 'Jesus Christ' from gift messages
	The retailer had refused to approve the words when a customer would type them in for a customised message to be included with a delivery of flowers independent.co.uk  2 Mar 15

SHOW BIZ Booking opens for BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival
	Join us from 19-29 March for eleven days of films, events, club nights and more at BFI Southbank. If you haven't already decided what you want to see you can browse a digital edition of our brochure over on the BFI Flare website

---

GBA Gay Business Association member: 

7-9 February 2015

SHOW BIZ Sam Smith thanks man he fell in love with for his four Grammys
	With four wins, including 'Record of the Year', Sam Smith had a great night at the Grammys. He turned it into a touchstone for gay people everywhere vox.com 9 Feb 15
The Imitation Game came away without a single honor
	Despite all the headlines, nine nominations, the ongoing discussions regarding its subject Alan Turing and even star Benedict Cumberbatch, The Imitation Game came away from the BAFTA awards Sunday night without a single honor hollywoodreporter.com  9 Feb 15
BFI Flare opening night film announced
	I Am Michael, directed by Justin Kelly, and starring James Franco and Charlie Carver, will be the opening film at BFI Flare: London LGBT Film Festival - 19-29 Mar bfi.org.uk/flare  9 Feb 15
Gaydio plans nationwide launch
	The UK's radio station for LGBT people, is part of a bid to launch nationwide on DAB Digital Radio. Last week bids closed for a second UK-wide DAB multiplex which will carry 18 new stations gaydio.co.uk 9 Feb 15
GAY HEALTH Gay men warned of rare chlamydia outbreak in Ireland
	Notices about LGV urge those that are sexually active to go for regular STI checkups, and those living with HIV to arrange a checkup at their nearest HIV treatment clinic independent.ie  9 Feb 15

Weekend
SHOW BIZ Pride wins at BAFTAs
	Stephen Beresford (writer), and David Livingstone (producer) received the award for 'Outstanding debut by a British writer, director or producer', in their film about LGBT support for the miners theguardian.com  8 Feb 15
HIV AIDS HIV, Syphilis tests? There's an App for that
	A device invented by biomedical engineers at Columbia University turns a smartphone into a lab that can test human blood for the virus that causes AIDS or the bacteria that cause syphilis livescience.com  7 Feb 15 The HIV treatment unit of GSK has taken a step towards a blockbuster stock market listing sky.com  7 Feb 15

---

GBA Gay Business Association member: 

