LGBT

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Ruby Fruit launches gay women's club in Glasgow

18 May 2010

A criticism often levelled at the gay scene, both in Glasgow and Edinburgh, is that there’s a dearth of club nights for women – particularly women over the age of 30. Fed up with this situation, a quartet of Glasgow girls are launching an alternative…

Film Round-up

18 Oct 2007

Gay screen Sandra Marron casts an eye over Glasgay!’s film programme Glasgay!’s film programme is a much smaller affair this year. Specialist releases have been replaced by a handful of more mainstream movies. This is due to low audience figures and…

Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo

5 Feb 2009

COMIC BALLET A company’s name usually offers pertinent information about who they are and what they do. Aside from the word ‘ballet’, however, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo tells you very little about the delights in store. For one thing…

The Hot 100 2008

11 Dec 2008

It’s been a helluva year. 2008 has been a time of significant global change, socially, politically and culturally, with Scotland no exception. So here, for your delectation, is The List’s pick of the 100 people, places and things that rocked our world…

Profile - Paul Sinha

2 Oct 2008

1 The doctor is out He is indeed. Sinha might not be the UK’s only gay GP, but he is the world’s only gay Bengali GP who moonlights as a stand-up comic. This situation, as you might imagine, gives him plenty of material to go on. 2 He’s a Fringe…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh collaborate on Panic Patterns at Glasgay! 2010

First collaboration from writing pair

8 Oct 2010

Award-winning writers Zoë Strachan and Louise Welsh live together and are in a long-term relationship, but until recently they’d never collaborated. Glasgay! director Steven Thomson asked if they’d be prepared to change that by co-penning a play for…

Derek McLuckie and Pauline Goldsmith bring Jean Genet’s The Maids to stage

All-male version of controversial play set for Glasgay!

8 Oct 2010

‘It’s about play acting and status games,’ says Derek McLuckie of Jean Genet’s The Maids, an all-male version of which the Glaswegian actor will star in and co-direct at this year’s Glasgay! ‘It’s about how you’re never one person, you’re lots of…

Glasgay! 2010 highlights

Glasgow festival celebrates LGBT relationships

22 Sep 2010

Panic Patterns Award winning Glasgow-based authors Zoé Strachan and Louise Welsh have collaborated on a gripping thriller in which two lovers witness sudden changes in bird migration patterns that herald impending disaster. The suspenseful exploration…

LGBT highlights from Edinburgh Fringe 2010

14 Jul 2010

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Glasgay!

26 Aug 2009

This year’s celebration of LGBT culture and art kicks off as the London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on Tour reaches Glasgow. Featuring opening night drama Shank (3 Sep), Born in 68’s (pictured) tale of life and sexual politics in France (6 Sep) and…

Hitlist - The best LGBT events

1 Nov 2007

Scott Capurro’s Premature Gift The San Francisco funnyman is back with a huge comedy gift for Glasgow. The Stand, Glasgow, Sun 11 Nov. Robopop Trendy Wendy and pals visit Edinburgh’s newest gay venue every Thursday with a bag-full of records. GHQ…

Amy Lamé’s Mama Cass Family Singers

18 Oct 2007

THEATRE Tron Theatre, Glasgow, Thu 25–Sat 27 Oct ‘I came up with the idea of a misremembered memoir which is what the show is,’ says Amy Lamé of her one-woman show Mama Cass Family Singers. ‘A lot of it is real, some of it’s made up, but it’s all…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Susan Calman, Stephen K Amos and Bette/Cavett at Fringe 2010

LGBT Edinburgh Fringe Highlights

23 Jul 2010

The List’s LGBT section is about to take a well-earned break (returning in September, folks), but before we head off on our holidays, there’s just time to let you know about some of the gay-friendly stuff that’s appearing at a Fringe Festival near you…

Scott Agnew, Cheri Treiffel and Horse grace Pride Glasgow

30 Jun 2010

Pride returns to Glasgow this fortnight following a two-year absence and an amicable split with Pride Scotia, its Edinburgh counterpart. To mark the 15th year of Pride in Scotland organisers have promised a memorable event, including a march from…

Regina

Body of woman, heart of a king - and the legs too

15 Oct 2009

From Glenda Jackson to Cate Blanchett, many an actress has enjoyed the challenge of playing the Virgin Queen. So why not a dancer – and a male one at that? Inspired by the varied portrayals of Queen Elizabeth I, Tom Sapsford has created Regina, a dance…

