You Don't Look Gay

y o u’’ ’ d o n‘’t look g ay

Perception affects the way we navigate life and the way that we see and treat others. this book is about the perception of homosexuality and the way people perceive and act towards homosexuals. this book explores sterotypes, assumptions, prejudice and the struggles that homosexuals face around the world

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The perception of sexuality is different for each individual.

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The main factors affecting the individual is how we spend our adolescence and form our relationships with the opposite sex.

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elton john Sir Elton John didn't officially "come out" as a gay man until 1988 because he felt sure news of his homosexuality was "common knowledge".

The Rocket Man hitmaker initially announced he was attracted to both men and women during an interview with Rolling Stone in 1976 but it wasn't until the legend hit his 40s that he told the publication he was gay.

The long road to the truth prompted many to speculate why the music icon did not come clean about his sexual orientation sooner, and now the 65 year old reveals he never tried to keep it a secret he just thought everyone already knew.

During an interview with U.S. Today show host Matt Lauer, he says, "Nobody asked me. When (journalist) Cliff Jahr asked me in Rolling Stone, 'I'm gonna ask you a question, but if you don't want to answer it, I'm gonna turn the tape recorder off ' And I said, 'You're gonna ask me if I'm gay or not.' And he said, 'How did you know that?'. I said, 'I've been waiting for people to ask me this. It's not exactly a secret. I live with my manager.

I'm openly gay outside. I don't have a girlfriend... I just thought it was common knowledge.'"

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Dozens of gay celebrities have admitted to hiding their true sexuality so as not to alienate fans or put their career at risk, but Sir Elton insists that was not the case for him.

He adds, "I honestly didn't (think it would hurt my career). And, to be honest with you, it did a little bit. In America, people burned my records for a second and radio stations didn't play me."

Sir Elton also confused fans about his sexuality when he married Renate Blauel in 1984. The union lasted four years and the couple was divorced in 1988.

The rocker is now married to longtime partner David Furnish.

“there is still so much 'shame' and stigma around being gay and people need to be embraced and not just tolerated.�

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we wouldn’’’t have to ‘come out if it wasn’t assumed we’re all straight to begin with 07

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IF YOU’’RE GAY

YOU’’’RE GOING TO

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RELIGIOUS ATTITUDES TOWARDS SEXUALITY

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The relationship between the LGBT community and the religious community can be a very complicated one; however it is important to understand the interaction. It is also important to realise that within any community there are voices which may be more progressive or more conservative.

People within each religious community can hold independent view points, so community members may not all hold exactly the same opinion.

Overall, religious communities strive to promote love, compassion, tolerance and community spirit. This means that people may still be loving, welcoming and friendly towards LGBT individuals, even if they consider that being LGBT is wrong.

Muslims in the United Kingdom generally have a more progressive view about LGBT than those who live in Islamic countries. However, the Quran does declare that certain homosexual acts are forbidden under Islam.

Some sections of the catholic doctrine in the United Kingdom still consider homosexuality and transgender identity to be a sin. This is in part because of the belief that sexual relationships are intended as a way to procreate.

Whilst the Muslim Council of Britain continues to believe that homosexuality is forbidden according to the teachings of Islam, the council advises that discrimination on the grounds of sexual orientation is not appropriate. Although there are very few openly gay Muslims in the United Kingdom, there have been a few same-sex ceremonies performed where at least one of the parties has been a practicing Muslim.

The central church teachings suggest that people can be homosexual as long as they do not act upon their orientation. Leading figures in the Catholic Church have actively opposed the introduction of same-sex marriages, as the Catholic Church teaches that marriage can only be between a woman and a man. On the other hand, an increasingly large group of Catholics in the UK are beginning to reject the idea that homosexuality is sinful. The Catholic Church will allow closeted gay men to be priests, as long as they have lived as chaste lifestyle for at least three years. All priests must take a vow of chastity, regardless of their sexuality.

The Church of England has a more mixed position on LGBT rights. The Church currently allows gay men and women, and trans men and women to serve in the clergy. Gay priests are allowed to enter into civil partnerships, but they are not allowed to have religious marriage ceremonies.

