"Gay gangs" harass Birmingham councillor

17/4/07

Councillor Michael Mullaney is at the centre of a hate debate after he complained about gay cruising on YouTube

Michael Mullaney, a Lib Dem candidate for Birmingham city council, has found himself at the centre of a hate debate after he publicly complained about gay cruising in the local park.

Using YouTube to articulate his stance, Mullaney highlighted ‘anti-social behaviour’ by gay men who cruise in public view.

As a result, bushes will be cut in Highbury Park, and officers patrolling the area have been equipped with radio communications.

Apparently cruisers were not amused by the councillor’s efforts as placards have appeared near his home, pointing onlookers in the direction of "Mullaney's Paedophile Palace."

Fellow councillor Emily Cox who also appeared in the Youtube clip has also received threats from a man advising her to drop the cruising issue.

"I suspect this latest attack is the work of one of the gangs of men who use Highbury Park to have sex underneath the laurel bushes during daylight hours," Mr Mullaney told the Birmingham Evening Mail.

"Since that video went out I have received a threatening letter from one of these men and council colleagues have been shouted at in Mayfield Road, north Moseley."

A large group of residents apparently complained of rampant gay sex in the park, and dozens of used condoms were found in the bushes. In response to suggestions that his move is anti-gay, Mullaney said he would be opposed to anyone, gay or straight, having sex in the park.

"With regards to homophobic - well I'm a weird homophobe since I support gay marriage and gay couples adopting children. So how do you square that?”

"I just don't want anyone, whatever their sexual orientation, having sex in a public park in broad daylight."

Would you like a peek at the Mullaney’s Youtube video? Of course you do. Click here.

Soho nail bomber gets 50 years

7/3/07

David Copeland, responsible for the 1999 bombing of London gay bar, gets extended stay in prison

Nail bomber David Copeland, responsible for the 1999 bombing of London gay bar Admiral Duncan, has been sentenced to prison for a minimum of 50 years.

High court judge Justice Burton extended the original sentence of 30 years to 50, citing the "exceptional gravity" of the case under new legislation.

Copeland, was originally sentenced in June 2002 for three counts of murder and three for causing explosions in order to endanger lives.

Copeland, a neo-Nazi, had planted a series of bombs throughout London – in Brixton, Brick Lane and Soho – in a space of 13 days which resulted in 139 injuries.

Fatalities of the 1999 Admiral Duncan blast included a pregnant Andrea Dykes, 27, John Light, 32, and Nik Moore, 31.

Judge Burton said the attack was a a "really exceptional case of deliberate, multiple murder".
Burton said Copeland serve longer than his extended sentence if it was "necessary for the protection of the public".

"When the defendant has served the minimum term, and if the parole board decides to direct his release, he will remain on licence for the rest of his life and may be recalled to prison at any time."

At the time of the bombings, Copeland was 22. His plea of manslaughter on the grounds that he was a paranoid schizophrenic was dismissed.

A former British National Party member, Copeland allegedly quit because the right wing group was not militant enough.

Senior Scotland councillor : “I’m gay”

13/12/06

Scotland’s most senior councillor has come out amid escalating media scrutiny of his private life.

Steven Purcell, 34, the youngest-ever leader of the Glasgow City Council, confirmed on Saturday that he had split from his wife of five years after coming to terms with his sexuality.

"Over the past couple of weeks the rumours surrounding my marriage have increasingly become a distraction to me. I wish to set out in public the facts surrounding the issue,” he told The Herald.

"For the last year my marriage has been in trouble and some months ago my wife and I separated. One of the issues we have been facing up to is the fact that I have realised I'm gay.”

"Now that they are aware of the situation, and that Katrina and I are clear that they understand the issues, I want to dispel the rumours and get on with the important job I am privileged to do as leader of the city council."

Purcell’s wife Katrina did not find the news of Purcell’s homosexuality particularly surprising and said that she will continue to support him. The couple do not have children. "It did not come as a shock to me to find out Steven was gay and I now intend to offer him continued friendship and support and otherwise to get on with my own very busy life."

"This has been a difficult time both for me and Steven," she continued. "And I'm naturally very sad that we have had to announce our separation.

Purcell, who has been a councillor for only a year, has been praised by Tony Blair for his efforts to focus on social projects in Glasgow.

Wife’s web cam fury at gay husband

24/10/06

A Manchester woman allegedly went on a drunken rampage upon discovering that her husband was gay, according to the Manchester Evening News.

A Manchester city court heard that social worker Fiona Marsden, 45, had returned unexpectedly at the couple’s home in Northendon to discover her husband performing a lewd act in front of a web cam.

Marsden then drank multiple double-vodkas at the local pub and then drove her car into two parked cars on her way home. Local residents tried to stop Marsden from fleeing the scene.

Marsden then viciously attacked one of the residents, former deputy district judge Tony Broadley.

She apparently kicked Broadley in the groin and punched him in the face before being restrained by emergency services.

In court, Marsden admitted to assault, using threatening language and behaviour and careless driving.

Her defending barrister Jenny Callis said that Marsden, who was also taking prescription painkillers for nerve damage, could not remember anything after leaving the pub.

"The humiliation and shock of finding out her husband was gay in the manner in which she did was enormous," she said.

Callis also went on to say that Marsen was suffering from severe emotional distress, and that now she is in danger of losing her job as a social worker.

The Magistrate conditionally discharged Marsden, due to "exceptional mitigating circumstances". She was banned from driving for 18 months and had to pay £100 compensation fee to Mr Broadly.

Her husband is now living with his web cam lover.