Blue Moon 21st Anniversary

The UK's oldest gay café celebrates a milestone birthday

3 Sep 2009

Today Edinburgh boasts a thriving gay scene that includes bars and clubs, cafés and shops, with the area between Broughton Street and Picardy Place now popularly known as the ‘Pink Triangle’. It wasn’t always thus, however. Until the mid-80s there was a…

Activism - Meet the political activists

23 Jul 2009

There’s been a lot of nostalgia for the 90s recently, as Blur, Take That and the Spice Girls reform (however fleetingly), and various media outlets (this one included) celebrate 15 years since the invention of a handy marketing tool called Britpop.

Vanessa: Look Mummy I’m Dancing

16 Apr 2009

The profile and representation of transsexuals may have received a boost in recent years from such acclaimed films as Boys Don’t Cry and Transamerica, but there are still few opportunities for transsexual actors in the mainstream theatre and cinema.

Scottish comedian feels the wrath of students

2 Mar 2009

A TOP Scottish comedian has been branded a bully and banned from performing at Stirling University after jeering a transvestite in the audience of a recent gig. The Reverend Obadiah Steppenwolfe III, who is known for his politically incorrect humour…

Out at the Movies

22 Jan 2009

With Gus Van Sant’s Milk generating significant Oscar buzz and the latest big budget gay-themed movie I Love You Phillip Morris about to hit the silver screen, Steven Paul Davies history of gay cinema is timely. Working chronologically from the 1920s…

LGBT Youth Scotland National Gathering 2008

3 Jul 2008

YOUNG PEOPLE’S EVENT Westpark Conference Centre, Dundee, Sat 5 & Sun 6 Jul This year’s LGBT Youth Scotland National Gathering, ‘In Control, Your Life. Your Choices’, is a Scotland-wide event for LGBT young people up to the age of 26, their friends and…

Kalup Linzy

24 Apr 2008

FILM, PERFORMANCE AND PAINTING Washington Garcia, Glasgow, until Sun 27 Apr New-York based Kalup Linzy is more Vaginal Davis than a ‘Paris is Burning’ starlet, more Judy la Bruce (Bruce’s alter-ego) than Hedwig. But it cannot be denied that all of…

GHQ

15 Nov 2007

NEW VENUE Allan Radcliffe savours a gay venue with a difference in the capital According to a recent study by Washington’s Urban Institute, which highlighted indicators of a city’s economic success, one of the marks of a thriving urban economy…

Kylie – The Exhibition

20 Sep 2007

EXHIBITION Kelvingrove Art Gallery and Museum, Glasgow, Fri 21 Sep–Sun 23 Jan 2008 ‘The interesting thing about Kylie is that she represents that world of glitter and glamour and sparkle that so many gay people wrap around themselves as a form of…

Priscilla, Queen Of Glasgow

Profile

23 Apr 2007

What’s this all about? In the very best Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert tradition, Glasgow’s bonniest lassies (well ten of them and don’t check their birth certificates) will go breast-to-fake-breast to duke it out for the title of…

Preview of the year 2007

2007 is about the future. And about the past. It’

3 Jan 2007

THE FUTURE Cyberspace invaders We may not be flying around in hover cars or wearing spangly all-silver outfits, but thanks to the internet the future has truly arrived. And the revolution will continue apace in 2007, argues Suzanne Black. A…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

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…

Pink Flamingos, City of Borders and Prayers for Bobby among of Glasgay! 2010 film highlights

Stonewall Uprising, Assume Nothing and Orlando also screening

8 Oct 2010

The Stonewall riots of summer 1969 have been the subject of a feature film and numerous documentaries, but the new historical documentary, Stonewall Uprising, gives more information than any other film to date, telling the birth of Gay Liberation…

Wendy Miller and Rachel Amey collaborate on The Bridge at Glasgay! 2010

New play explores theme of teenage suicide

8 Oct 2010

The creative partnership behind one of the chief commissions at this year’s Glasgay! 2010 is one that the festival was itself instrumental in fostering. Wendy Miller met Rachel Amey last year, after Amey was cast in Miller’s Glasgay! 2009 drama Even…

Human Rights 10 Years On

23 Sep 2010

To coincide with the 10th anniversary of the Human Rights Act, as well as the 60th anniversary of the signing in Rome of the European Convention on Human Rights, the Legal Services Agency (LSA) is organising this major one-day conference looking at what…

