Italian TV cuts gay scenes from Brokeback Mountain

Brokeback Mountain

Italians tuning in to their state TV network this week had a rare chance to see Brokeback Mountain, the tale of true friendship between two straight cowboys.

At least that was the version of Ang Lee’s gay cowboy Oscar-winner broadcast by channel Rai Due. Two love scenes between the male protagonists had been excised, provoking furious accusations from gay-rights groups of censorship driven by creeping homophobia in Italy.

“The need to change a film about homosexual love into a film about simple male friendship says a lot about the current cultural climate,” said Franco Grillini, president of Gaynet.

The cuts – involving a kiss between actors Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and a love scene in a tent – came days after the Vatican attacked an EU proposal for the UN to formally condemn discrimination against gay people.

Rai on Tuesday claimed the cuts were an honest mistake and promised to broadcast the full version of the 2005 film. In a statement, the network explained that it had asked Italian distributor Bim for a copy suitable for broadcast before the watershed. As the film had only been certified for viewers over the age of 14 in Italian cinemas, Bim went back to Italian censors for a new cut, which it then supplied to Rai. The mistake, said the network, was that programmers decided to air it after the watershed, “without checking” first which version it was.

“Since it went out after the watershed we could have shown the full version,” said Rai’s director general, Claudio Cappon. “This has nothing to do with censorship.”

But opposition senator Luigi Vimercati called the explanation “embarrassing” and said he would demand a parliamentary inquiry.

Critics noted that while the gay love scenes were removed, censors left a heterosexual sex scene in Monday night’s version. “Evidently it is not sex which creates fear and pain, but the feelings between two men,” said Grillini.

Yesterday, Italy’s newspapers picked over the Brokeback story, with La Stampa asking “Who stole the gay kiss?”, while Il Giornale, the newspaper owned by the family of prime minister Silvio Berlusconi, dismissed the protest as the work of “the politically correct lobby”.

Political parties consider channels at Rai as private bailiwicks, controlling content. The network has effectively barred anti-Berlusconi comedian Sabina Guzzanti and can be relied on for a diet of dancing girls and biopics of popes.

Gay rights association Arcigay countered that the trimming of the film came amid a rise in violence against gay people in Italy, marked by an increase in the murders of transsexuals. “The resistance by politicians of all stripes, backed by the Vatican, to same-sex unions has created the basis for the climate of hostility,” said a spokesman, Matteo Ricci.

Italy’s viewers may think differently. Vladimir Luxuria, a transsexual former MP, was last month voted by viewers the winner of L’Isola dei Famosi, a reality show broadcast on Rai Due. Luxuria said yesterday that Rai’s explanation for the censored film was believable, but added that the version aired was like “the Mona Lisa without a head”.

Gay Community Moving Their Agenda Too Fast

The Gay and Lesbian Community is moving their agenda too fast for the good of the whole. It should be apparent that the fight for Gay Marriage is a little more than the civilization is ready for right now. It is predictable that in 50 years folks will look back on the disallowing of gay marriage as ridiculous quirk of the time and fairly anti-human rights. In fact in 100 years folks will not believe there was ever a time when gay marriage was not allowed and if they do teach of the history of such a time they will certainly think we were backwards.

The society in the United States is not ready for the homosexual marriage issue right now. After the recent strife brought on by 9-11 folks have retreated somewhat to their religion and the largest belief in the United States of America is Christianity right now. The Gay and Lesbian groups have had better success in some EU nations and in Canada, which is more open and liberal in their thinking. In the United States the gay community has about an 18% following although less than 2% are gay. It takes in human groups and societies about 8% to have a trend and they obviously have that. Arnold Swarznegger has said he will veto the gay marriage bill, although half of California really does not care and the state is somewhat split on the issue, with a large majority, just not worried about it. Eventually gay marriage in the United States will stand, but now is not the time and it appears that the United States is not quite ready for it. If gay and lesbian couples are really concerned about getting married they can move to Canada for now and in a decade or so, I am certain that things may change. Perhaps making personal commitments now and staying together until then to make it official may be a better tact. It seems that this current push is a little more than the American People are willing to swallow right now and anymore pushing will only hurt the gay and lesbian movement. It would be better for all concerned if they take a wait and see approach and put it on the back burner. This quite political group has been pushing and made excellent headway for themselves in the political arenas and will eventually get their way.