The Eden Sessions

Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright, and the Pet Shop Boys will grace the stage at Cornwall's spectacular Eden Project

Attention music fans!

Lily Allen, Rufus Wainwright, and the Pet Shop Boys are only a few of many fabulous acts that are coming up a as part of Eden Sessions at Cornwall’s Eden Project this summer.

Voted as the UK’s best rock music venue, with the stage set up against the spectacular Biomes, The Eden Sessions have attracted the very best of the music scene and have already sold out their July show for the amazing Amy Winehouse.

The outdoor concerts are being sponsored by The Eden Project, a giant environmental complex in Cornwall. And for the price of the concert ticket (for all shows), you’ll also get free admission to the Eden Project which has quickly become one of the most popular and fantastically futuristic attractions in the UK.

The complex includes two sets of massive, interconnected transparent domes made of ETFE cushions, each emulating a natural biome, that house plant species from around the world. The first emulates a tropical environment, the other a warm temperate, mediterranean environment.


Inside the Eden Project

Gay.com recently interviewed the enormously talented Rufus - to celebrate the release of his new album Release the Stars. His much anticipated show at the Eden Sessions promises to be nothing short of fantastic. It would be a mistake to miss.

And special guest for Rufus Wainwright on July 10 will be electro-pop act Hot Chip who won NME Track of 2006 for Over and Over.

Following her sell-out US tour, the adorable Lily Allen will be joined on stage by the sexy Mark Ronson, one of the world’s hottest DJs and producers, responsible for much production on Alright Still. Mark has also recently released Version, a record featuring his unique interpretation of songs taken from a wide variety of genres, including Radiohead’s Just.

To check out an animated Lily in latest video for single Oh My God, featuring Ronson himself, click here.

Don’t miss the Eden Sessions at the Eden Project for this one-of-a-kind music experience!

For more details and/or to buy tickets online, click here

Pictured: Mark Ronson

Any dream will do?

Lee Mead has been cast as Lloyd Webber’s Joseph. Is he up to par? Check out his official video

And then there was one.

One the heels of winning the coveted role in Andrew Lloyd Webber’s new production of Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat, Lee Mead has released the official Children in Need single, the aggressively gay title song Any Dream will Do.

Featuring dew-eyed Lee Mead sighing and frolicking on a sparkling digital rainbow, it’s questionably joyful and charmingly low budget (and seethingly irritating and maniacal to some). I imagine it would be a decent theme song for a child pride festival, if there was such a thing. Nonetheless, this video will find an audience with gay six-year-olds and show queens - with little to no taste -everywhere. Unicorns should have been included.

Although beating out the vocally superior and more charming Keith, Lee does pull it off – adding just the right amount of zest. Despite the campness of it all, he seems oddly heterosexual. Wrong.

Click here to take a look.

A Drowsy Hit!

Joyfully camp and subtly sweet, The Drowsy Chaperone has the recipe for the West End's best musical comedy

Having successfully transferred to the West End, sparkling Broadway import The Drowsy Chaperone should be at the top of your hit list. Despite the bewildering title, this satirical, yet inspired look at the early musicals of the 1930s results in a joyfully kitsch and subtly sweet mix. High camp and sentiment don’t often belong in the same sentence, let alone the same stage – but the Drowsy Chaperone cleverly demonstrates how the two can marvellously co-exist.

A play within a play, The Drowsy Chaperone is narrated by a self-deprecating, yet charmingly enthusiastic show queen, only referred to as ‘Man in Chair’ played with much heart by the play’s co-writer Man in Chair Bob Martin. The lonely Martin chats to the audience from his dismal New York flat about his love of escapist musical comedies with such giddy enthusiasm that he’s hard to resist.


Bob Martin as Man in Chair

As he plays his original cast album on his rickety record player, the musical comes to life, bursting through his windows and doors in cartoonish glee. As much as he loves the musicals themselves, he’s equally obsessed with the musical theatre stars, the closeted leading men, their backstage antics and egos, their tawdry life stories - details of which he pops in throughout the show.

Although the musical itself is satirical pastiche, it intelligently covers all ground with slapstick humour and a formulaic, yet nonsensical plot, complete with solid roles of the loud brassy diva, the dim chorus girl, the toothy leading man, and dancing gangsters, reminiscent of the popular musicals of the 1930’s (Cole Porter’s Anything Goes most readily comes to mind). As with many musicals of this era, there happens to be a happy ending – featuring a big, ridiculous group wedding. Pure joy.

West End veteran Elaine Paige is a delight in her role as a drunkenly and disorderly ‘chaperone’ of a glamorous chorus girl. She’s entertainingly two dimensional as she dismisses her responsibilities to chase the affections of a wily Italian Adolfo. Martin is quick to point out that the chaperone’s penchant for booz wasn’t too far from reality as the actress was ‘notoriously difficult’ – an observation with becomes apparent when the chaperone hysterically upstages the other leading actress in showstopper As We Stumble Along.

The stunning Summer Strallen, playing haughty chorus girl Janet van de Graaff, sadly lacks the pizzazz of Broadway powerhouse Sutton Foster who originated the role. She does shine however in the memorable and witty I Don’t wanna show off, as she knowingly contradicts herself through song, dance, magic tricks, and acrobatics.

And where so many musicals have underperformed, Drowsy gloriously succeeds musically as Lisa Lambert and Greg Morrison's songs craftily parody popular standards of the 30s, never comprising the original integrity. Director and choreographer Casey Nicholaw adds just the right amount of slapstick and heart in a piece that, with any more effort, could have been a huge mess. The Drowsy Chaperone is, without a doubt, the best musical comedy in town.

The Drowsy Chaperone
Novello Theatre