Bent and Brother to Brother get DVD release

LGTB DVD Round-Up

1 Sep 2010

Director Rodney Evans’ intelligent, engaging Brother to Brother ●●●● (Peccadillo Pictures), a sleeper hit at the Sundance festival in 2004, explores the gay and lesbian subcultures of the Harlem Renaissance through the friendship between a young gay…

Evolve launch with Rhona Cameron

Edinburgh social networking event for gay professional ladies

18 Aug 2010

Come along and help to launch Evolve, a new regular social networking event for gay professional ladies and their friends. Stand-up comedian and author Rhona Cameron will be in attendance to assist with the celebrations. Revolution, Chambers Street…

Cachín Cachán Cachunga!

7 Jul 2010

The spectre of funding cuts looms heavily over the Scottish arts scene at the moment. One consequence of the forthcoming age of austerity may very well be a resurgence in low-fi events: regular cabaret and variety shows offering artists who can no…

Neighbourhoods, Watch! - Leith Festival Vs West End Festival

10 Jun 2010

In the East corner, Edinburgh’s Leith Festival! In the West corner, Glasgow’s West End Festival! Kirstin Innes adjudicates the battle of the community fests.

Velvet re-launch party

29 Apr 2010

PREVIEW CLUB Velvet Re-Launch Party The SpeakEasy, Edinburgh, Sat 8 May Velvet ladies have more than one reason to celebrate this fortnight. Not only is the much-missed club night for gay and bisexual women and their male LGBTI buddies returning…

Leisurely Walk along the Union Canal

15 Apr 2010

While their regular activities include running, rock climbing and mountaineering, the Gay Outdoor Club is running a special free event this fortnight to gently introduce new members to the great outdoors. The Union Canal, which runs from Edinburgh to…

Artists Rooms: Diane Arbus

31 Mar 2010

An accusation often levelled at Diane Arbus is that she was an indulged rich girl who voyeuristically exploited the poor, the disabled and the sexually deviant in her work. Certainly the black and white photographs that comprised her ‘contemporary…

Edinburgh's LGBT Arts Festival 2010

25 Feb 2010

Following the success of last year’s inaugural event, the LGBT Arts Festival has returned to the capital for another four-week programme aimed at budding creative types. This year’s festival, funded by the People’s Postcode Trust, features workshops in…

The Queer Ball Launch Party

17 Feb 2010

The venerated Lothians Gay and Lesbian Switchboard Ball may have gone to the great gathering place in the sky, but those who love dressing up and making merry have a new reason to dig out their glad rags. The Queer Ball Launch Party, which pitches up at…

New musical celebrates venerated piece of lesbian history Club Gateways

27 Jan 2010

Club Gateways has a special place in LGBT history as the longest surviving lesbian nighclub in the world. The venue, on London’s Kings Road, opened in 1930 and attracted celebrities such as Joyce Grenfell, Quentin Crisp and Joan Collins in its 1960s…

LGBT History Month

21 Jan 2010

LGBT History Month kicks off its annual celebration of the lives and achievements of the LGBT community with three workshops exploring drama, poetry and storytelling. Playwright Jo Clifford (Losing Venice, Jesus Queen of Heaven, pictured) leads the…

2010 preview: Great expectations

7 Jan 2010

Favourite things are ending, exciting things are beginning and old things are coming back. 2010 is already shaping up to be a thrilling year and here are the 30 good reasons why we can’t wait

Ajamu X: Familiar Strangers

7 Jan 2010

Artist Ajamu X has been working with Black and Minority Ethnic communities as well as members of the LGBTI community for over 20 years, exploring the ways that these marginalised communities operate outside the formal mechanisms of support. His new…

The Hot 100 2009

18 Dec 2009

Compiled by List staff through a painstaking process of review and debate, the Hot 100 is the comprehensive list of Scottish creative talent, covering both individuals and organisations who’ve made a standout contribution to culture in 2009. This year’s…

Loud & Proud

24 Nov 2009

Loud & Proud, Scotland’s LGBT choir, has come a long way in a short space of time. The a capella group, which performs its annual festive concert at the George Square Theatre this fortnight, started life as a ten-week singing course at the LGBT Centre…

The Rocky Horror Show

13 Nov 2009

It’s time to do the Time Warp … yet again! For anyone who hasn’t seen it yet, expect camp courting and frivolous fantasies in Richard O’Brien’s popular gender-bending musical starring David Bedella as Frank N Furter and the ubiquitous King of the Jungle…

