What's Happening, Hot Stuff?? 22/01/12

Welcome to this week's WHHS!

There has been SO much news relating to the cruise liner sinking off the coast of the Tuscan island Giglio killing 13 people and we hope that the boat's Captain gets the punishment he deserves for abandoning his ship with people still aboard. While the news is both terrible and shocking, the actions of the village people where the distressed survivors arrived on land show that acts of kindness still happen everywhere - they just don't get as much press!

It turns out that there is actually an entire week dedicated to Random Acts of Kindness - February 13th - 19th http://www.randomactsofkindness.org/! Our landlord's sister actually did us a great RAK yesterday - we had left our parking lot gate key in Sarah's car that was being fixed (so we had another one with us) and as we jumped around in front of the gate trying to make it open (as you need a permit to park on the road) very late at night, she spotted us (as she lives in the next block), got out of bed and let us park in her space. We were SO grateful.

We are now on a mission to complete our RAK!

In other news, have you seen the coverage around Sherlock Holmes being gay? Apparently, in the films and the new series, the title role has been portrayed as a gay man! We love the films with Robert Downey Jr. & Jude Law, and the BBC series set in 21st Century London. The best bit is they have scenes filmed around SOHO and the characters write a blog!

Great news for Glee fans too - Jane Lynch (love her!) and Matthew Morrison are the latest actors to sign up for a one night play in LA about the Proposition 8 ballot. The play revisits the measure which banned gay marriage in California. The play also stars Jaime Lee Curtis (Freaky Friday & My Girl (Laura has just announced she's never seen this film OMG OMG!)), Jesse Tyler Ferguson (Modern Family - love him too!) and George Takei (Star Trek). It will be great publicity for the NOH8 campaign!

Every article we read on gay marriage makes the challenges we will potentially face even more real. Thus far we have been lucky enough to not have received any discrimination - in fact most people are fascinated by our relationship and interested to know more. However, a story we read recently really highlighted just how much this isn't the case for everyone. When we joined our gym we got a couple's discount and our personal trainer LOVED asking about us and our relationship - how sad that in Ohio not only did a gay married couple get denied the 'family discount', when they complained to the state they got told 'The state of Ohio does not protect people from discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, and the state doesn't recognize same-sex unions.' Ouch! Outrageous! This. Must. Change.

Discrimination is awful wherever it happens and it's good to see that if you stir up hatred in the UK you will be punished. A group of Muslims who were caught handing out anti-gay leaflets were the first people convicted under a new law. 'The Public Order Act 1986 was amended by the Criminal Justice and Immigration Act 2008 to create the offence of intentionally stirring up hatred on the grounds of sexual orientation.' If found guilty the maximum sentence is 7 years. Sue Hemming of the Special Crimes & Counter Terrorism Division followed this up with this statement 'Everyone has a right to be protected by the law and we regard homophobic crimes, along with all hate crimes, as particularly serious because they undermine people’s right to feel safe. While people are entitled to hold extreme opinions which others may find unpleasant and obnoxious, they are not entitled to distribute those opinions in a threatening manner intending to stir up hatred against gay people.' 

A UK backbench revolt against equal marriage has started ahead of the government's consultation in March.  The Independent paper reported that Conservative MP David Burrowes (for Enfield-Southgate) says that the debate/consultation should be about 'how we view marriage rather than about homosexual rights, and that there was no public outcry for marriage equality. Many colleagues are worried that it would fundamentally affect how marriage between a man and woman has historically been viewed in this country. There are strong doubts that we need to go down this path. It would open up a can of worms and a legal minefield about freedom, religion and equality legislation. Gay marriage is a debate we don’t need to have at this stage. It is not an issue people are hammering us on the doorstep to do something about.'  Erm, where has this guy been living? It's not an issue?! It would open up a can of worms?! Do these people really play a role in the government of a country!?

MP David Burrowes

You may also have read the coverage about whether footballers should 'come out' or remain silent if they are gay. As a football fan (Sarah is a loyal Reading supporter), we can see the pro's and con's. Ultimately no-one should have to hide who they are BUT it is imperative football club managers support players, should they come-out. This is the first challenge to address. One of the UK's more out-spoken players Joey Barton has explained to a BBC3 documentary: “Certain managers will discriminate,” and “these archaic figures think if they had a gay footballer there would be all kinds of shenanigans in the dressing room.” Max Clifford, who has apparently known several gay players too frightened to come out, said: “When they have come to me to protect their identity, they have made it very clear that their career would be finished if they were known to be gay.” Coming out in the world of football has been a topic in the news recently after the Head of the German Football Association promised to support any player who chooses to come out. The documentary on BBC3, about sexuality in sport, shows on the 30th of Jan. It should spark an  interesting debate as there are currently no openly gay professional football players in Britain, and only two in the world.

Stateside, in Glee, Rachel's gay Dads have been announced as Jeff Goldblum and Brian Stokes Mitchell, and they will be singing a duet in the Valentine's day episode. Exciting! Obama has also been caught singing.... *swoon*

And there were some states this week, including Idaho, who got snow! Boise got six inches, but unfortunately it was all melted a day later!

Until next week
Sarah & Laura xoxo

If you have enjoyed this post check out other WHHS HERE!