Happy New Year 2025!!!

 

Merry Xmas folks... with an amazing winter's tale!

 

Plainclothes, a new queer movie inspired by true events

 

Plainclothes is a new queer movie set in 1990s New York and inspired by true events, a working-class undercover officer is tasked with entrapping and apprehending gay men, until he falls in love with a target.

Written and directed by Carmen Emmi, the lead roles are performed by Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey. Amy Forsyth and Christian Cooke also joined the cast, as well as Maria Dizzia, John Bedford Lloyd and Gabe Fazio

“Plainclothes is a heartfelt story that deals with internal conflict, family, and the complexities of sexual identity in the face of societal and personal expectations", told the producer of the movie.

The movie is set to premiere in the U.S. Dramatic Competition at the 2025 Sundance Film Festival next January. Check the screening times here:

Tom Blyth and Russell Tovey play the lead roles

Join the new Gus Kenworthy's coffee table book club

 

Gus Kenworthy is the latest star to follow the growing trend of launching virtual book clubs, but his club come with an important difference as he will support a charity fighting anti-queer censorship.

Hosted by Allstora, the queer book marketplace co-founded by RuPaul, Kenworthy’s subscription based club will support the distribution of 2,500 banned books to LGBTQ organisations across the U.S. through the company’s affiliated charity, The Rainbow Book Bus.

Kenworthy’s club is set to centre “visually stunning coffee table books”, with a focus on art, fashion, and design. “I love what The Rainbow Book Bus is doing, and would have loved to have these books when I was going up,” the Olympian said. “Everyone should have access to books that make them feel seen, loved, and supported.”

For more information, see here.

Saudi Arabia will host the 2034 FIFA World Cup, despite human rights violations

 

Saudi Arabia was confirmed as the host nation of the 2034 World Cup. There was no vote – their right to host was approved by acclaim, with no opposition and with FIFA president Gianni Infantino instructing the assembled delegates on precisely how to applaud the decision into being.

Saudi Arabia has been criticised for its human rights record. In the country, women are heavily restricted in what they are allowed to do and it's also illegal to be in a gay relationship. Free expression is severely restricted and there have been concerns over the treatment of migrant workers in the country.

A recent report from HRW, titled “Die First, and I’ll Pay You Later,” argues that Saudi Arabia is using the tournament to “wash away its poor human rights reputation.”

For many soccer fans around the world, such anouncement will feel familiar from previous World Cups in both Russia and Qatar, with both posing issues around human rights.

Saudi Arabia is among the countries in which consensual same-sex sexual activity remains punishable by death. Shame on you, FIFA!!!

Spanish Supreme Court endorses the rainbow flag in public buildings on Pride Day

 

Spanish Supreme Court endorsed the placement of the rainbow flag in public buildings on Pride Day.

The Court considered that the rainbow flag that represents the LGBT community is not a partisan symbol, which is why it endorses its placement in public buildings as it does not violate the law that regulates the use of banners and flags in Public Administrations. 

“The Supreme Court does not see any impediment to the display of the rainbow flag on the occasion of the celebration of June 28, because it was not placed to replace or subordinate it to the official flags and banners, and it does not advocate any type of confrontation. On the contrary, it is projected in favor of equality between people, a value recognized by the Constitution and the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union,” the ruling states. 

This important decision marks jurisprudence in Spain in the face of possible future complaints of this type.

Moscow gay bars raided by police again

Russian police raided several bars and nightclubs across Moscow as part of the government’s crackdown on LGBTQ propaganda.

The raids come exactly a year since Russia’s Supreme Court ruled that the LGBTQ movement should be banned as an extremist organization.

Its decision followed a decades-long crackdown on LGBTQ rights in Russia, where President Vladimir Putin has touted “traditional family values” as a cornerstone of his quarter-century in power.

Police also detained the head of the “Men Travel” tour agency, because he was suspected of preparing a trip for “the supporters of nontraditional sexual values” to visit Egypt over Russia’s New Year’s holidays.

The European Court of Human Rights ruled that Russia’s anti-gay propaganda law is in breach of European treaty rules on human rights.