LGBT DVD round-up

30 Oct 2009

As winter edges ever closer, the temptation to batten down the hatches and spend the night in front of the box takes hold. As luck would have it there’s a batch of welcome re-releases and special editions of classic features and documentaries to keep…

Conversation piece - Dani Marti interview

Exploring gay men's health and sexuality through art

24 Sep 2009

Dani Marti’s new exhibition, insideout, has been safely installed in the sh[out] space at Parnie Street as part of Glasgay! Yet the convoluted tale of how one of the show’s installations ended up in this space still sticks in the craw of the…

Glasgay! - Steven Thomson interview

24 Sep 2009

2009 will be both one of Glasgay!’s best and most troubled years. The programme is stronger than ever, but as Glasgay! has grown in its cultural importance it has attracted new levels of criticism and controversy that now threaten to undermine its…

Glasgow: Glasgay!

From politics to partying, the history of the LGBT festival

10 Sep 2009

There aren’t many arts festivals that could celebrate Maw Broon (one of the most traditional of Scots comic strip characters in Dundee’s DC Thomson stable, which also produces The Beano, The Dandy and Oor Wullie), take on board a diverse programme of…

Hitlist: Around Town

The best events, books and LGBT

21 Aug 2009

Sheep Heid Inn Summer’s End Beer Festival, Launch of SEEDBOM, Bletherheads, Jeffrey Lewis’ Watchmen, Handmade Heaven, Mary Brennan, Dead Girls’ Dance Club

Made in God's Image

Defending the GOMA exhibition that brings together the Bible and the LGBTI

10 Aug 2009

Anthony Schrag looks a bit stressed out when we meet. It’s been a big couple of weeks for the Gallery of Modern Art’s artist in residence, for reasons you may well have heard of. Made in God’s Image, a community outreach exhibition he organised to…

Tartan Clef Awards, Reclaiming the Rainbow and We Will Rock You

5 Aug 2009

The Homecoming Scotland Tartan Clef Awards will this year take place on Fri 27 Nov at the SECC in Glasgow, in a bid to create a bigger profile for the event. Last year Peter Kay attended to award Sharleen Spiteri with her Outstanding Contribution to…

LGBT Edinburgh Fringe Highlights

23 Jul 2009

This year’s Fringe features a good scattering of shows for those of an LGBT persuasion. Theatre pleasures range from dramatic monologues such as Jeffrey Solomon’s Mother/Son (Sweet Grassmarket, pictured above), which charts the writer/performer’s…

London Lesbian and Gay Film Festival on Tour

9 Jul 2009

FILM This year’s LLGFF contains a typically alluring mix of the classic and contemporary, the light-hearted and hard-hitting. Among the comedies, Baby Love, directed by Vincent Gareng, mines the consequences of a gay Parisian doctor’s decision to…

Pride Scotia

25 Jun 2009

Scotland’s bi-annual LGBT celebration, Pride Scotia is returning to the capital with its usual array of provocative and outrageous happenings. Revellers are asked to assemble at noon on Sat 27 Jun at the City Chambers for speeches from local politicians…

LGBT at the Edinburgh International Film Festival

11 Jun 2009

As ever, the Edinburgh International Film Festival’s ten-day showcase of screenings, talks, interviews and special events, there’s a decent sprinkling of films that are of particular interest to those of an LGBT persuasion. Those interested in a…

Glasgay! announces headliners

11 Jun 2009

Glasgay has announced Reclaiming the Rainbow as the umbrella title for this year’s festival. Running in two parts, it will kick off with a Film Festival on 3 Sep before the performance strand kicks in, featuring four world premieres including Jackie…

Before Stonewall

28 May 2009

(87min) Forty years ago a small bar called the Stonewall Inn in a corner pocket of New York’s West Village sparked the legendary Stonewall riots that spearheaded the global gay liberation movement. In 1984, seasoned documentarian Greta Schiller shot…

Up the Glitter! and Queerbash

14 May 2009

Two nights are starting up this fortnight which aim to breathe a bit of fresh air into the queer clubbing scene in Glasgow. The first of these is named (in shamelessly outré style) Up the Glitter!, and is the brainchild of Dawid Penkowicz and Anne…

Sh(OUT): Contemporary Art and Human Rights/Drawn Out & Painted Pink

30 Apr 2009

GROUP EXHIBITION While each work in GoMA’s striking and thoughtful social justice-related exhibition for 2009 can easily be traced back to a gender-related starting point, more universal ideals of love and tenderness are writ large throughout.

