LGBT

Glasgwegian drag artiste Lady Munter discusses club night Menergy

'Scotland’s only trans club and gay dance party’

2 Feb 2012

Have you ever been named Attitude’s 66th most influential LGBT role model? Didn’t think so. But Lady Munter has. The organiser of Glasgow’s Menergy club night was flagged up for praise by the magazine in 2010 for services to drag (on the same page as…

Neighbourhood Watch: Broughton Street, Edinburgh

A guide to Edinburgh's hip gay hub

9 Jan 2012

What’s it like? A street full of bars, restaurants and delightful eateries nestled underneath old tenement flats. Ideal for stuffing your face full of food and hitting a pub with friends just a stone’s throw from the centre of the city. Where’s it…

Opinion: MSP Joan McAlpine on same sex marriage

The need for equal marriage rights for Scotland's same-sex couples

6 Jan 2012

The introduction of civil partnerships in 2004 meant many people believe we already have gay marriage. Lots of us have celebrated the union of gay friends and family. Thirty years ago, few gay people were allowed to be open about their sexuality. Thank…

The Virginia Gallery - Adults-only LGBT art in Glasgow

Why adults-only policy provides flexibility that most spaces don’t have

19 Dec 2011

If you’ve walked down Virginia Street recently, you might have seen Luke and Jack, an exotic 18+ adult boutique. What you might not have noticed is The Virginia Gallery, the art space nestled below which is fast gaining a rep for supporting erotic and…

Hot Mess - DJ Simon Eilbeck (aka Simonotron) on alt.LGBT club night

Eclectic music and friendly atmosphere alternative to cheesy dance

15 Nov 2011

If you’ve been to certain gay clubs in Glasgow or Edinburgh, you’ll know that there can be a certain whiff of cheese in the air. Not so with Hot Mess, held at Wee Red Bar every two months and fast gaining a rep for being one of the coolest off the…

Interview: Lorraine Bowen celebrates material world in Polyester Fiesta!

Fabric-loving funny woman and pal of Billy Bragg hits Glasgay!

26 Oct 2011

You may not be aware but this year is the 70th anniversary of polyester. Yup, that’s right- the fabric responsible for some of the strangest, best and undeniably worst looks of the past half-decade is in its twilight years and musician/comedienne…

Grant Smeaton on Martin O'Connor's Ch Ch Changes at part of Glasgay! 2011

The writer and actor on his upcoming one-man show

21 Oct 2011

What drew you to Martin O’Connor’s script for Ch Ch Changes? I’ve been thinking about doing a one-man show for a long time. Never done one before. The nearest was the solo performance I did in Spend a Penny at the Arches a few years ago where my…

Weekend

Poignant and captivating story of unexpected love cut short

20 Oct 2011

(18) 96min A casual one night stand unexpectedly blossoms into a much more meaningful connection in Weekend, a tender heartbreaker from writer/director Andrew Haigh that is easily one of the most impressive British independent features of the…

Interview: Jonny Woo

Acclaimed performance artist and cabaret queen set for show at Glasgay!

20 Oct 2011

Anyone who’s seen Party Monster should know that the Club Kids of New York are a force to be reckoned with- and Jonny Woo is no exception. Host/compere, DJ, anthemic cabaret queen – Woo does it all, best known for legendary club night Gay Bingo and…

Interview - Amy Lamé’s Unhappy Birthday

Morrissey at your birthday party? Glasgay! performer Amy Lamé wants to make it happen

17 Oct 2011

Steven Patrick Morrissey. Icon. Owner of the best baritone in the biz. Vegetarian, animal rights activist and moulder of the most vertigo-inducing quiff since Johnny Bravo? Yes, yes, yes. But warm, approachable, fan-embracing performer who would jump…

Strange Hungers

Glasgow Theatre company Fish and Game's wry send up of gay icons past at Glasgay!

17 Oct 2011

Who were the gay icons of your youth? Wham? George Takei? Rosie O’Donnell... ? Everyone has at least one (perhaps strange) LGBT celeb that they looked up to as an alternative youngster – and what do you get if you combine this wry look at ‘back in…

Glasgay!: Re-Invention

Exhibition and workshop aimed at gay and trans comic fans

19 Sep 2011

The idea of gay culture in comics is nothing new, with handfuls of uptight academics frantically pointing out the homoerotic sub-tones of Batman and Robin’s cartoon exploits since the 1950s. The foundations of X-Men arguably lie in the civil rights…

Drama

The LGBT club night promises ‘stylish polysexual clubbing’