The Church of England will allow blessings and prayers after same-sex marriage ceremonies, but they will not perform full religious marriage ceremonies for same-sex couples. The Church of Wales and the Church of Scotland have similar stances.

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Freddie mercury Queen's Freddie Mercury never wanted to have an in-depth discussion about his sexuality with the public. However, it was well known that this icon of rock had had relationships with both men and women.

At one point he claimed to be bisexual, but he may have been a gay man who got involved with members of the opposite sex because he was trying to survive — and build a career — in a very homophobic world. Mercury died of an AIDS-related illness at the age of 45, taking his personal insights into his sexuality to the grave. Yet a look at the circumstances of his life, loves and career can still offer insight into who he truly was.

For most of Mercury's life, the wider world didn't accept gays and bisexuals.

Born in 1946, he grew up at a time when same-sex attraction was considered a mental illness, a tragedy, a joke, or some combination of the three. LGBT people were barely represented in the media, and the message society had to offer was that not being heterosexual was unacceptable.

With homophobia rampant, many gay men felt pressured to hide their sexuality, including from their families. Mercury's Parsee parents practiced Zoroastrianism, a religion that saw being gay as a type of demon worship. While Mercury remained close to his family throughout his life, he never discussed his sexuality with them. In fact, his parents were apparently told that a male lover living at Mercury's home in London was the gardener.

With homophobia rampant, many gay men felt pressured to hide their sexuality, including from their families. Mercury's Parsee parents practiced Zoroastrianism, a religion that saw being gay as a type of demon worship. While Mercury remained close to his family throughout his life, he never discussed his sexuality with them. In fact, his parents were apparently told that a male lover living at Mercury’s home in London was the gardener.

The exact circumstances of how Mercury was infected with HIV are unknown, but the virus was spreading through New York City's gay community in the late 1970s and early '80s. This lines up with when Mercury was often visiting nightclubs and bars, and having onenight stands. (At the time, people weren't aware of how the virus was transmitted.)

As the 1980s progressed, it was obvious many gay men were getting sick and there was talk about a "gay cancer"; Mercury himself knew people with the disease. After displaying some signs of illness, his own HIV infection was confirmed by the late '80s. Even after developing AIDS, he denied reports about his illness and being gay. He was more upfront with his bandmates, but never told his family why he was ill.

One reason for Mercury’s silence was worry about how his public image and legacy would change with this revelation, which at the time would have been enough to confirm him as gay. It

wasn’t until November 23, 1991, that he issued a statement that said in part: “Following enormous conjecture in the press, I wish to confirm that I have been tested HIV-positive and have AIDS. I felt it correct to keep this information private in order to protect the privacy of those around me.” He died the next day.

Mercury’s statement didn’t mention his sexuality—meaning he maintained his policy of not commenting on the matter to the very end.

“‘“the message society had to offer was that not being heterosexualwas unacceptable”””

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whitney houston For years, no one was closer to Whitney Houston than her best friend and confidante Robyn Crawford.

Robyn, who Whitney connected with as a teen, became a fixture in her life from nearly the moment they met.

For years leading up to her tragic death, Houston denied persistent gossip-rag reports that she was not only gay, but involved romantically with Crawford, who she’d met as a teenager in East Orange, New Jersey, before her immense talents skyrocketed her to global fame.

Houston was 16 and Crawford was 19 when the two women first became friends and then quickly became inseparable. They lived together as roommates in a New Jersey apartment, raising eyebrows and spurring speculation that they were more than just best friends. Crawford later became the pop diva’s assistant and creative director, often appearing by her side in public—and the media took notice, hounding Houston time and again to set the record straight.

“I tell my family, ‘You can hear anything on the streets, but if you don’t hear it from me, it’s not true,’” Crawford commented in a 1987 Time magazine profile of Houston. In the same article, Houston acknowledged that her closeness with Crawford made people wonder, but said expressly, and not for the last time, that she was not gay.

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“My mother taught me that when you stand in the truth and someone tells a lie about you, don’t fight it,” said Houston.

“I’m not with any man. I’m not in love.

