lgbt+ ‣ The Gayly Mirror

The library is now open, with Mrs. Kasha Davis’ Drag Story Time LIVE

21May

By paulNo Comments

closeUp, Entertainment

The library is now open, with Mrs. Kasha Davis’ Drag Story Time LIVE

RuPaul’s Drag Race alumnus Mrs. Kasha Davis has spent her quarantine entertaining fans, families and children with her bi-weekly online show Drag Story Time LIVE with MKD. Everyone’s favourite international housewife-sensation can be seen every Sunday and Wednesday (12:00 EST) looking fabulous in her suburban, fairy tale-telling extravaganza. The show is aimed at children of all ages and their families, with Mrs. Davis positioning herself as campy like Pee Wee Herman with the honestly of Mr. Roger – in a dress. Kasha says: “I love doing Story Time because I’m providing something special for children and their parents that was not available when I was a child." ‘Nay sayers will say Drag Story Time LIVE is pushing a “gay agenda” on children but I believe if they sit and listen,...

I will not call you anything else but ‘she’ and ‘he’

18May

By Roberta MooreNo Comments

closeUp, Lifestyle

I will not call you anything else but ‘she’ and ‘he’

She, he, they, her, his... why should we complicate our lives? Scientifically there are only two genders: male and female. Let’s not get ahead of ourselves and begin by opening this dialogue with ‘what if someone considers themselves to be gender fluid ?’. Gender fluidity is a paradox, in layman terms it is self contradictory. For example, you cannot support gender equality and claim that gender is non-binary. If we are to debate this topic scientifically then let’s use a relatively easy case. If you are to receive urgent medical care then how on earth is the doctor supposed to guess your gender ? Would you as a woman or man claim to be the opposite gender, therefore injecting you with a lethal dose of medication ? Scientifically we all observe two genders but chose to be neither one or b...

Is it safe to travel to “anti-gay” countries?

18May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Lifestyle

Is it safe to travel to “anti-gay” countries?

Maybe the real question is: are "anti-gay" countries really dangerous for LGBT+ people, or maybe the influx of tourists can help change things in these countries? We know that summer holidays 2019 are just a memory now, but mind travels (at least mine is already thinking about where to go to for the next summer) and so here is a little travel reflection of the Editor in Chief ... maybe useful, maybe not ... but certainly interesting. Time Flies Only 60 years ago, a time that may seem long but believe me it is not, Spain was a rather repressive place. Under the grip of General Franco and the Catholic Church, las Costas (Costa Brava) was then a non-fun and not at all safe area. For example, when the first flights brought tourists in search of fun from the UK and Northern Europe in gene...

A man in women’s clothing is no lesbian’s wet dream

16May

By Roberta Moore2 Comments

closeUp, Lifestyle

A man in women’s clothing is no lesbian’s wet dream

What you see, might not always be real. My first experience of a sexual assault in a lesbian bar did not come from a woman but from a man dressed as if he was to attend an upmarket soiree - instead, he was roaming the dark, pink and fruitful Candy bar down Deen Street. He dressed in an elegant olive green satin blouse tucked into tight off white slim fitted trousers with heels that were fit for a ball. He wore a light brown wig with ginger highlights and a dark but elegant red lipstick. My initial thoughts were ‘what is he doing in a lesbian bar ?’. Though he looked better than most lesbians in the term of dress sense, he had no place in a lesbian bar if he was to grope women and grope he did. I was thrown against the black railings outside the bar, his hand laying firmly on my pelvis whi...

The lesbian politics of utopian socialism: The abused have become the abusers.

14May

By Roberta MooreNo Comments

closeUp, Lifestyle, Politics

The lesbian politics of utopian socialism: The abused have become the abusers.

History has not been taken as a lesson that should be remembered, learnt and avoid past errors but we are far too careless and ignorant to take responsibility. The lesbian community was one of acceptance and played a leading role in tolerance from the 1950’s until the late 2000’s. There were two descriptive characters to name the limited variety of lesbian brackets: The famed feminist fems who were renown for their trails of heartbreaks and social justice fights and the butch who resembled the manners of a gentleman with a slight touch of roughness around the edges. The community then could be described as an embracing entity compared to today’s need of approval. What was once a welcoming and tolerant scenery has become a mere snub in the dark, where one has to behave, think and look a ce...

