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How do we become ourselves - the self that we know and others recognise? Family, friends, role models, books, papers, magazines: all have a part to play … but what if you don't see yourself reflected anywhere? How do you become acceptable to yourself?
This narrative is intended to paint a personal picture of my life as someone growing up gay in the 1970s in a small market town in the North of England where everyone knew everyone else and their business. If you felt different then woe betide you if you told anyone. Physically and culturally it was miles away from a major city, with the advantages and (some) disadvantages that go with that. This journey narrates the way that I sought information to try and make some sense of my sexual identity; from what I read, watched and heard around me.
Clearly, I had an identifiable need for information about health, social events, emotional issues, and not least dealing with family and friends. ('Coming-out' had not yet entered the mainstream vocabulary.) However, there was simply little information to be had.
The library shelves demonstrated a dearth of materials and the social mores of the time prevented open discussion. The few representations in the media were often unflattering, be they either documentary, comedy or newspaper reportage. The lack of availability of literature contrasts with the burgeoning Gay Liberation Movement which was becoming active in the 1970s. In many senses the information available at the time was very much based on the medical/mental health model from the 1950s and '60s, and reflected the same prejudices.
This is in stark contrast to the 2000s where, in the internet age, there is so much information available that it has become part of a lucrative niche market for those wishing to exploit the 'pink pound'. The willingness of bookshops and libraries to host LGBT sections has brought a wide range of literature to its readers, but could this have contributed to information fatigue amongst its target audience? Is life for a young gay man in the 2000s any different than it was in the 1970s? How does greater availability of information contribute to that?
Certainly there is greater pressure to fit into one of the multiple gay identities that have emerged in the last 30 years, and a growing culture of information avoidance/fatigue that may have health impacts in later years. The homogenous gay 'community' that was struggling to form in the '70s has been and gone, to be replaced by more fragmented communities.
The journey I describe draws on personal experience, books and academic papers on the subject, but remains, at heart, a narrative with links to one or two entertaining/informative snippets scattered throughout.
It is only now in later years, when we are surrounded by so much information, that I realise the dearth of information out there at the time. Initially, I put that down to my geographical location, as rural areas often draw the short straw in these matters. However, on reflection, would my somewhat troubled teenage psyche have been eased had I been able to locate information about health, meet like-minded people, or just feel that someone else had experienced the same thing?
The elephant in the room that I need to acknowledge is the AIDS crisis of the 1980s. For the purposes of this piece, I have chosen not to add substantially to the many millions of words that have already been written about it. This is not to deny its undeniable impact on what came after, but simply to acknowledge that it would merit individual study in its own right. Where it has affected information issues I will refer to it as appropriate.
For those of you old enough to remember, let me transport you back to the 1970s; and for those who are not, let me take you on a magical mystery tour of what seems like a far-off age. In the earlier part of the decade, the country went through decimalisation as well as bread and sugar shortages and power cuts which came about through the 'three day week' in 1972 in anticipation of a miners' strike.
Unconcerned by such matters, the nation's children were riding around on Chopper bikes, and when not doing that, they were bouncing around on large orange spherical objects called Spacehoppers. Failing that they were suffering from bruised wrists from 'clackers', which were all the rage.
By 1977, the Queen's Silver Jubilee, Abba was in the ascendant and flared trousers teamed with platform shoes in the disco were at the peak of their popularity. Top of the Pops was one of the biggest shows on the BBC and always the talking point at school, and there was always such discussion about the latest number one single. June 1978 featured a PVC-clad Olivia Newton-John gyrating provocatively with a lithe John Travolta. This seemed to be on the TV for weeks, and for me it made compulsive viewing. At the age of 14, I realised clearly that my belting rendition of 'You're the one that I want' was aimed squarely at John rather than Olivia.
What was a boy to do? How could I deal with this emerging awareness that poked into my consciousness after having lurked in the background for a number of years? Should I try to investigate whether it had a name, or just how wrong these thoughts and feelings were? I needed to find out more; however, plainly I couldn't talk to anyone as that meant admitting it and gave it an external reality. I decided that outward (and inward) denial were the order of the day but vowed to find out more, just out of curiosity, you understand ... but where to look? Small North Lincolnshire market towns in the 1970s were not renowned for brimming over with information for their inhabitants who might be 'one of those'.
Not being from a 'bookish' background, I made a first foray into my investigation by leafing through a 1950s copy of Pears' Medical Cyclopaedia that languished on the bottom shelf of a glass-fronted three-shelf bookcase in my aunt's bedroom. From this, I discovered that the feelings had a name ('homosexuality', which sounded very serious) and was reassured to find that they were just a phase that would disappear in time. It wasn't so reassuring to find the details listed as a medical condition under 'psychiatric illnesses'. I have concluded that the cyclopaedia was wrong, as 35 years later I am still waiting for this phase to pass.
So where else was there to go to find out more? The library seemed like a possibility.
My local library opened for about two hours a night on three days a week and was guarded by the redoubtable Mrs Fogg. We had been taken there on a trip and each was enrolled with the requisite number of pink (!) library tickets. The library was small, and had an adults' and a children's section. It also had its own unique smell of old book and furniture polish. Anyone who broke its hallowed silence by swallowing too loudly or coughing was treated with withering looks from Mrs Fogg. From this description, you will have gathered that it wasn't the most welcoming of places, and certainly discouraged 'out and proud'.
Searching more widely, the local library in a larger neighbouring town had more information in the form of the Kinsey Reports and Masters and Johnson's works on human sexuality. Again, these were very much in the medical/psychiatric mould, and it was worrying to read that I would be likely to live a life outside 'normal' society, plagued by depression and suicidal thoughts.
It seems that these library experiences were typical of those experienced by other gay men at the time and indeed for the previous decades. This lack of information was noted in the 1930s by Porter and Weeks, where one of their contributors notes:
I now found there weren't many books either. There was a very limited range of knowledge available to you. The books that the most influence on me were by Edward Carpenter ... I also read J.A Symonds.
