Video Technology and Queer Performance.

Ben Walters writes about the documentary This Is Not A Dream, which explores how changing video technology has given voice to queer performers.

“Ever since video arrived at the end of the ’70s, a strain of queer and alternative artists and performers has been interested in using the camera – the dominant disseminator of mainstream culture – for subversive ends.”

LLGFF 2012.

The London Lesbian & Gay Film Festival, 23 March 23 – April 1, 2012, is one of the most important events in the LGBT arts and culture calendar.

“As part of the LLGFF, the BFI is screening four key films from The Celluloid Closet: Queen Christina (1933), Morocco (1930), Suddenly, Last Summer (1959), and Spartacus (1960). This is a great chance to see these classic films as they were meant to be seen: on the big screen.”

The 3rd Annual LGBTQ General Assembly.

David Watters reviews the day, and finds it as varied as it contributors.

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Key Dates in the Queer Calendar

As LGBT History Month 2012 ends Tim Bennett-Goodman takes a sideways look at queer history.

“To my mind, modern queer history, in the British Isles and Ireland at least, begins in 1885 with the Criminal Law Amendment Act, and most particularly the pernicious Section 11 or Labouchere Amendment (named after the MP who introduced it) designed to prosecute male homosexuals for acts of ‘gross indecency’.”

Anti-LGBT vote has one more vote before it is passed

Sign the allout.org petition to protest against the bill to criminalise any writing supporting LGBT people in Russia.

“Imagine for a moment the new St. Petersburg – where newly empowered “thought police” can fine you for any mention of the well known fact that famed Russian composer Tchaikovksy, a St. Petersburg native, was gay.”

Why should we not aspire to happiness?

In an opinion piece for the Independent, IanMcKellen issues a challenge to Lord Carey and those who oppose same-sex marriage.

57% of respondents reported that other performers were homophobic, 20% point to producers and 37% to backstage crew members.

Further Gay Panic in Russia.

Sign the allout.org petition against the proposed bill to criminalise any writing supporting LGBT people in Russia.

Tomorrow the parliament in St Petersburg is likely to pass a bill that will make it a criminal offence to publish writing that in any way supports LGBT people.

Latest Legal Stand on Prop 8 in California.

Prop 8 has been overturned again but the US Right carries on the fght against equal rights.

It was in August 2010 that Judge Vaughn Walker ruled that Prop 8, which outlaws same-sex marriage, was unconstitutional. On February 7, 2012, the 9th US Circuit Court of Appeals upheld Judge Walker’s ruling 2-1..

Gay Panic in Russia.

Two Russian new stories from January 2012: gay air steward forced to marry woman to keep his job; police detained group thought to be staging a gay pride parade.

When Kupreev, 25, tried to found a gay support network at the airline, he was seemingly ordered to marry.

From 2005, LGBT History Month has flourished.

Sue Saunders writes about how UK LGBT History Month started, and its objectives in 2012.

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Trans (LGBT) History Month 2011 and 2012 is fighting for LGBT people to be active in sport – as spectators and participants; at elite and at street level.