People see Robyn with me, and they draw their own conclusions. Anyway, whose business is it if you’re gay or like dogs? What others do shouldn’t matter.

Let people talk. It doesn’t bother me because I know I’m not gay. I don’t care.”

But soon after Houston married R&B singer Brown in 1992—with Crawford serving as her maid of honor—the besties seemingly grew apart.

Back then in the mid-’80s, before she met and married Brown—the man she’d be most closely associated with for the rest of her life and career—being openly gay or bisexual was not an easy option for Houston. After Whitney’s death, Cissy Houston declared to Oprah Winfrey that she did not approve of her daughter’s close relationship with Crawford. Should Whitney have come out, said Cissy, she would not have supported it.

“The biggest actress in Hollywood and the biggest pop singer in music at the time were hiding their sexuality due to outside pressures to protect their image, family, careers, and privacy.”

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DRST R A GA IGYT - AG 18

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Terms of abuse are a way of distinguishing those whom we choose to marginalise because we do not like the look of them or because we were there first.

F The terms I’ve illustrated were used by the majority to exclude prostitutes and homosexuals from “polite� society. While these terms were used to mark their difference, this did not prevent males from that same polite society from using the good services of prostitutes and homosexuals when it suited them.

And as they did so then, they still do so now.

That young, gay men are now starting to reclaim these words is significant. It could mean that they are becoming interested in finding out where they have came from, that is, what are the origins of the culture they inhabit?

Twenty-one years ago, AIDS, which was then the dominant concern for gay men and culture, ceased to be a death sentence and instead became a manageable disease.

Young men who have grown up since then could feel that other aspects of gay life can now be explored with greater freedom.

If this is so, it would suggest a strengthening of gay culture and community because people can only start exploring their past, warts and all, when they feel safe.

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*nancy*po pansy*que fag*�nonc *faggot*h tranny*ba sinner*scu 22

oof*fairy * een*dyke* ce*poofter homo* atty* um* Terms of abuse are a way of distinguishing those whom we choose to marginalise because we do not like the look of them or because we were there first.

The terms I’ve illustrated were used by the majority to exclude prostitutes and homosexuals from “polite� society. While these terms were used to mark their difference, this did not prevent males from that same polite society from using the good services of prostitutes and homosexuals when it suited them. And as they did so then, they still do so now.

That young, gay men are now starting to reclaim these words is significant. It could mean that they are becoming interested in finding out where they have came from, that is, what are the origins of the culture they inhabit?

Twenty-one years ago, AIDS, which was then the dominant concern for gay men and culture, ceased to be a death sentence and instead became a manageable disease. Young men who have grown up since then could feel that other aspects of gay life can now be explored with greater freedom.

If this is so, it would suggest a strengthening of gay culture and community because people can only start exploring their past, warts and all, when they feel safe.

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Brunei Stoning Punishment for Gay Sex and Adultery Takes Effect Despite International Outcry A harsh new criminal law in Brunei which includes death by stoning for sex between men or for adultery, and amputation of limbs for theft went into effect on 2nd April 2019 despite an international outcry from other countries, rights groups, celebrities and students.

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In thirteen countries, being gay or bisexual is punishable by death.

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These are; Sudan, Iran, Saudi Arabia, Yemen, Mauritania, Afghanistan, Pakistan, Qatar, UAE, parts of Nigeria, parts of Somalia, parts of Syria parts of Iraq.

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SEXUAL sexual

identity IDENTITY

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Homonor ii ho路mo路nor路ma路tive

adjective

To describe how certain aspects of the queer community can perpetuate assumptions, values, and behaviors that hurt and marginalize people within the community.

Our culture is deeply heteronormative, but as queer experiences and rights become more accepted, a policing of sexual and gender expressions within LGBQ spaces is also growing.

This is homonormativity.

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rmative Used to describe something that’s been around much longer than the word itself, the phenomenon of homonormativity is considered by many to be destructive to the queer rights movement and to the larger queer community.

Homonormativity is a word that addresses the problems of privilege we see in the queer community today as they intersect with White privilege, capitalism, sexism, transmisogyny, and cissexism, all of which end up leaving many people out of the movement toward greater sexual freedom and equality.

First, let’s examine it’s counterpart, heteronormativity. This is a word that similarly describes the evaluation of “normal” sexuality that we see in our culture, from the policy and institutional level down to the interpersonal.

Our culture is deeply heteronormative, but as queer experiences and rights become more accepted, a policing of sexual and gender expressions within LGBQ spaces is also growing. This is homonormativity.

It addresses assimilation, as well as intersection of corporate interests and consumerism within LGBQ spaces.

It also describes the assumption that queer people want to be a part of the dominant, mainstream, heterosexual culture, and the way in which our society rewards those who do so, identifying them as most worthy and deserving of visibility and rights.

We see homonormativity every day, but it can be so entrenched in queer culture that

we don’t really recognize it as problematic.

Much is being written about heteronormativity, which describes the assumption and promotion that heterosexuality is the only “normal” and “natural” orientation out there, privileging those who fit the norm and positing anyone outside of this as abnormal and wrong.

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Heteror However, this definition is rather limited and tends to focus specifically on the sexuality component of heteronormativity.

This makes intuitive sense as the word seems to refer to a difference in heterosexuality vs. homosexuality, implying that heterosexuality is in some way superior or normal. In reality, heteronormativity’s reach goes far beyond sexuality alone.

An expanded definition from scholarly literature gives us a more well-rounded understanding and starts to unpack the idea further:

“Ranging from organizational to interpersonal spheres, the presumptions that there are only two sexes; that it is ‘normal’ or ‘natural’ for people of different sexes to be attracted to one another; that these attractions may be publicly displayed and celebrated; that social institutions such as marriage and the family are appropriately organized around different-sex pairings; that same-sex couples are (if not ‘deviant’) a ‘variation on’ or an ‘alternative to’ the heterosexual couple. Heteronormativity refers, in sum, to the myriad ways in which heterosexuality is produced as a natural, unproblematic, taken-for-granted, ordinary phenomenon.”

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Using this expanded definition, we see that heteronormativity affects diverse facets of our everyday experience. Heterosexuality becomes not only a form of sexual expression but also the foundation upon which societies are built, thereby coloring all aspects of life.

Any deviation or challenge to this foundation is either seen as pathological and unnatural or at the very least, an acceptable variation that is not deemed exactly equal to heterosexuality.

In the most extreme cases, certain societies have laws expressly prohibiting forms of homosexual contact with consequent punishment, which could extend to a death penalty. Death by stoning or other equally gruesome methods are potential fates for homoseuality in certain countries. Thus, the perceived aberration of homosexuality (and deviation from what is seen as the norm—heterosexuality) is punished in the most extreme manner possible.

However, the form of heteronormativity I’d like to focus on here is much subtler in nature: it’s the type of taken-for-granted assumptions many of us have rummaging around somewhere in our thoughts about what is acceptable and what is not; what we think of as ‘normal’. It is pervasive and may be more dangerous than overt heteronormativity in that it appears to be innocent and is not as easy to identify.

This type of heteronormativity is most often seen in contexts where homosexuality may be accepted, even protected under the law, and where LGBTQ individuals have rights and privileges similar to those of straight people — all the ingredients for equality. At least on the surface that is.

And it affects all of us: gay and straight, liberal and conservative, religious or not.

Only those who are aware of its effects and insidious nature are able to gain some freedom of thought. This quotidian heteronormativity is more challenging to detect because we are desensitized to it; this is precisely why it poses such a great danger.

rmative ii het路ero路nor路ma路tive

adjective

Of, relating to, or based on the attitude that heterosucality is the only normal and natural expression of sexuality.

These heteronormative assumptions lurk deep within our subconscious and mean that true equality remains largely inaccessible.

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There are two very important reasons why combatting heteronormativity is crucial‌

The first is that where you stand on an issue such as this (whether you’re gay, straight or somewhere in the middle) is reflective of how much you value true equality and social justice. Racism, sexism and all other social ills do not simply disappear of their own accord over time without focused awareness and action.