(Porter & Weeks, 1991:61)
This lack of information is still prevalent in the 1970s, as Andrew Sullivan states:
The secret began then when I was young. I hardly dared mention it to anyone; and the complete absence of any note on the subject in my family, or in school, in television, newspapers, or even such books as I could get ahold of, made the secret that much more mystifying. (Sullivan, 1995:6)
The fact is that there was little published material about homosexuality that was aimed at homosexuals themselves. The self-help bandwagon had yet to roll and the material that did exist concentrated on defining it as a disease, and in some cases in suggesting or reporting on 'cures'. The peak time for such 'cures' were in the 1950s, but this approach continued until the '70s. One particular article revisits electric shock aversion therapy that was administered to homosexual 'patients' (Smith, Bartlett, & King, 2004). This article goes on to conclude that:
The medicalization of homosexuality itself seems to have been the fundamental error, rather than what type of treatment arose as a consequence ... Homosexuality was removed from ICD-10 only in 1992. Our study shows the negative consequences of defining same sex attraction as a mental illness and designing treatments to eradicate it (Smith, Bartlett & King, 2004:427)
As a young man, I was aware from the newspapers that such treatments still went on, and it reinforced the feeling that what I felt (and fought) was completely unnatural and wrong. Importantly, there was a nagging thought at the back of my mind that someday, I might have to go for treatment to stop it. In fact there were times when I thought that I should actually volunteer to go and have the treatment. The whole thing made uncomfortable reading.
Having had little (in fact no) success in obtaining books on the subject, I turned my attention to other media. In actual fact I couldn't really avoid it, as the newspapers in particular were forever screaming about the 'gay explosion'. The papers of the time alternate between the more medicalized word 'homosexual', the older word 'queer', and the newly appropriated 'gay' which was about to make the transition from 'happy'. The Gay Liberation Front was accused of hijacking a perfectly proper English word and using it for its own nefarious purposes. 'Gay' carried political overtones, sandwiched on top of a sexuality that was not deemed to be acceptable for 'normal' society.
In the headlines of the time the press continued to describe the lot of the gay man as one to be pitied, with its imagined sordid sexual hook-ups and, despite the 1967 Sexual Offences Act, fear of blackmail. A few examples of the milder headlines include:
Southend's twilight world - and the men in fear who haunt it (Evening Echo, 21/01/70)
Doing the Holland Park Walk (Kensington Post, 18/06/1976)
The Gay Explosion (Sunday Mirror, 03/04/1977)
Often such articles were followed the week after by readers' responses which allowed the prevailing prejudices of the time to be peddled, despite suggesting that they were providing a balanced view.
With hindsight, some of this is tied up to linguistic devices that would never be allowed in these more politically correct days. For example, Good Housekeeping (1972) makes a positive start with the title 'Homosexuals are not a race apart', then proceeds to say that
no power on God's earth can stem the gut reaction of disgust which homosexuality still arouses in a lot of honest citizens (Mendes, 1972:49)
Surprisingly, this piece ends with a plea to 'honest citizens' to let homosexuals live in social as well as legal peace (presumably by implication, gay men were not 'honest citizens'). Whilst public attitudes towards homosexuality were starting to thaw a little, the implicit message in most media at the time was that gays were good for a laugh or to be pitied, and most importantly that they operate outside 'normal' society, so were of little interest to the public at large (unless of course, someone's husband or son turned out to be gay).
Gay characters started to appear in British sitcoms from the beginning of the 1970s, and this could be considered as a barometer of public acknowledgement of homosexuality. The higher profile of the GLF and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE) meant that 'the love that dare not speak its name' was seemingly shouting it from the suburban rooftops. In order to be acceptable to the public, however, such characters had to be portrayed in rigid stereotypical terms. Consequently, they were comedy 'poofs' with whom the British public could feel comfortable yet distanced, as they didn't represent any threat to the traditional way of life. These characters came with a pedigree that led back to Julian and Sandy from the radio show Round the Horne in the mid-1960s. These two characters had nasal voices, camp demeanour and propensity to use the gay slang Polari, whose real meaning would have been lost on most of its straight audience.
In the blog post '50 Years of Comedy Queers' its author describes how caricatures of gay men were unthreatening because
poofs mince about, they dress flamboyantly, they have limp wrists and camp mannerisms. They may cast a look at an attractive, butch man, and indulge in occasional double-entendres, but fundamentally, they are asexual and unmanly. (Ukjarry, 2009)
Such caricatured behaviours allowed the audience to feel more comfortable with something that remained relatively invisible and the experience of something 'other' outside traditional family life. Acknowledging the existence of gay people as sentient beings would have been uncomfortable.
The poof par excellence of the 1970s is Mr Humphries, portrayed by John Inman in Are You Being Served (1972-1985). The character of Mr Humphries personified the stereotypical gay menswear assistant , manifested in his high voice and mincing walk with hands either on hips or pressed to his cheek. Most famously, he was known for his catchphrase 'I'm free!' and his affected, deep, hyper-masculine voice on answering the telephone. Despite the camp persona of the character, both writers and actor always denied that he was gay, but insisted rather that he was simply a 'mother's boy'. Sexual orientation was never made explicit but left hanging in the air for the viewers to decide for themselves.
In another series, Not on Your Nellie (1974-1975) viewers regularly met resident queer comedy double act, Gilbert and George, who ran a boutique together. In every episode the ever-silent Gilbert would appear in some flamboyant outfit or other. Hylda Baker would ask "And what are you today then, Gilbert?". Without fail, the same formula was followed each week with Gilbert giving a twirl to which Hylda responded with "Oh you're one of those, are you?".
Finally in the pantheon of '70s comedy queens, Dick Emery played the overtly camp and definitely gay character Clarence in The Dick Emery Show. As with the majority of other camp characters, the character was formulaic and relied on catchphrases. Clarence would flounce on in a preposterous costume with matching cap, run into a 'straight' man and utter his catchphrase "Hello, Honky Tonks, how are you?". The ensuing conversation led to the customary double entendres before he minced off again. The very slight variation from week to week meant that the audience knew what to expect and consequently didn't feel threatened. Such characters as described above would certainly offend today's politically correct brigade, but it has to be remembered that they were of their time.
In 1975, at the age of 11, I somehow managed to be on hand to watch The Naked Civil Servant which I had seen advertised in the TV Times. It looked set to be shocking, telling the story of Quentin Crisp from childhood to middle age when he became one of the "stately homos of England". I did find it acutely embarrassing as my parents were sitting watching it with me. The reason for this embarrassment stemmed from Crisp's determination to describe himself as (and behave as) an 'effeminate homosexual' (Crisp, 1968). The majority of nascent gay men were not particularly effeminate, a fact noted by an anonymous gay man who wrote to the press in January 1976:
Being 'gay' means that I am perfectly normal, with one slight difference. I prefer to love another man. I am not, and see no point in trying to ape a female. There are a great deal like me. (David, 1997:241)
Personally, I found these characters uncomfortable to watch as it made me feel that I had to ensure that I didn't exhibit any such characteristics in case I was 'found out'. The few representations of gay men as either comic/ridiculous or seedy/lascivious inevitably made me feel that I had to avoid being given those particular labels. The enormity of having to live with such a thing and be found out by family and friends was too awful a prospect to deal with. By 17 I had a girlfriend and, whilst feeling that it was wrong for me, I liked the completely different way that people treated me. I had suddenly become 'normal' after spending my life as an outsider looking in. I really can't tell you how good that felt.
At this point, it would perhaps be helpful to remind readers of the LGBT background against which my narrative should be viewed. The period in which I grew up was only about ten years after the 1967 Sexual Offences Act which decriminalised homosexual acts between two men in private providing that they were both over the age of 21. The jurisdiction of the Act did not include Scotland, Northern Ireland or the Channel Islands, nor the Merchant Navy or the Armed Forces. The campaigns for law reform had followed a relatively conservative route and attempted to allow for homosexuals to have respectability, domesticity and discretion. The key aspects of the Sexual Offences Act were in its differentiation between public and private. Whilst this did help some men, there was a vast swathe of others who remained outside the law in terms of where and with whom they took their sexual pleasures.
Most commentators agree that the early 1970s saw the emergence of homosexual consciousness, most readily represented by the use of the word 'gay' as the label for a socio-political movement. This marked a move away from the more medical term 'homosexual' which had started in the nineteenth century. The two predominant movements at the time were the Gay Liberation Front (GLF) and the Campaign for Homosexual Equality (CHE). The former was the more militant and advocated openness, defiance, pride, identity and self-activity. It was based on the model that had taken the United States by storm. The latter was more uncontroversial in its desire to stay well within the law and spend its time trying to build up social facilities for what was now beginning to be called the 'gay community'.
Meanwhile, back in the wilds of ill-informed North Lincolnshire, life and love (or lack of it!) went on in very much the same way as it ever had. I remember seeing double-paged salacious spreads in the News of the World about gay scandals involving public figures. My thought was that for something that people found so distasteful, my grandmother (a keen Methodist) was eager to read all about it.
By the end of the 1970s, the 'clone' look was the new way of representing gay sensibilities and to those us growing up at the time it was a welcome alternative to the camp queens so beloved of British comedies. American gay men in particular embraced this hyper masculinity and 'butch' style. They began working out to improve their musculature and grew moustaches combined with short haircuts in an effort to be more 'manly' than straight men. Style-wise, they favoured the 'working man', 'working class rough', 'military man' or 'athlete'. These styles enabled gay men to construct a new identity which rejected the feminine past, as Levine explains:
Activists rejected the belief that gay men were womanly, claiming that to believe so was a symptom of internalised homophobia (self-hatred based on the dominant culture's view of homosexuality as deviant or immoral). Gay men were simply men who loved men. They were not deviant, were not failed men. They were real men, and in their presentational styles they set about demonstrating their new-found and hard fought conformity to traditional norms of masculinity (Levine, 1998:68)
On the pop scene we were treated to 'YMCA' by the Village People, which epitomises the 'clone' style and look. Despite the opportunities such international changes offered on a micro scale, I would have to have been very confident about wearing such garb to the local disco on a Friday night and of course, I wasn't and would have been laughed at or hit. Nor could I have grown a moustache at that point! The reason for this lack of confidence was the knowledge that in donning this particular 'uniform' you were in effect 'coming out' to all your friends. This was something that was life-changing, needed great consideration, and was totally out of the question for me.
The end of the 1970s saw the opening of the first specialised Gay and Lesbian bookshop, 'Gay's the Word' in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its launch was inspired by the success of gay bookstores in the United States. At that time in the UK, gay related books were not generally available in high street bookshops as they were not felt to be appropriate for the general public. Most of the stock was imported from the United States, for the simple reason that there was not enough 'gay interest' material published in the UK. In 1984 the shop was raided by HM Custom & Excise, under the impression that it was selling pornographic material. A campaign was started which was supported by a number of writers and questions were asked in the House of Commons. Despite this, it would be quite some time before 'gay interest' books would be seen gracing the shelves of High Street booksellers.
As promised, I will not dwell on this area, but here are a couple of public information films of the time produced by the UK Government at a time when fear, panic and blame culture were on the rise. The late '80s coincided with the start of my working life and for part of this I worked in libraries attached to hospitals. All the staff had to undergo training for dealing with people with AIDS and as a (albeit closeted) gay man, it was pretty scary to say the least. Hospitals were preparing huge wards for the anticipated pandemic which thankfully never happened in the UK (although, sad to say, it did in some African countries). There were times when the headlines and the TV were blaming gay men for the 'gay plague' and it truly felt like divine retribution. Many of the gains in gay rights that had been made in the 1970s were all but wiped out as public attitudes retrenched against us.
One of the positives to come out of the AIDS crisis in the 1980s was the accelerated development of a 'gay community' which pulled together in the face of adversity and exceedingly negative press coverage. At the time, I was studying for my degree and had fought many demons regarding sexuality before enlightening a few of my closest friends. Once again, I cannot remember referring to any particular literature on the 'coming out' process. This was due principally to the fact that even in my University library books on the subject were still based on the medical model. So ... moving on twenty or so years ...