Wednesday 21 January 2015

TRANS 'Transgender' said for first time in State of the Union address
	"That's why we defend free speech, and advocate for political prisoners, and condemn the persecution of women, or religious minorities, or people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender," President Obama said. "We do these things not only because they're right, but because they make us safer." He went on to call gay marriage a civil right thehill.com 21 Jan 15
UK Manchester 'gay school': Petition launched against plan
	LGBT Youth North West is being asked to cancel any plans to create a LGBT specific school and focus work on equality for all within mainstream education manchestereveningnews Sign petition 21 Jan 15
Head hits back after Sunderland free school branded 'inadequate'
	Principal Chris Gray complained: "In the days after the inspection ... I heard reports of primary schoolchildren being asked if they knew of any boys or girls who thought they were in the wrong body and others if they knew what gay and lesbians did" sunderlandecho.com  21 Jan 15
NI Health Minister backs Edwin Poots' gay blood ban
	Jim Wells says he continues to support a ban on gay men donating blood here despite the prohibition being lifted elsewhere in the UK and an ongoing legal appeal that has cost his department £39,000 so far belfasttelegraph.co.uk  21 Jan 15
GAY HISTORY The first National Festival of LGBT History is just around the corner
	Trailblazing campaigners speaking at the event include Christine Burns MBE (Press For Change), Peter Tatchell (Gay Liberation Front), Mike Jackson (featured in the year's smash hit "Pride"), Stuart Milk (chair of the Harvey Milk foundation) and veteran ex-politician Linda Bellos OBE - 14-15 Feb 2015  lgbthistoryfestival.org  21 Jan 15 LGBT History Month
SNP to host LGBT History Month conference
	650 delegates from across Scotland will attend the event, which will mark LGBT History Month with a debate on how LGBT rights have improved in Scotland over the years - Sat 7 Feb facebook.com 21 Jan 15 Register free
Supreme Court faced gay rights decision in 1958 over 'obscene' magazine The road to gay rights at the U.S. Supreme Court began in a small downtown Los Angeles office, where volunteer writers and editors in 1953 launched ONE - a new "magazine for homosexuals" latimes.com  21 Jan 15 How the Germans invented gay rights - more than a century ago
	Robert Beachy's Gay Berlin: Birthplace of a Modern Identity begins with the story of Karl Heinrich Ulrichs, essentially the first gay activist, who encountered censorship and ended up going into exile, but his ideas very gradually took hold newyorker.com  21 Jan 15 Buy Book
GAY MARRIAGE Irish gay adoption law due before same-sex marriage referendum
	Irish minister for justice Frances Fitzgerald has pledged that legislation providing for adoption by gay couples will be enacted before the referendum on same-sex marriage in May irishtimes.com  21 Jan 15
Christian group's free speech denied over gay marriage conference ban, UK Government signals
	Christian Concern, which campaigned against the legalisation of same-sex marriage, has received a public apology after it was barred from staging a debate on marriage at the Queen Elizabeth II Conference Centre opposite the Houses of Parliament telegraph.co.uk  21 Jan 15
FYR Macedonia bans same-sex marriage and creates constitutional obstacle future civil unions
	"Instead of guaranteeing equal rights for all couples, Macedonia's parliament decided to create a constitutional obstacle to even create possible legislation on this issue in the future," warned the Intergroup on LGBTI Rights lgbt-ep.eu 21 Jan 15
SHOW BIZ Pride wins Unsung Film of the Year and the LGBTQ Film of the Year
	Gay and Lesbian Entertainment Critics also named Boyhood their Film of the Year, while Transparent and The Normal Heart win TV awards galeca.com  21 Jan 15
Sixteen years after Queer As Folk exploded on to the screen ...
	... award-winning writer Russell T Davies is back with Cucumber, Banana and Tofu: three new interlinked shows for Channel 4, E4 and online. Cucumber and Banana are two original drama series exploring the passions and pitfalls of 21st century gay life - C4, Thu 22 Jan 9pm channel4.com  21 Jan 15 Channel 4's diversity quotas read like a comedy script independent.co.uk  21 Jan 15

---

GBA Gay Business Association member: 

Monday 12 January 2015

UK Unionist gay rights man Jeffrey Dudgeon eyeing seat as MP
	Mr Dudgeon speaks about being questioned by the RUC in the 1970s about his sexuality and spearheading a case in the European courts to legalising homosexuality in Northern Ireland: "We were of the time and we were angry, out and proud, so we stuck together and survived" belfasttelegraph.co.uk 12 Jan 15
A serial killer could be stalking Greater Manchester's canals
	Professor Craig Jackson, head of psychology at Birmingham City University, said 61 bodies have been pulled from the region's rivers and canals in six years ... and claimed it was possible a canal killer was at large. Police insiders have dismissed claims manchestereveningnews  12 Jan 15
SHOW BIZ Golden Globes winner thanks trans people for their courage
	Transparent - Accepting the award for 'Best Actor in a Comedy', Jeffrey Tambor, who plays transgender parent Maura Pfefferman, said he was so grateful to transgender people for their inspirational bravery. The Normal Heart - The acclaimed historical HIV drama was also recognised, with out gay actor Matt Bomer announced 'Best Supporting Actor in a TV Movie or Series' samesame.com.au 12 Jan 15 The Imitation Game - Alan Turing biopic lost out at the Golden Globes manchestereveningnews  12 Jan 15
WORLD Egypt court acquits 26 men in gay trial
	The men faced various charges, including debauchery and performing indecent public acts after being arrested in a televised raid last month by police looking for gays at a Cairo public bathhouse. Rights activists say 2014 was the worst year in a decade for Egypt's gay community, with at least 150 men arrested or put on trial aljazeera.com  12 Jan 15
Goa plans to make LGBTs 'normal' with medicine and training
	Sports and Youth Affairs Minister Ramesh Tawadkar's Youth Policy lists "stigmatised" LGBT youth as one of the many "target groups" which the documents says required "focused attention" indiatoday.intoday.in  12 Jan 15
GAY BUSINESS Tiffany & Co. jewelry ad campaign features its first gay couple
	The two men depicted in the "Will You?" campaign are a real-life couple. The campaign was shot by fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh time.com  12 Jan 15

---

GBA Gay Business Association member: