LGBT

Artist Martin Eden on LGBT comic Spandex

The plot focuses on a team of gay superheroes who fight crime in Brighton

(Titan Books) Many a quip has been made about Batman and Robin bunking up, but how often are there actually LGBT themes in comics? With the latest incarnation of Batwoman being an out lesbian, there is certainly more scope for a homosexual hulk, and…

Interview: Fiona Button of BBC series Lip Service

What to expect from series two of drama set in Glasgow lesbian culture

For anyone who hasn’t seen it before – what’s Lip Service? It is a drama with a little bit of comedy, looking at the lives and loves of a group of women living in Glasgow. There’s so much to entertain you in the show. Although on the face of it the…

Electropop duo Uh Huh Her to play Arches

The band consists of ex-Mellowdroner Camila Grey and ex-The L Word star Leisha Hailey

Let’s get it out the way: Leisha Hailey was in The L Word. For anyone unfamiliar with the Showtime series (presumably you have been living under a rock on the outskirts of the lez community? Welcome. And get a boxset.), Hailey played quirky…

Robert Aldrich - Gay Life Stories

Fascinating insight into the lives of gay men and women throughout history

(Thames & Hudson) Gay rights have made huge strides in the West in the past couple of decades and with that has come an increase in the numbers of openly gay celebrities from across the spectrum of public life. But what of the many unsung heroes of…

Glasgwegian drag artiste Lady Munter discusses club night Menergy

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

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

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

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

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

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!

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

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

(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!

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

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!

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

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’

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’

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

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

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'

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

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

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?

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

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…