As someone who works with information, I am only too aware of the colossal changes in information provision and information-seeking behaviour since the inception of the Internet. This has now expanded to include social media such as Facebook and Twitter. These do, I am sure, have significant effects on how people see gay men and how they see themselves, but perhaps it is too early to say what they are. Certainly, for myself, there is always the issue of how much information to include as part of one's online identity. 'Coming out' is not a one-off process, but one that occurs on very many occasions throughout life. This isn't generally in the form of a huge declaration, but simply in either acknowledging or denying aspects of oneself according to each situation. Despite numerous attitudinal changes, we still inhabit a hetero-normative society and not everyone is willing to accept change.
In this section, I offer some of my own thoughts on the information landscape presented to gay men in the 2000s and 2010s and finally attempt to draw some conclusions about the differences with the gay information landscape of my youth.
As discussed earlier, the two main organizations working for gay rights were the GLF and CHE. In the 2000s, one of the best known in the UK is Stonewall which campaigns and lobbies on behalf of the gay community. It has been particularly vocal in the equal marriage debate have a high profile on Social Media. A quick look on Twitter under the hashtag #equalmarriage in summer 2013 reveals vast numbers of organizations and individuals who reveal their thoughts on and support for the Same Sex marriage bill.
In researching this chapter, I have been truly amazed at the sheer volume of organizations catering to the different areas of the 'community' (whatever that may mean). Also, from the dearth of information presented to homosexual individuals in the 1970s, there is an overwhelming variety of materials. One doesn't now have to seek information actively: it is all around, particularly in the social media arena. As with most information, the trick is sorting out the credible and relevant from the incorrect and downright harmful.
By the 1990s, the combined influence of the political lobbying of the 1970s and the AIDS crisis of the 1980s meant that gay men generally felt a sense of community in the face of adversity. Gay Pride marches became regular events on the calendar and there was an increasing trend towards 'gay villages' in some cities (Manchester's Canal Street area, for example, which featured in the 1999 series Queer as Folk). The Gay community had been transformed into the LGBT Community (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender). The rainbow flag was adopted as a symbol of the diversity of this community in 1978 and its continued use in the 2000s shows how it has retained its symbolic importance to the gay community. The very notion of a 'community' of gay people is something that would certainly have been foreign to me in the 1970s. It is something that one can choose to embrace (or not as the case may be). There are still many MSMs (men who have sex with men) who feel that their identity is outside the 'gay' community. Even so, in the 2000s, they can obtain health and social information from regional offices of MESMAC, which is set up for all men, however they identify themselves.
By the early 2000s, I was living a Northern city which boasted a couple of gay pubs which expanded and flourished into the 2000s. When the financial crisis hit them, several closed. Nearby, however, in Leeds and Sheffield were larger gay 'scenes' and the Northern gay mecca of Manchester was not far away. They all boasted their drag nights, stripper nights, and even 'camp' bingo and quiz nights (the camp stemmed from the fact that the questions were read by drag queens). There was always a mixed crowd with men of a variety of ages. This helped to foster a sense of community and in many senses resonated with historical accounts of closed 'Gentlemen's clubs' in the 1930s and '40s. The key thing was that I had a choice to engage or not. In the 1970s in my home location there was no choice, as venues were non-existent. I have always maintained that the further East across the country you travel, the fewer gay venues and facilities there are.
The 1990s saw the introduction of niche books and magazines aimed at gay men. This has continued into the 2000s and it is now easy for a gay man to read gay fiction, romance, porn, sexual instruction, self-help - in fact any conceivable thing they could wish for. In the UK, Waterstones has a 'Gay and Lesbian' section in many of its shops. However, there is a counter-argument from the gay community that the sexual orientation of either the author or chief protagonists should not be enough to define a genre and therefore place it in a separate section from those items intended for the heterosexual community.
Searching on the Internet, there is a London gay book group and individual lists of 'good reads for gay men'. So much choice - the lists are endless - but do people have time to read them? Also, I suspect that the quality of many of them leave something to be desired.
What were some of the reasons for the gay information explosion in the late 1990s and beyond? Personally, I would attribute it primarily to the increasing visibility of gay people which meant that there was suddenly a new niche market for advertisers. A new and relatively affluent consumer group had been created and everyone was keen to benefit from the 'pink pound' and the lifestyle it represented. One such magazine which straddled the millennium is Attitude, a magazine that appeals to a wide age range of gay men. It is aspirational in style and assumes a certain level of income and similar preoccupations. Generally the cover features an attractive (and generally heterosexual) sportsman or actor that is of interest to the gay 'community' with a full interview inside. Predictably for a magazine aimed at a gay audience, there are extensive sections devoted to fashion, film and music . In addition, it flirts with the pink pound with numerous pages of swimwear and underwear. As a by-product of such advertising, the nature of the product also doubles up as an excellent opportunity for handsome men to appear in various stages of undress.
One very positive aspect that I respect about this magazine is that it looks at gay life holistically, and provides advice about relationships which helps to address the increasing sexualization and commodification that I will discuss later.
Health-wise there is a regular column from an HIV positive contributor as well as 'The Clinic' with Dr Christian Jessen (the gay TV Doctor from Embarrassing Bodies) and 'Body Talk' which looks at the body issues, diet and exercise regimes of ordinary readers. As a source of information, Attitude is articulate and informative ; indeed, the June 2013 issue is themed as a 'youth' issue specifically aimed at younger gay men, and deals with many questions that I would dearly love to have had answered (or even acknowledged) when I was in my teens.
Health information is an area where (at least on the surface), the 2000s are way ahead of the 1970s and yet, despite this, the Stonewall report about the health of gay and bisexual men makes depressing reading. Of particular concern to me are its findings about mental health, eating disorders and body image as well as sexual health and HIV status. Could it be that a new hedonism has gripped younger gay men, who are not so aware of the 1980s and all that it represented, and are intent on having a good time? Additionally, the concentration on HIV means that some men are more complacent about other STDs that are 'curable', thereby increasing the numbers suffering from them. Somewhat worrying, I feel.
If there is one area where information has burgeoned since the 1970s, it is the vast range of information about 'coming out', whether that be in book, magazine, or video clip/internet form. This process was encouraged in the 1970s as a way of making the sizable, but silent, minority of gay men more visible to society at large. It was not, however, purely a '70s phenomenon, since self-disclosure of sexual orientation as a way of changing public opinion had been advocated by Ulrichs in 1869.