22 Jul 2011

There’s something to be said for aspiring to affluence. How else can we explain the success of elite private members clubs or programmes like Gossip Girl and Made in Chelsea? It can’t be the storylines. I’m 97 per cent certain I have seen more…

Lock Up Your Daughters Glasgow clubnight

Collective responsible for Glasgow’s only ‘network for creative queers’

29 Jun 2011

Take Lock Up Your Daughters (LUYD), the collective responsible for Glasgow’s only ‘network for creative queers’. They make zines, run music events and are now delving into LGBT-friendly filmmaking to add another string to their bow. It might make you…

Bare Behind Bars, Sea Purple, Here Come the Girls 3 and Dare

LGBT DVD Roundup

27 May 2011

If it’s a quiet night on the sofa you’re after, beware Bare Behind Bars (Arrow Video ●●●●). Described as a ‘chicks in chains grindhouse explosion’, we’re given sadistic lesbian guards, a permanently aroused screwball nurse and convicts with cabin fever…

Pride Scotia's Edinburgh events gearing up to take place a month early

14 Apr 2011

Pride Scotia is returning to Auld Reekie in May, a month earlier than we usually see it. But, you ask, is Pride still relevant? Well, yes. And we’re not just saying that because we watched that Scott Mills documentary on gay rights in Uganda on iPlayer…

Heather Peace interview: Multi-talented Lip Service star set for UK tour

'Like a pluckier Sheryl Crow, mixed with a rockier Eva Cassidy'

24 Mar 2011

Bored on a road trip? Tired of playing I Spy? Try to think gay British actors or actresses who aren’t typecast according to their sexuality. After you get past the Stephen Frys and Ian McKellans (hello, national treasures), you might get a bit…

Ron Peck on Thatcher-era thriller Empire State

Director of Nighthawks discusses overdue DVD and Blu Ray release

2 Mar 2011

It’s mad to think that Ron Peck’s Thatcherite era thriller Empire State has lain dormant for so long. Set in and around the gay clubbing scene, which at the time was exploding in vast warehouse clubs in the UK, the film easily still stands next to The…

Death Disco’s XXXmas Party

Arches, Glasgow, Sat 18 Dec 2010

17 Feb 2011

Christmas is a tricky one. Sure, it’s a time for giving, good will and generally being merry, but it can feel strangely moot when one is no longer a wean oneself or has no weans to fawn over, making the season (allegedly) cuter and more socially…

Glasgow-set Lip Service may have more than just homophobes turning it off

Is new BBC3 drama just The L Word with rain?

17 Feb 2011

A recent poll by the BBC found that one in five people felt ‘uncomfortable’ or ‘very uncomfortable’ with gay people having their stories told on television. A mere 16 years after the ‘Brookside kiss’, such a stat can either be read as slow progress or…

Classic play Staircase comes to Tron Theatre

Pared down adaptation of Charles Dyer’s 1960s drama

11 Feb 2011

Some say the classics never go out of fashion – and the Tron will be hoping that this rings true when their pared down adaptation of Charles Dyer’s 1960s drama, Staircase, opens at the end of February. Last staged in London 45 years ago, the play…

February is LGBT History Month

Events on in Scotland are set promote awareness and understanding

26 Jan 2011

‘It’s all about education, celebration and shared understanding,’ says Sue Sanders, co-chair of the LGBT History Month and co-founder of LGBT education group, Schools Out. Sanders saw how Black History Month was being used to promote interracial…

Café No 9 - New Edinburgh café off Leith Walk steps out usual gay hub

‘I think people are a bit sick of big chains and their coffee is a bit rubbish sometimes too . . .’

30 Nov 2010

For a new LGBT café owner in Edinburgh, straying away from the pink-tinged pavements of Broughton Street may be a bold move, but one which Innes Drummond believes is necessary. Drummond’s venture Café No 9 recently opened in Croall Place off Leith…

Sex, Drag and Male Roles: Investigating Gender as Performance

A how-to guide from the Godmother of Drag

19 Nov 2010

A wise man (well, James Brown) once said this was a man’s world. That sentiment may broadly remain the same, but one wise woman has found us women a unique way into the club. Diane Torr, an artist working in dance, performance, installation, film and…

FrontRunners is Glasgow first running group for the LGBT community

Club combines social and keep-fit agenda

3 Nov 2010

Runners of all ages and abilities are invited to pull on their trainers for the launch of Glasgow’s first running group for the LGBT Community. Glasgow Frontrunners (GFR) will celebrate their official inception at Glasgow Caledonian University’s Arc…