Sometimes it is better for a group to back off and not upset the whole for the betterment of our civilization. I am not gay so first hand I cannot say how I might feel about the issue, only what I observe and after traveling to every city in the US over 10,000 in populations in the last 5-years, I can say that I know what I am talking about. There is no need for the gay and lesbian groups to cause a raucous right now or go off the deep end with marches and media, it only will anger the rest and then they will have hurt their hard earned forward momentum. I think every one might wish to think on this and not allow it to divide us, as it currently does not seem to be anything personal, just the current trend in our present period. Think on this.

Single Gay Men

The prevalence of numerous gay societies and online gay dating services has made it easier for gay men to search for a partner. There are numerous matchmaking websites that allow single gay men to post their personal information and preferences.

Single gay men usually prefer online dating services because of the wider selection of the Internet dating website profiles. Here, they can choose their future partners from other states or maybe a different nation. They can also make their choice based on other criteria such as interests, HIV status, and sexual compatibility. Just like in a male/female relationship, wealth and physical attributes play key role in the choices of preferred partner. A major feature that gay men find appealing about using online dating services is the ability to mail and chat. Single gay men can mail and chat with each other to get to know each other in a casual manner before proceeding to a real-life meeting. However, online dating has its shortcomings. There is always a chance of meeting someone who may give wrong information about himself. Furthermore, one cannot judge the other person completely by only meeting online.

Some gay men rely on gay bars instead of online services for finding their partners. At bars, single gay men can personally meet like-minded gay men and choose their partner. Gay bars, which were operated secretly in the past, are now seen operating openly in most cities. Additionally, these bars do not face the problem of police raids that were frequent occurrences during the early years of the gay movement. More single gay men are frequenting these bars, revealing that the gay movement is a little less stigmatized than in earlier years.

Why Join Gay Online Dating Sites?

Are you new to the gay online dating scene and perhaps feeling a little intimidated about using an online gay dating service or responding to gay personals? Let me tell you why this evolution into the online dating environment has become so popular not only with the gay singles community but with all other singles seeking love!

Gay dating and personal sites are available everyday, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week from the comfort of your own home, on the train, in cafes and even in the office…you can check out new gay guys for dating at any time you want!

Don’t feel like hitting the clubs this weekend to find your next boyfriend? Join a gay dating site…you can meet gay singles from any town, city or country. The choice is endless, why would you ever limit your dating options again?

Gay personal pics and photo profiles are one of the greatest online dating inventions ever! You can see what your chosen gay guy looks like even before you meet him in person. No more embarrassing blind dates for you, only date the gay singles you are actually interested in meeting.

Most gay dating services offer continuous access to facilities such as gay chat rooms, web chat, picture galleries and other tools to help make your dating experience more interactive and personal. With all these tools, you can move your relationship as fast or as slow as you like.

Is dating getting a little expensive for you? Gay dating sites offer a cheap and effective way to enjoy the dating life. For the cost of one dinner, you could be meeting hundreds of single gay guys for over a year!

If you still have some doubts about using these online services, why not think of it as meeting new friends and expanding your social circle? It may be an online site for gay men seeking dating, but who says you can’t make friends in the process? Get to know as many single gay men as you can, who knows what could happen. You know the saying…the best lovers are also your best friends!

Gay Wedding Ring: Symbol of Love and Equality

A wedding is a once-in-a-lifetime occasion for many people, although for an increasing number of persons, it has become a several-in-a-lifetime event. In any case, it is still a very special ceremony that binds not only a man and a woman together; today, gay male couples and gay women couples also observe the ceremony to affirm their lifelong commitment to each other. In such ceremonies, the gay wedding ring takes center stage.

Same-sex marriage is still illegal in the majority of U.S. states and in countries all over the world, so what gay couples opt for is to participate in a “commitment ceremony,” where the exchange of gay wedding rings also takes place. A gay wedding ring most often resembles the traditional gold or platinum wedding band. Of course, the couples are free to have the designs or the metal they wish for their gay wedding ring. Gay-related symbols are often engraved on the rings, and various textures and effects are available as well. Irish and Scottish rings, multicolored rings, woven rings – a wealth of options is available.