Coming out in the 70s was a major thing with the potential to change your life (and as far as I could see, not necessarily for the better). Given the shift in social attitudes today, it is a more accepted 'rites of passage' process for gay people, but that does not mean that it is easy. A project called It gets better was started in the USA in 2011 in response to the number of teenage suicides among those werebullied for being gay, or perceived as being gay, by their friends. It uses video clips by gay adults who try to assure the younger people that it does actually get better over time, that the bad times will pass and that they are not alone. Such campaigns on the internet are linked with social media so that those who may need such information are more likely to be aware of it via their customary media use. Even if that information is not pushed out to them, it can be located by searching the internet.
For those contemplating the coming out process, a voluminous literature of 'coming out tales' has gradually formed its own sub-genre and from these can be gleaned useful tips on what to do and what not to do. Importantly, the reader becomes aware that they are not the only one tackling this issue: that they are treading a path that has been trodden by many before. Individual circumstance and the irrevocable nature of coming out mean that it is always momentous; however, there is much more help at hand than there ever has been in the past. A great example is in the above-mentioned June 2013 issue of Attitude which features a whole section on coming out. In his editor's letter, Matthew Todd explains:
It's not a question of screaming or shouting or 'defining yourself by your sexuality', as some people seem to think - it's just about being real with yourself and the world. Often we don't come out because we think other people's reactions will be bad, when sometimes it is our own reaction we are scared of. (Todd, 2013:8)
One of the difficulties faced by gay men has always been that of how to locate and meet like-minded people, particularly if one was born in areas away from cities and towns with their own 'underground' gay community. From the 1900s, gay men would test the sexuality of potential conquests or friends through their understanding and recognition of Polari, which enabled gay-centric subjects to be discussed without being comprehended by the straight majority. It was one way of marking out a gay identity. This gradually fell out of use in the 1960s and was replaced in the early 1970s by the 'hanky code' whereby sexual preferences were indicated by different coloured handkerchiefs worn in the back pocket.
In the 2000s, the most significant influences on the lives of gay men across the world have been the rise of online dating sites. The number of gay dating sites has proliferated in the 2000s and much newsprint has been devoted to their pros and cons. Of the many available, Gaydar and Grindr are good representatives of this particular type of site.
Gudelunas recognizes that:
Generally, we know that people can enhance their sense of group belonging and social identity by using media that features people who belong to the same social group. This is particularly a key in the case of 'invisible' sexual minorities like gay men who grow up and experience life both with the ability to 'pass' as heterosexual and who most typically grow up with no immediate gay family members. (Gudelunas, 2012:353)
Gaydar started in 1999 and is popular in the UK, Europe, Australia and North America. It offers gay men the chance to create a profile and meet others in online 'rooms'. These may be based on geography, thus facilitating local meets or arrangements in advance, or according to specific sexual likes or dislikes, for example 'suits', 'humiliation', 'older men' etc. It also has rooms for bisexuals and married men. Both of the latter may or may not identify with the 'gay' community in a physical sense, yet the internet gives them the opportunity to explore new sexual horizons with relative ease. In all cases, it allows the user to decide what aspects of their sexual persona to reveal.
The other key player is Grindr. Launched as recently as 2009, Grinder already has 5 million members across the world, with over 350,000 users in London alone. Unlike Gaydar, Grindr works via mobile devices and uses geo-location to locate gay/bisexual/bi-curious men in the vicinity. You can use it to locate potential partners who may be sitting or standing only a few metres away from you!
Such dating sites may be seen as liberating. However, in many ways they go against the whole idea of the gay community. As one regular user of Gaydar reports:
On the one hand, it does link people up, but they are not socialising, they are not meeting in bars. They are just sitting talking down a line, ordering what they want, when they want it. That can be a very narrow thing. (Addley, 2007:25)
Such has been the success of these sites that in recent years, the fortunes of the bars in Manchester's famous Canal Street have taken a real downturn. This has been attributed to the use of online dating to meet rather than physical meetings in its bars.
In some ways, I find that the worlds of Gaydar and Grindr give a narrow view of what gay life could/should/can be. Young gay men venture into these worlds and soon become part of the culture which is seemingly predicated on sex, size of equipment, having the perfect body and not being over the age of 35 if you want any attention. Little wonder, then, that gay men are more prone than straight men to issues around body image, depression and substance abuse. Few people can be perfect enough to live in these worlds for long. As someone with a fair amount of life experience I can see how this online culture works, but despite this, there is part of me that can sometimes feel like an 'outsider' again in the same way that I was an 'outsider' from the much more fiercely hetero-normative world of my younger years. In fact, I sometimes rejoice in the fact that I do not have to participate.
As I look back, having been partnered for 20 years and 'Civil Partnered' for five, it is difficult to believe how much things have changed since my boyhood. If someone had told me then that I would be able to have a gay relationship recognised in law by the State, I would have said 'impossible' - and yet here we are. Not only that, but the Same Sex Marriage Bill is currently passing through the various stages of its parliamentary journey. In numerous countries in the world, same-sex marriage is being recognised. Indeed, France has just celebrated its first gay marriage. As we have seen, however, many people think that this is a step too far and it has caused rifts and protests in many areas of society. Ironically, the early activists in the gay liberation movement would have been horrified at the drive for same-sex marriage, as marriage represented the existing social structures that they wanted to change. Could it be that the drive for same-sex marriage that has been enthusiastically espoused by numerous gay organizations stems from a need to have gay identity identified and 'approved' by the state? Perhaps this reveals a seam of low confidence and self-esteem in the gay populace?
Also in the UK, the Equalities Act (2010) enshrines anti-discriminatory legislation in law, thus protecting many minorities from both direct and indirect discrimination. Surely this must be a good thing, as bullying in whatever form has always been a problem and continues to be so.
Despite all the excited tweets about same-sex marriage, we should not be coerced into thinking that everything in the gay garden is lovely. The majority of information that people use to help form their opinions is trumpeted from official sources, and is based very much around the premise that society has become predominantly 'metrosexual' and therefore accepting. This is not necessarily the case. In 2008, the BBC reported that 'gay' was the playground insult of choice. Such use of the word to imply 'rubbish', 'second class' and 'pathetic' takes us right back to the equivalent insults with which I was familiar in the 1970s. Is it a case of plus ça change? ... However, dear reader, I digress.