The second reason is that heteronormativity affects all of us negatively, regardless of our sexuality. Yes, it may be true that life is easier if you accord with heterosexist norms. But that does not mean it is better; it is merely lived in an unexamined and unquestioned manner.

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TIM:

JOSH: TIM:

JOSH:

I thought Zach was quite cute actually. I suspect he might be gay.

He’s definitely not gay. What makes you think that?

Hmm, not too sure. Nothing in particular. I just think he could possibly be gay.

No, no. That’s just wishful thinking. No way he’s gay.

Zach is typically masculine in appearance and demeanor (even typing that makes me shudder but it’s important to mention in this instance). He also happened to be in a position of power that is traditionally associated with males. Was this why my friend thought he couldn’t possibly be gay?This seems like quite an innocent everyday exchange. However, going beneath the surface in this instance is quite revealing. Considering that my friend is gay and rather open-minded when it comes to most topics, it’s almost inconceivable to assume that he would be swayed by heterosexist ideals. However, this short exchange reveals that he could not possibly accept that Zach was gay.

This makes no logical sense unless we are to believe that sexuality is immediately and always discernable based on specific traits alone. Equally, I could not explain why I thought he might be gay; however, my assertion in this instance at least entertained the notion that disparate sexualities exist and therefore they could be a possibility in any given situation.

The heteronormative nature of this exchange becomes more transparent if you substitute ‘straight’ for ‘gay’ in this instance. This type of heteronormativity comes up anytime you think an individual could not have an alternative sexuality because of reason X, as though this were not within the realm of possibility. He’s a boxer so he couldn’t be gay, she’s so feminine no way she’s lesbian… And on and on.While these may be fairly obvious heteronormative examples that are quite easy to debunk by providing proof of the gay boxer, this type of thinking is incredibly pervasive and powerful and informs much of our thinking.

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george michael BFD

In his later years, George Michael was never one to be shy when it came to speaking out about his sexuality. But it was not until one very public moment that one of the most famous pop stars in the world was outed as gay.

In April 1998, George Michael was caught engaging in a sexual act by an undercover police officer in a public toilet in Beverly Hills.

He was handed a £500 fine and 80 hours of community service for the incident, but his real punishment came from the press and public reaction, spurred on by headlines such as The Sun’s infamous “Zip Me Up Before You Go Go” front page ollowing the incident, he went public with his sexuality and his relationship with US businessman, Kenny Goss, to CNN. He later admitted: “I had my very first relationship at 27 because I really had not actually come to terms with my sexuality until I was 24. I lost my partner to HIV then it took about three years to grieve; then after that I lost my mother. I felt almost like I was cursed.”

Michael made no qualms about admitting how hiding his sexuality for so many years had taken a serious toll on his mental health.

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By the age of 19, the Wham! front-man had admitted to his sisters and close friends as well as his bandmate Andrew Ridgeley that he was bisexual, but was advised not to come out to his parents.

It was not until he was interviewed several years after his Beverly Hills arrest in 2007 that Michael said he had made the decision not to come out so as not to upset his mother, or have her worry about Aids.

“So firstly, understand how much I love my family and that Aids was the predominant feature of being gay in the 1980s and early 90s as far as any parent was concerned. My mother was still alive and every single day would have been a nightmare for her thinking what I might have been subjected to.

I'd been out to a lot of people since 19.

I wish to God it had happened then. I don't think I would have the same career – my ego might not have been satisfied in some areas – but I think I would have been a happier man.”

The singer suffered from severe depression after his partner Anselmo Feleppa died in 1993 from an Aids-related illness, and his mother Lesley died a few years later.

Despite personal and psychological struggles, Michael became almost as well known for his outspoken views in support of gay rights as he was for his best-selling music, using his 1998 arrest as a platform from which to highlight and make light of common prejudices within society.

DFDF

FBD-

ON

TH EO

UT

SI DE

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2

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margaret thatcher Section 28 of the 1988 local goverment act stated: ‘A Local Authorit shall not: (a) Intentionally promote homosexuality or publish material with the intention of promoting homosexuality; (b) Promote the teaching in any maintained school of the acceptibility of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship Nothing above shall be taken to prohibit the doing of anything for the purpose of treating or preventing the spread of disease.