Homosexual and lesbian couples who have exchanged or are planning to exchange gay wedding rings in commitment or blessing ceremonies include Rosie and Kelly O’Donnell, and actress Sophie Ward and Rena Brannan. British musician Sir Elton John and David Furbish have also talked about getting married as soon as gays are legally allowed to join together in matrimony in Great Britain.

Jewelry designers such as Udi Behr are recognizing the need of “unconventional” couples to affirm their commitment to one another. Behr created a collection of gay wedding rings and gay engagement rings called “Love and Pride” in support of the gay rights movement. Behr, who is himself straight, is a popular designer among celebrities; famous people who buy his work include Sharon Stone and Britney Spears.

As with heterosexual couples, gay couples see their weddings bands as a tangible symbol of their love and commitment to one another. Notwithstanding governmental indifference to or disapproval of their needs and wishes, gay people will go on standing for what they believe is their right. The gay wedding ring, aside from its romantic connotations, has also become a symbol of the large part of homosexual culture in today’s society.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/

Marriage – Terrorists And the Sanctity of Marriage

Some have compared the gay and lesbians far-left fringe as marriage terrorists or gay-terrorists, but is that really a fair assessment. After all the gay and lesbian community only want the rights we all share to be married right? Well, not according to the Christian Right who clearly quote verse after verse in their bible and state their mantra that marriage is between a man and a woman. But is gay marriage really the evil that the Christian Right is calling it, or has fundamentalism of religion and the inability of government to separate Church and State really the problem here.

As the debate rages on it is clear that the chaos and controversy over gay marriage is not going away anytime soon. In fact it may take the gay and lesbian community longer than expected to win the war to allow for gay marriage, but inevitably it will come forth as all things change. Remember women once could not vote and black people once were not free.

Should we perhaps look at history and understand that all things happen in time and allow the gay and lesbian community to coach and mentor their fringe so they are not so “in your face” on this issue? Then perhaps in three or maybe four years go and re-visit all of this again? It makes sense for us as a nation to not divide over this issue or allow one sides fringe or the other to go on some sort of rampage against the whole of society. Lets all consider this in 2006.

Florida’s Gay Population and a Florida Gay Alcohol Rehab

Florida’s gay and lesbian population is growing daily and with it is a growing need for gay and lesbian services. For the purpose of this article we are concerned with gay drug rehab, gay dual diagnosis and gay alcohol rehab services. Regardless of where a person is from, they bring their personal history with them. In the case of the gay and lesbian, the personal histories of which I speak are related to prejudice, discrimination, internalized hompohobia and shame. Growing up gay and having to deal with the attitudes of the general public and family, have led many gay and lesbians to the world of drug addiction and alcoholism. Unfortunately, what happens is the attitudes of the heterosexual population become worse as the gay man or woman becomes drug dependent and their ability to cope with their feelings diminish even more.

Florida Gay Alcohol Rehab

Now imagine that we ask a gay or lesbian to check into an alcohol rehab run by a group of heterosexual men and women. It is like asking an anorexic to check into an addiction treatment program for compusive overeaters. This could be their worst nightmare. Don’t misunderstand me, this doesn’t mean that the alcohol rehab has to be run by all gay men and women. That is not the real world. The alcohol rehab must, as a minimum, have a gay alcohol rehab component, within the alcohol rehab itself. This will provide the gay or lesbian with a “safe space” in which to express their feelings and thoughts without thinking they are being judged. Their are many other clinical benefits derived from a gay alcohol rehab run in this fashion, such as being able to eal with internalized homophobia, but it also allow for the heterosexual to deal with their own homophobia. Everybody wins!

Jonathan Huttner is a partner in Lakeview Health Systems’s a alcohol and drug rehab, which has its own gay friendly alcohol rehab component called Freedom Rings. Freedom rings provides alcohol and drug rehab for the GLBT population.

Source:http://ezinearticles.com/

Gay Mobster in Popular TV Show (Sopranos)

Most people would think that by putting a gay mobster in Sopranos would totally ruin the show and have a little side story going and maybe even get the gay guys watching Sopranos.