Whether we agree with the implied cause and effect in this statement, we cannot deny that we are swimming in an ocean of information. I started this information journey way back in the 1970s in describing the dearth of information to me as a young gay man growing up in rural North Lincolnshire. Certainly, for me that was problematic, but like us all, I was a product of my time and learned to find my own way in the best way I could. The lack of information - and the often negative information that was available - was reflective of the society in which I lived. Does information reflect societal attitudes or does it create and reinforce them? Information in itself is neutral and dispassionate, but the way it is portrayed in the media is bound to be influenced by those who place it there whether in word or image.
As I have worked on this piece, I have come to realise the seismic nature of information provision embodied in the internet. Yes, this has affected everyone - but perhaps it has affected less visible minorities more than most, in that it enables them to interact with others on a virtual level. While this is helpful in some ways, it seems that they lose a sense of what it is like to interact in the physical world. Some men report that the almost immediate sexual contact following online meetings can feel like it's still online and they actually get confused between the two. I worry that the way that such online cultures have developed are damaging to those whose are trying to deal with their sexual identities. Nevertheless, they follow the pack because that's what they feel is expected of them.
As this is a retrospective description of my personal information journey, it would be inappropriate to make too many generalisations about the differences between the two information eras that I have discussed. My personal view, however, is that I would have benefitted from having access to magazines like Attitude and to the wide variety of health information to be found on the internet. Also, it would have been good to have been able to contact others so that I didn't feel quite so much of an alien being. Who knows: I may have used the 'coming out' stories too.
Ultimately, even with all the information in the world, construction of sexual identity in an internal process only partially informed by external factors. There is a large literature on identity construction which I don't propose to go into. I do believe that in the 2000s, however, the increasing 'normalisation' of gay identities as part of mainstream society must be of benefit in reducing the feeling of the 'outsider' whose lot in life would previously to have lived on the margins or to have created an almost psychotic double identity and live in the constant fear of blackmail. Perhaps the need for a 'gay community' has lessened as we have become more integrated. Who is to say that gay identities will not go the same way and that being gay will be accepted as simply a different way of being?
So I have reached the end of my journey of discovery. It has been a surprisingly emotional one: I have remembered all sorts of people and situations that have passed into my personal 'deep storage' and have been retrieved kicking and screaming to the forefront of my mind. If you have read this far, I thank you for your patience and hope that I haven't seemed over self-indulgent. If I have been, then I hope you will understand. Whilst it doesn't define me, it certainly plays a large part in being the person that I am ... and after all, this is my life !
Addley, E. (2007, 17 February 2007). Saturday: Let's talk about sex: Gary Frisch, who fell to his death last week, founded a dating website that transformed gay men's lives. . The Guardian, pp. 25-25, from http://search.proquest.com/docview/246638010?accountid=11526
Armitage, G., Dickey, J., & Sharples, S. (1987). Out of the Gutter: A survey of treatment of homosexuality by the Press. London: Campaign for Press and Broadcasting Freedom.
BBC. (2008). How 'gay' became children's insult of choice. Retrieved 18 March 2013, from http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/7289390.st
Blake, L. (1970, 21 January). Twilight men of Southend. Evening Echo
British Pathé. Gays & Lesbians in the 50s 60s 70s. from http://www.britishpathe.com/workspaces/rgallagher/Gays-and-lesbians-in-Britain- 1950s-1960s-1970s Retrieved 19 March 2013
Bundred, D. (2012). Gay Fiction. Retrieved 18 May, 2013, from http://danielbundred.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/gay-fiction.html
Crisp, Q. (1968). The Naked Civil Servant. London: Jonathan Cape.
Cullen, T. (2003). HIV/AIDS: 20 years of press coverage. Australian Studies in Journalism, 12, 64-82.
David, H. (1997). On Queer Street:A Social History of British Homosexuality 1895-1995. London: Harper Collins
Davies, N. (1979, Aug 22, 1979). Gay harassment 'widespread' says CHE
Dodds, C., Keogh, P., & Hickson, F. (2005). It makes me sick : Heterosexism, homophobia and the health of Gay men and Bisexual men. SIGMA research.
Edwards, N. (2010). Queer British Television: Policy and Practice, 1997-2007. University of Nottingham
Evans, R.P (2013). A Step of Faith. New York. Simon and Schuster
Guasp, A. (2011). Gay and Bisexual Men's Health Survey: Stonewall.
Gudelunas, D. (2012). There's an App for that: The Uses and Gratifications of Online Social Networks for Gay Men. Sexuality & Culture, 16(4), 347-365.
Isay, R. A. (1989). Being Homosexual: gay men and their development. London: Penguin.
Kendall, C. N. (2004). Gay Male Pornography: An Issue of Sex Discrimination: UBC Press.
Levine, M. P. (1998). Gay macho: The life and death of the homosexual clone. New York: New York University Press.
Meem, D. T., Gibson, M. A., & Alexander, J. F. (2010). Finding Out:An introduction to LGBT studies. California: Sage
Mendes, J. (1972, October). Homosexuals are not a race apart. Good Housekeeping, 49.
Mills, R., Trumblach, R., & Cock, H. G. (2007). Gay history of Britain:Love and sex between men since the middle ages. Oxford: Greenwood World Publishing.
Porter, K., & Weeks, J. (Eds.). (1991). Between the Acts:Lives of homosexual men 1885-1967. London: Routledge.
Pullen, C., & Cooper, m. (Eds.). (2010). LGBT Identity and online new media. Oxford: Routledge.
Roberts, S. (2011). Exploring how gay men manage their social identities in the workplace: The internal/external dimensions of identity. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, 30(8), 668-685.
Ryland, P. (1976, 18 June). Doing the Holland Park Walk. Kensington Post,
Sender, K. (2005). Business, Not Politics : The Making of the Gay Market: The Making of the Gay Market. New York: Columbia University Press.
Shepherd, S., & Wallis, M. (1989). Coming on strong: gay politics and culture. London: Unwin Hyman.