Thirty years ago, Margaret Thatcher introduced a dangerous piece of legislation that shook the lives of LGBT people across the country. This amendment to the Local Government Act was known as Section 28, or Clause 2a in Scotland.

The implementation of Section 28 meant that LGBT groups and clubs around the UK were forced to disband and LGBT-themed literature was off the shelves in libraries. It meant that positive depictions of LGBT life were completely wiped out in schools.

As a result, the LGBT community was made to feel as though they were second-class citizens and felt pressured to censor themselves and assimilate into society. The effects of Section 28 lasted – and will continue to last – for generations.

For fifteen years after it was introduced, grassroots campaigners fought to throw out the Tories’ homophobic policy, and we’re proud that in 2003, the Labour government succeeded with thanks to the campaigners.

The last Labour government did more for the advancement of LGBT equality than any other government in British History, and the next will go even further.

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A-SEXUAL STRAIGHT QUEER DEMISEXUAL GAY LESBIAN BISEXUAL 47

A list of openly gay proffesional english footballers :

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......................................

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Homosexuality in English football is sometimes said to be a taboo subject by both players and the media.As of 2012, there are no openly male gay footballers in England's top four divisions. Some, such as Peter Clayton, who chairs the FA's "Homophobia in Football" working group have argued that clubs prevent players from "coming out" as footballers have an increasing commercial market value which may be damaged.

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“ hen it comes to W homophobic chants, for many fans, it’s part of folklore.”

—Nathalie Boy de la Tour, president of the Professional Football League

Nathalie Boy de la Tour, the head of the Ligue de Football Professionne (LFP), weighed in after homophobic chanting was reported at the March 17 2019 match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Olympique de Marseille.

In an interview with French-language newspaper Le Parisien published on Monday (March 25 2019), she said that the comments were part of football’s traditions and culture.

She said: “I’m not excusing what happened. But when it comes to homophobic chants, for many fans, it’s part of folklore. This is the reality. The majority of fans don’t feel that they are hurting others.”

The football boss said that she attends more than 50 matches a year and “these are things we hear regularly” at games. She added: “What you hear inside the stadium, you would not hear outside when you go shopping.

“The statements taken out of context are not acceptable. Now, inside the stadium it is not acceptable as such, but it is part of the [tradition and culture].”

Boy de la Tour added that the starting point is to educate fans to help them realise “behind the words, people can be hurt and feel targeted. And that’s not acceptable.”

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david bowie "I'm gay," declared David Bowie, "and always have been, even when I was David Jones."

When he uttered these now-immortal words in the Jan. 22, 1972, issue of England's Melody Maker, the fledgling starman had just released December 1971's Hunky Dory and already was giving his interviewer a taste of his glamrock milestone, June 1972's The Rise and Fall of Ziggy Stardust and The Spiders From Mars. The British Parliament had only decriminalized homosexuality in 1967; post-Stonewall U.S. gay life was not yet 3 years old.

He wasn't the first U.K. pop singer to come out (that was Dusty Springfield in 1970); he did it while newly married to Angie Bowie, months after fathering future film director Duncan Jones. But Bowie led the way in contextualizing pop through LGBT identity. The Hunky Dory song "Queen Bitch" is sung in gay vernacular ("She's so swishy in her satin and tat!") from the perspective of a participant in gay life and set to buzzing guitar chords clearly cribbed from The Velvet Underground, which earlier chronicled this gender-mutable world through its ties to Andy Warhol, who had a Hunky Dory tune written about him too.

That same year, Bowie scored a U.K. hit with "John, I'm Only Dancing," a whambam of pansexual knowingness considered too outre for U.S. release until his ChangesOneBowie collection in 1976.

That was when Cameron Crowe prodded Bowie to tell Playboy, "It's true -- I am a bisexual. But I can't deny that I've used that fact very well."