Yet the quite opposite happened when “Vito” from the Sopranos was discovered to be gay by two wiseguys at a gay night club.
The media of course blew up the entire scenario out of proportion and the fans, responded back…but not in a negative way.

The fans of the Sopranos instead started having bets on what would happen to the gay Mobster, it seemed as if everyone was happy, from the producers and the broadcasters (huge surge in rating) to the media outlets (more cover stories) to the gay-fans of the Sopranos who were glad that being gay wasn’t look down upon.

Ultimately sites such as “SopranoFamily.com” Sopranos Gay Mobster started popping up so people could vote. It turns out that when a gay character is introduced to the main stream public there is a initial rise in publicity for the show. Not to mention the general public is becoming more “open-eyed” to such things.

In the end, no harm was done and everyone thought the gay-mobster just made the whole story line for the Sopranos more interesting.

Gay

A former winner of a gay beauty contest has been sentenced to life in prison for murder.

Anthony Morley, who won Mr Gay UK in 1993, will serve at least 30 years in jail.

On Friday Morley, 36, was found guilty at Leeds Crown Court of the murder of Damian Oldfield.

The jury took less than three hours to reach their verdict.

Mr Oldfield, 33, sustained more than 30 stab wounds, some of them post mortem, and pieces of his leg and chest had been sliced off.

His jugular vein had been cut open in the attack at Morley’s home.

Police found pieces of muscle, skin and flesh under Mr Oldfield’s naked body, which was discovered by officers in Morley’s bedroom in his flat in Harehills on April 24th.

Morley, a chef, had seasoned and cooked some of Mr Oldfield’s flesh and chewed a piece before discarding it.

Chunks of cooked flesh were found on the chopping board in his kitchen.

Judge James Stewart QC, passing sentence today, said the case was “one of the most gruesome murders I have ever encountered in my professional life.

“Not only did you murder this man by cutting his throat and stabbing him you then cooked him up and tried to eat him.”

The judge said Morley had committed a “cold-blooded, savagely executed murder.”

“You then, when satisfied he was dead, cut chunks from his body and cooked it, using your skill as a chef, with oil and herbs, sliced it as if a steak and tried to eat it.

“It was not to your liking so you spat it out and discarded it in your waste bin.

On Friday, after Morley was found guility, his victim’s mother said:

“We shared a special bond, which I still feel, but now I’m only left with memories and that’s not good enough.

“Damian loved life and he has had that taken away from him in the cruellest of circumstances.

“He was so easy going and friendly that to know Damian for five minutes was to know Damian as a friend.

Free gay law seminar to be held in Manchester

A special free event designed to inform gay, lesbian and bisexual people of their rights has been organised by award-winning solicitors Russell Jones & Walker.

The Pink Law Seminar is being held later this week in association with PinkNews.co.uk and Village Drinks.

Members of the gay community will be able to get free access to information about the range of laws affecting their lives.

David Franey, partner at Russell Jones and Walker, said:

“The Pink Law Seminar we organised last year in Soho was a great success with a lot of positive feedback from the gay community.

“We have seen a number of developments in sexual orientation discrimination cases as well as in civil partnerships over the last year, and we hope that our seminar will play a part in assisting the gay community’s progress in understanding and enforcing gay rights.”

The event will be held on Thursday 18 September 2008 from 6.30pm at Malmaison Hotel, 1-3 Piccadilly, Manchester M1 1LZ.

It will include presentations from Mr Franey, a specialist discrimination lawyer, and Wendy Hewitt from the Equality and Human Rights Commission.

Gays and lesbians can get free advice on pertinent legal issues which affect the gay community and discuss the many questions that gay people have about their rights, such as:

* Are pre-nuptial agreements legally binding?

* Can I adopt my partner’s kids?

* How does the goods and services laws work?

* How can I take action against homophobic businesses?

* What kind of discrimination at work will result in compensation?

* How do I complain about being victimised at work without being outed?

Solicitors and partners from Russell Jones Walker will be on hand before and after the short seminar to discuss any questions you have over an informal drink.

The seminar is free but registration is required.

Source:http://www.pinknews.co.uk/