Slaughter, J. (1970, Feb 1, 1970). The men who still feel hunted. The Observer
Smith, G., Bartlett, A., & King, M. (2004). Treatments of homosexuality in Britain since the 1950s--an oral history: the experience of patients. BMJ, 328(7437), 427.
Sullivan, A. (1995). Virtually Normal: An argument about homosexuality. London: Picador.
Todd, M. (2013). Editor's letter. Attitude:The Youth Issue, 8.
ukjarry. (2009) Fifty years of Comedy queers, Streetlaughter: a gay cavalcade of comic stereotypes
Weeks, J. Wolfenden and beyond: the remaking of homosexual history. In A. Bingham, L. Delap, S. Sheard & P. Warde (Eds.), History & Policy: Connecting historians, policymakers and the media
Weeks, J. (1977). Coming Out:Homosexual politics from the nineteenth century to the present. London: Quartet.
Wikipedia. LGBT rights in the United Kingdom. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LGBT_rights_in_the_United_Kingdom
Wikipedia. GLF in the UK. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gay_Liberation_Front
Wikipedia 1970s in LGBT rights, Available from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1970s_in_LGBT_rights
Wikipedia. Timeline of LGBT history. from http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Timeline_of_LGBT_history_in_Britain


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Science has made our life comfortable. In an essay for the BBC, Nobel Prize-winner and Royal Society President Sir Venki Ramakrishnan contemplates the nature of scientific discovery – how it has reworked our worldview in a short area of time, and why we must be simply as watchful immediately concerning the makes use of of research as we've ever been.
Internet of Science offers you entry to essentially the most dependable, integrated, multidisciplinary research linked by linked content quotation metrics from a number of sources within a single interface. Bench & workplace area, facilities, assist with logistics, various & interested colleagues.
Body donation is distinct from organ donation, the lifesaving process that enables surgeons to transplant hearts and kidneys from the lately deceased. The follow of open science is inextricably linked to the dissemination of that research to different scientists, and the general public.
HUNDREDS OF THOUSANDS EARNED: An excerpt from an Internal Revenue Service audit of Jim and Josie Rogers' tax returns for 2013 and 2014 shows the federal government decided they earned $eight.6 million from Well being Life Inc, a holding company that owned Science Care.
Science Care accused the previous executives of utilizing proprietary customer, advertising and pricing data, as well as contacts at funeral houses, hospices, medical schools and device-makers to develop GenLife. Desk house and entry to computational facilities. Bench and desk house, entry to equipment.… Read more

subset: commoncrawl


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JB unlocked a badge!
Take A Walk With Stu Teva
When craft beer is in a can, it means you can easily take it anywhere. That's why Dale's Pale Ale is a perfect companion for your journey with artist McBess. Crack open our new 16 oz. Draft Can with a limited edition illustration by McBess and enjoy the trip as you earn more badges.
Sun, 03 Sep 2017 19:10:55 +0000


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Europe Tickets
Europe is a Swedish heavy metal and hard rock band that formed in the late 1970s. They debuted with their self-titled album in 1983 as a direct result of winning a music competition under their original band name, Force. The album sold well in both Sweden and Japan. They slipped into the American music scene when the hit single, "Open Your Heart," caught the eye of CBS Records who quickly signed them. Released in 1986, their album The Final Countdown was their key to breaking into the US charts. The album was certified 3x Platinum and peaked at No. 1 in twenty-five countries. Additional hits from this and future albums included "Carrie" and "Superstitious."
Europe continues to fuse retro rock styles with heavy metal elements. They keep a rigorous tour schedule with venues around the world while also recording new studio work. Many of their shows sell out in advance, so be sure to get your tickets quickly.


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Educate about research and medical application of entheogenic plants. Learn about cultural history of these plants and their uses.
Network with other organizations in the area with a similar focus. Understand the environmental implications of different entheogenic medicines. Promote the use of entheogenic medicine in the naturopathic medical field.
For further information please contact: email@example.com


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Abbeycare Murdostoun Location
Abbeycare Murdostoun is located in Scotland's central belt. It is south east of Glasgow International Airport (about 50 mins) and Glasgow city centre (about 30 mins), and south west of Edinburgh Airport (about 40 mins).
We can usually arrange to collect clients from Glasgow or Edinburgh city centre, from airports, or from local stations.
There are good transport links by road (A71 and A73 less than 15 miles from M8), and also rail (Cleland, Hartwood and Wishaw stations are all close by).
Take the Tour…
See Inside…take a virtual tour of our serene Murdostoun Castle clinic – explore the clinic, lounge and dining areas, client rooms, and more.
Abbeycare Scotland
Murdostoun Castle


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101 East
101 East ventures into the freezing wilderness to meet the traditional eagle hunters of Mongolia.
Risking it all
Reporter's Notebook
by Sarah Yeo
by Drew Ambrose
- Daniel Connell
Asia24 Aug 2017 12:47 GMT
Across Mongolia, 30,000 child jockeys compete in some of the world's longest horse races.
Asia16 Aug 2017 10:07 GMT
Mongolia's standard of care for people with terminal illnesses is ranked higher than its larger neighbours Russia and China, as well as some European countries.
Asia30 Jul 2017 06:30 GMT
Local authorities in Mongolia are scrambling to find ways to stop young people from leaving small towns for the capital.
Human Rights30 Jul 2017 06:26 GMT
'If we don't have horses, we're not Mongols'
Latin America16 Jul 2017 11:04 GMT
Mongolia's first commercial solar plant is now supplying the central electricity grid.
Asia09 Jul 2017 10:14 GMT
A billionaire property tycoon has promised to kick start Mongolia's struggling economy, after winning the presidential election.
Politics08 Jul 2017 21:33 GMT
Khaltmaa Battulga won more than 50 percent of the votes in a scandal-ridden presidential runoff campaign.
Politics08 Jul 2017 06:02 GMT
Opposition candidate Khaltmaa Battulga wins more than 50 percent of votes, according to partial results.
Asia07 Jul 2017 16:55 GMT
Mongolia – a former communist state - has been a democracy for the past 27 years, but it has never had a run-off election until now.