By then, Bowie's glam had transformed Elton John from stern balladeer to Technicolor rocker; gave ex-Velvets leader Lou Reed his first smash (the Bowie-produced account of Warhol's stupendously queer Factory, "Walk on the Wild Side"); shook U.K. pop out of its post-Beatles doldrums through glam-rockers Sweet, Slade, T. Rex and so many others; and shaped Elektra Records founder Jac Holzman's final signings before handing the reins to David Geffen: Those were Jobriath, an even more whimsical dandy, and Queen.

And through his R&B radio success with "Young Americans" and "Fame," Bowie bolstered disco's early link between clandestine gay dance halls and defiantly upscale soul. He used his outsider stance not simply to be breathtaking; he also built bridges.

When homosexuality was still considered a shameful secret to many, Bowie told the world he was gay, and music -- and the lives of many of his fans and followers -- would never be the same.

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Frankie goes to

hollywood

Frankie Goes to Hollywood was a British band formed in Liverpool, England in the 1980s. The group was fronted by Holly Johnson (vocals), with Paul Rutherford (vocals), Peter Gill (drums, percussion), Mark O'Toole (bass guitar), and Brian Nash (guitar).

"Relax" was released by ZTT in October 1983, with production and remix directed by Trevor Horn, received a modicum of airplay, allowing it steady progress into the UK Top 40. Following a debut on the BBC's Top of the Pops on 5 January 1984 while at number 35, the single rose to number six the following week.

On 11 January 1984, BBC Radio 1 disc jockey Mike Read was playing the record on his show when he noticed the front cover design (by Yvonne Gilbert). Read apparently became outraged by the "overtly sexual" nature of both the record sleeve and the printed lyrics, which prompted him to remove the disc from the turntable live on air, branding it "obscene".

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Two days later – almost three months after the single's initial release, and just eight days after the group's Top of the Pops appearance – the BBC banned the record from all its TV and radio outlets. "Relax" immediately shot to Number One in the UK charts and stayed there for five weeks, during which time the BBC could not feature the nation's best-selling single on Top of the Pops.

The original videowas directed

by Bernard Rose and depicted a gay S&M parlour where the band members were admired by muscular leathermen, a bleached blonde drag queen, and a large-bodied man dressed as a Roman emperor. The video featured a scene where one of the band members wrestled a live tiger, to the admiration of the clubgoers, and ended where the “emperor” was so excited he shimmied out of his toga. Filmed in the unused East London theatre Wilton’s Music Hall, it was promptly banned by both the BBC and MTV, resulting in the production of a substitute video directed by filmmaker Brian De Palma to coincide with the release of his film Body Double.

The BBC lifted its ban on “Relax� at the end of 1984 to allow the band to perform it on the Christmas edition of Top of the Pops (it had been, aside from Band Aid of which Holly Johnson was a participant, the biggest-selling single of the year).

Frankie Goes to Hollywood's Relax 'banned' by the BBC

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In seventeen countries, bans are in place to prohibit 'propaganda' interpreted as promoting LGBT communities or identities.

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These are;

Algeria, Egypt, Libya, Morocco, Nigeria, Somalia, Tunisia, Iraq, Iran, Jordan, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Lithuania, Russia.

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Surprisingly, a total of forty countries retain a 'gay panic' clause which enables people to use as a defence for committing crimes such as assault or murder that they were provoked because the person was gay, lesbian or bisexual.

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community The LGBT community or GLBT community, also referred to as the gay community, is a loosely defined grouping of lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender, LGBT organizations, and subcultures, united by a common culture and social movements. These communities generally celebrate pride, diversity, individuality, and sexuality. LGBT activists and sociologists see LGBT community-building as a counterbalance to heterosexism, homophobia, biphobia, transphobia, sexualism, and conformist pressures that exist in the larger society. The term pride or sometimes gay pride is used to express the LGBT community's identity and collective strength; pride parades provide both a prime example of the use and a demonstration of the general meaning of the term. The LGBT community is diverse in political affiliation. Not all people who are lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender consider themselves part of the LGBT community.

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countries where gay marriage is legal

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These are; Argentina.

Australia Belgium Brazil Canada Colombia Denmark Finland France Germany Iceland Ireland Luxembourg Malta Mexico Netherlands New Zealand Norway Portugal South Africa Spain Sweden United Kingdom United States Uruguay

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