The Celluloid Closet

16 Apr 2009

(15) 101min There’s a thorny dichotomy that’s been around almost as long as cinema itself: is it enough simply to see minorities on the silver screen, even if portrayed in an unflattering or offensive light? Or should Hollywood be quietly written…

sh[OUT]: Contemporary Art and Human Rights

2 Apr 2009

PREVIEW EXHIBITION Lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex life is placed centre stage this summer as part of GoMA’s biennial social justice programme, which explores human rights through the lens of contemporary art. While there are few…

LGBT Arts Festival Weekend

19 Mar 2009

CREATIVE FESTIVAL LGBT Centre for Health and Wellbeing, Edinburgh, Fri 20–Sun 22 Mar Scotland’s capital can lay proud boast to being the only city in the UK to have its own dedicated health and wellbeing centre for LGBT folks, which runs…

LGBT Speed Dating - Pink Links

5 Mar 2009

SPEED DATING Valentine’s Day may have departed for another year on a bin lorry piled high with trampled roses and dog-eared cards, but for many the search for love goes on. As luck would have it, Edinburgh’s busy LGBT scene just got a little more…

LGBT interest DVDs

19 Feb 2009

ROUND-UP The re-release on DVD of Wong Kar Wai’s Happy Together (Artificial Eye) ●●●● is cause for celebration. The award-winning film follows the fortunes of a gay couple from Hong Kong, who part company shortly after arriving in Argentina, leaving…

Milk

22 Jan 2009

BIOPIC Gus Van Sant’s fairly conventional biopic of the first openly gay elected politician in the United States succeeds in overcoming genre limitations to create a powerful, compassionate film that’s up there with the director’s best work. We…

LGBT Christmas Clubbing

11 Dec 2008

XMAS ROUND-UP For those of an LGBT persuasion who would rather burn up the dancefloor than roast their chestnuts on an open fire, the Central Belt plays host to a wheen of special club nights to take you right through the Christmas…

Hate and Pride in Riga

27 Nov 2008

PHOTOGRAPHY Presented by Amnesty International, this display of work by photographer Reuben Steains documents the 2008 Pride march in Riga, capital of Latvia. In scene-setting texts, stories about the previous two years’ marches being marred by…

Will Young

13 Nov 2008

Glasgow Royal Concert Hall, Thu 20 & Fri 21 Nov It’s hard to believe that it’s nearly seven years since Will Young shot to fame as the first winner of ratings-grabbing TV talent search Pop Idol. What’s perhaps more surprising is that he still enjoys…

Suddenly Last Summer

30 Oct 2008

Tennessee Williams’ Suddenly Last Summer is the theatrical equivalent of a shot in the arm from a hypodermic needle, a visceral cocktail of madness, repressed sexuality and cannibalism all played out against the sweltering New Orleans heat. It’s also…

Civil

16 Oct 2008

MULTI-MEDIA THEATRE For many people growing up gay in the 1970s, Quentin Crisp provided the only tangible image of what it meant to be queer to infiltrate the mainstream. The witty author and raconteur who worked as a prostitute and artist’s model…

Blue

16 Oct 2008

MUSICAL PERFORMANCE While its existence in any sort of visual medium is an artistic victory, the ambition of Derek Jarman’s Blue becomes most apparent when you discover that he drummed up money for the film by staging it as a series of live…

A Slow Dissolve

16 Oct 2008

NEW WORK Last year, Barry Henderson’s first play, the Edward Hopper-inspired A Pleasant Kind of Loneliness, impressed critics when it premiered at the Arches. A Slow Dissolve, his new commission from Glasgay!, could well be the sleeper star of…

4 Boutique Shows

16 Oct 2008

1 To Kill A Kelpie In Matthew Smith’s eerie family drama, two grown brothers relive the sexual abuse they suffered at the hands of their uncle, talking to the children they once were about the climate of fear they endured at their abuser’s tales of a…

Suddenly Last Summer

16 Oct 2008

Andy Arnold directs this revival of Tennessee Williams’ shocking one-act play about the terrifying Violet Venable’s attempts to have her niece lobotomised in order to prevent her revealing the truth about her son Sebastian’s sexual proclivities. The…