Russia goes backwards on LGBT

Russia Today are reporting that the the lower house of the Russian Parliament, The Duma, has voted for a ban on promoting non-traditional sexual relations to minors.  Now whilst this might sound sensible, it is one of those ideas that in practice causes a lot more problems than it solves.

The situation in Russia regarding LGBT relations has been pretty stable since 2003.  The age of consent is 16, for both heterosexual and LGBT relationships, homosexual sex is legal, as is the right to change your gender, but there is still a long way to go. 

There are no anti-discrimination laws in place for the Russian LGBT community, and this new law seeks to take the issue further back into the dark ages.  People start to express their sexuality as early as their early teens, and they will want to find out information.  Blocking access to that information will not promote heterosexuality, but will make LGBT relationships, and other non-traditional sexual relations more interesting.  It's classic reverse psychology, tell somebody they can't do something and they want to do it all the more.

Some ideas sound eminently sensible.  However, most of those ideas end up causing more problems, especially when those measures are directly against a person's sexuality, and also, trying to place societal controls on something that Mother Nature decides.  It comes across as being a fool's errand to try and place societal controls, such as laws, on things that are not decided by societies, but by nature.

What's worse is that the public backs this ban.  88% back it, and 42% think homosexuality should be made a criminal offence.  This is a backward step for Russia, and it will come back and bite them, when they least expect it.

Holding celebrities to account?

Here on Viewpoint and on TruthSeeker, I do my best to hold politicians, pundits and columnists to account.  I also at least do try and highlight when they get it right too.  But there is a blog out there that aims to point out every famous hypocrite, be they politician or celebrity.

The trouble is, I think they're a little over-zealous with their hypocrisy-hunting.  That or it's a poor excuse to focus on pretty female celebrities, who do seem to be the so-called main offenders according to Deceiver.com.

For instance, a recent post about Heroes cheerleader Hayden Panettiere referenced Murdoch rag The Sun and a story about rumours that Hayden is a lesbian.  Rather than try to deny it, she went completely the other way...

She said: “That’s fine with me. If I’m going to be linked with someone, I could do an affair with Angelina Jolie, Jessica Alba or Charlize Theron.

“And Kate Beckinsale is gorgeous. There are so many beautiful girls.”

Well, I can't disagree with her, but I can disagree with Deceiver, and another blog they reference, IDontLikeYouInThatWay.com, who say...

"Her publicists have already tried the Lolita thing, now there are "rumors" that this chick is a lesbian. So basically, they are trying everything they can to turn Panettiere into a sex symbol. In reality, the only thing that might work is a growth spurt and some thigh exercises."

I think that's very unfair, as she is a very sexy looking lady, in a girl next door kinda way.  Deceiver are no better...

"...the only reason she’s obnoxiously propagating this titillating tidbit is that she wants you to picture her making out with women who are way, way hotter than she is, and hope it rubs off on her a little."

Oh come on.  Are you seriously trying to tell me that this a cynical ploy to make her seem sexier?  Kinky Gerlinky has some very sexy pictures of Hayden in a lovely blue dress and thigh high leather boots, and Booted Up has more pictures of Hayden looking very pretty and very sexy in boots.  Boot Lady Teri, who runs the blog and Bootlovers.com, which the blog is associated with, even manages to congratulate Hayden on being a well behaved, decent young lady.

I think she's hot enough to not need any publicist to try and up her hotness.  No, this is much simpler than that.  What Hayden is doing is ending a rumour by not taking it seriously and laughing with it.  And because Hayden has not become the next Britney Spears and Lindsay Lohan in the celebrity disaster department, these blogs, like Deceiver, are using every last excuse they can to criticise her and print her pictures.

Sorry, but this is easier to see through than a window!  I don't make a habit of criticising blogs without reason.  After all, most blogs are just ordinary people writing down their opinions, or keeping a diary of events and thoughts, and I'm pretty much the same.  I respect the differences in opinions, with the proviso that there is a factual basis for their opinion.  Opinions just for the sake of opinions is not something I do, and is definitely not something I like other people doing.  But it has to be said, when the truth is that visible, that obvious, and so well established by many other celebrities over the years doing the exact same thing, dismissing a rumour by laughing with it, you've gotta wonder whether the writer of that blog post has an ulterior agenda at work, and I strongly believe they do.

Like most tabloids and celeb-obsessed magazines, these celeb-obsessed blogs are looking for any excuse, however flimsy, to highlight certain celebrities, because they believe, rightly or wrongly, that covering those celebrities will get them readers.  I do understand that certain stories will get readers flocking to a blog, I experienced that myself with the recent Austrian Incest case, which brought more readers onto the blog than ever before.  But unlike the celebrity obsessive blogs, I look for the stories I want to cover, and if that means I get plenty of readers clicking through to the blog, even better.

Deceiver by name, and deceiver by nature.  Deceiver.com flatters to deceive.

Denise Van Outen - Hot Lesbian for "Rent"

Denise Van Outen is paying the 'Rent' by playing a sex mad lesbian in a new version of the musical at the Duke Of York Theatre in the West End Of London.

This Is London and the Daily Mail have pictures of Denise in costume looking extraordinarily sexy and hot. It's even drawn the attention of Bootmaster Teri at Booted Up, and news has even spread to India, via the website of news magazine Top News, in their "Light Reading" section.

At the moment, bookings are being taken until 5th April 2008. I'd love to go, but at £30 a ticket, I think my own 'rent' comes first, unfortunately.

Repackaged 18 month old news? Must be the silly season!

Stories may go in and out of news bulletins and newspapers depending on how much has happened in the meantime, but rarely do you get stale news. Today, you did, from the Daily Star!

The story is about new X-Factor judge, Dannii Minogue, and pictures of her enjoying "...lesbian romps with a naked lapdancer." at a London nightclub.

Now, originally, the crux of this post would have been that what celebrities do in their off hours is really not our business. Even now, I still believe this.

However this blog post has become a rant at a lazy media.

You see, when I checkout a story that I'm going to comment on, I do it the honour of a little research beforehand. This way, I find out if a story is pure hyperbole, or actually has something a little more factual about it. In this case, I simply typed in the words "Dannii Minogue Lesbian" into Google, and I found the story straight away, with the incriminating photgraphs.

However, what struck me about the story was not the pictures, but the date!

The story is reported on the site, dated February 2006!

This material is 18 months old!

Furthermore, just a little way into the story itself, the site reports that the story was originally reported in the News Of The World!

So, just because she is now a judge on the X-Factor, this story is dredged up from a competitor, repackaged it and branded it an exclusive!

Quite frankly, this is the ultimate in bad journalism! We see it far too much these days, but this is possibly the worst example of journalism I have seen in a very long time.

A little research told me just how bad this was and proved to me just what these so-called tabloid journalists will do to get their paper to sell more copies. This should give you all the reasons you need to AVOID these kinds of charlatans. Stick to reputable news sources.