Being Raped? I thought it was what normally “happened to gay men”.

10May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Gay Pride, News

Being Raped? I thought it was what normally “happened to gay men”.

Stonewall co-founder Michael Cashman candidly revealed that he had been raped so regularly while growing up that he thought it was just "what normally happened to gays". Speaking to The Guardian, Michael opened up on how his childhood in East London and his theatrical career both suffered from the trauma of continuing sexual violence. Cashman - who is now 69 - described how, at the age of 12, performing in "Oliver!", He was approached by a cast member who sexually took advantage of the young actor. "I wanted my mother to rescue me," Cashman said, but this has only been one of a long series of abuses that the former Eastenders star has endured in his life so far. The first abuse at 8 years of age. Sexual abuse marked his youth: at eight years of age Michael was sexually assaulted by a ...

Indonesian Trans people forced to attend cruel exorcisms to be cured.

7May

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, News

Indonesian Trans people forced to attend cruel exorcisms to be cured.

Indonesia is seeing an increase of intolerance towards the LGBT+ population, after undergoing a strong conservative shift in recent years. The country has a very peculiar situation that sees homosexuality technically legal in all but one province. LGBT+ people are considered to be sexual deviants where their homosexuality is thought to be the result of evil spirits’ possession, which can only be “cured” through horrifically cruel religious ceremonies of exorcism. The Bangkok Post published an interview where various victims of these exorcisms spoke about their experiences: For example, Andin, a 31-year-old transgender woman told the newspaper: “It’s traumatising – the horror of that memory stays in my head.” She had to go through years and years of abuses and violences of all k...

Relate and Relations: The excluded minority

7May

By Roberta MooreNo Comments

closeUp, Lifestyle

Relate and Relations: The excluded minority

Coming out of older lesbians. We focus primarily on the coming out stories of the younger generation but what we forget to acknowledge is that it is the past generations that have paved the way for today’s acceptance of the LGBT community across Western societies. My goal was to research on how the older lesbians perceive the rose to fame lesbian community. I had found a lady that I had met at a monthly meet-up in London’s famous Retro Bar. Little did I know, the story I was seeking was about to open an entirely new chapter parallel to my initial works. I had carefully prepared triggering questions only to find myself engulfed and thrown deep into the life of an individual, who at first glance one would consider to be your usual Londoner having her well deserved pint after a long day at w...

United Nations: a response to Covid-19 and the rights of the LGBT+ population

23Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, Health, News

United Nations: a response to Covid-19 and the rights of the LGBT+ population

It is time to stop this stigma against LGBT+ population amidst this Coronavirus pandemic. Too many incidents among the LGBT+ population worldwide accused to be one of the causes of this Covid-19 pandemic brought the United Nations to release a note titled “COVID-19 AND THE HUMAN RIGHTS OF LGBTI PEOPLE”. There is a clear and urgent request from the High Commission of the UN to stop the stigmatisation of LGBT+ people continuously blamed for disasters, both natural and human, and especially in this historical and delicate time of our lives where we are fighting against a dangerous virus. The Office of High Commissioner makes clear example to this situation: “LGBTI people have previously been blamed for disasters, both manmade and natural, and there are scattered reports of this happe...

Same Sex Families can finally adopt in Finland

21Apr

By RaffaNo Comments

closeUp, News

Same Sex Families can finally adopt in Finland

It took 3 years but it is now a reality. Helsinki is the first city with 2 same-sex families who have finally been able to adopt. In March 2017 Finland reformed and renewed their Marriage Act to finally allow same-sex couples to marry and become fully recognised families, becoming the last country of the Nordic ones to legalise marriage equality, even though until that moment Finland rarely had big homophobic issues and. In fact, equal access to fertility treatments has been legal for same-sex female couples in Finland since 2006. With the introduction of this new law, same-sex-couples, once married, would be able to adopt children: but this was not as easy as it seemed. In fact, as reported on News Now Finland, all couples willing to adopt a child must go through an extensive counsell...