The landmark vote is widely seen as a referendum on economic recovery plans as well as China's influence.
Asia07 Jul 2017 07:38 GMT
Presidential race went into a runoff after none of the three candidates won a majority in last month's election.
Asia27 Jun 2017 12:17 GMT
Third-place finisher demands recount as election officials fix Mongolia's first presidential runoff for July 9.
Politics26 Jun 2017 11:00 GMT
Ballots cast in presidential election dominated by allegations of corruption against backdrop of economic turmoil.
Asia26 Jun 2017 07:21 GMT
Polling stations have opened across Mongolia for the country's presidential election, with many seeking a leader who could rescue the struggling economy.
Asia14 May 2017 06:01 GMT
The government of landlocked Mongolia is hoping China's so-called 'One Road, One Belt' project will prove beneficial by expanding its railway system.
Asia17 Apr 2017 05:29 GMT
The Morin Khuur or 'Horse Fiddle' has evolved from a folk instrument used in small villages to being featured in classical Western performances.
by John Bell
- John Zada
by Jen Maman
- Kaisa Kosonen
by Jill Filipovic
by Salil Shetty
© 2018 Al Jazeera Media Network


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Listen to a new mix for WQXR's 'Maverick Mixtapes' series, info on Bang On A Can and more
Prior to his performance at the Mosaic Music Festival in Singapore, Tyondai posted his classically inclined mixtape for WQXR on his Facebook page, and announced a handful of prestigious dates he's scheduled to play.
Listen to the mix below..
Conlon Nancarrow Arr. Yvar Mikhashoff – Study No. 7
Glenn Branca - The World Upside Down: The Temple of Venus, Pt. 1
Lou Harrison - Suite from The Ballet "Solstice", Garden Of The Sun
Anthony Braxton – Composition 58
Morton Subotnick – Silver Apples of the Moon
George Antheil - Ballet Mecaniq
Upcoming Dates 2012
20 Barbican Centre, London: World Premiere - Bang On A Can Commission with Mira Calix, Florent Ghys, Michael Gordon, David Lang, Christian Marclay, Julia Wolfe, Nick Zammuto, and Evan Ziporyn. More info
23 Durham, NC (with Colin Stetson) More info
28 Bang on a Can Comission (US Premiere @ New York's Alice Tully Hall) More info
Upcoming Dates 2013
06 Alarm Will Sound' World Premiere @ Carnegie Hall, New York. Also on the program are the world premieres of new pieces by Steve Reich, Donnacha Dennehy, and John Orfe. More info
16 "Central Market" West Coast Premiere @ Disney Hall, Los Angeles. Tyondai will be joined on stage by members of the Worldless Music Orchestra, as well as players from the LA Philharmonic for the performance of "Central Market." More info
Tyondai scores his brother Donari Braxton's new film "Themes From a Rosary". More info


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Police Partners
Members of the Shaker Heights Citizens Police Alumni may join the Police Partners Program, becoming active volunteers at the Department. The Partners are a vital resource to the Department in keeping the community safe and helping deter crime.
Police Officers provide specialized training to participants and the volunteers wear uniforms to identify them as such. During 2016, Police Partners performed 3,527 hours of community service from 47 member volunteers.
Police Partner Volunteer Programs
Citizens on Patrol
Pairs of specially trained volunteers patrol the City in unmarked police cars during the evening hours to serve as additional eyes and ears for the Department. They report suspicious activities and situations that need police intervention.
Police Weapons Cleaning
Monthly, volunteers clean the Department's shotguns and M4 tactical rifles, freeing up police officers so that they can be out of the station performing regular duty.
Resident Fingerprinting
A team of volunteers provides fingerprinting for residents who require them for background checks.
Records Conversion
A team of volunteers works with the Investigative Bureau to convert old arrest files to new filing formats.
Special Event Details
Police Partners work with officers to provide crowd control and traffic assistance on special events in the city.
Annual Bike Auction
The Partners staff the annual auction of unclaimed property.
VIP Visitations
Augment safety forces during Presidential of other VIP visits.
Department Training
Police Partners assist in Police Department training activities by role-playing in exercises.
Visit the online home of Shaker Life magazine.


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A federal judge said a homeless group has made plausible claims that the city of Berkeley seized some campers' belongings illegally and suppressed their political expression by evicting them.
In his Friday order, U.S. District Court Judge William Alsup allowed parts of the "First They Came for the Homeless" group's lawsuit to go forward, but threw out other claims that the city engaged in cruel and unusual punishment and discriminated against people with disabilities. He also dismissed allegations against Bay Area Rapid Transit.
"We are pleased that the judge is allowing us to proceed on a number of claims against the city," said EmilyRose Johns, a lawyer for the homeless group, in an email to Berkeleyside.
Five members of First They Came for the Homeless, which considers itself an intentional community and protest camp, sued Berkeley and BART in October. BART had just given the campers notice to leave their post by the "Here There" art installation near the Berkeley-Oakland border, where they had been living on BART land for almost a year. The campers' lawsuit claimed the transit agency was illegally forcing the group onto the streets and alleged that the city of Berkeley had also violated the group's constitutional rights during a prior series of evictions from other locations on public property in the city.
The judge initially granted the camp a temporary restraining order against BART, then later allowed the agency to evict the group. Since then, many of its members have set up camp on the lawn in front of Old City Hall on Martin Luther King Jr. Way and others have moved to Aquatic Park or stayed near the now fenced-off "Here There" site.
Alsup also made an unusual order at the time, requiring both parties in the lawsuit to come up with a "practical plan" to house all the homeless residents in Berkeley over the winter, attempting to gauge whether the city is doing everything it can to address the homelessness crisis.
On Jan. 19, Alsup dismissed the case against BART because the campers moved off that land and are no longer involved in a controversy there. He also said the campers' allegations that Berkeley violated their Eighth Amendment rights and targeted campers with disabilities were implausible. Additionally, the plaintiffs who had joined the group after it was already at the "Here There" site could not be victims of the city's actions during earlier evictions, he wrote in his order.
However, the judge said there are sufficient allegations at this stage that the city violated two campers' First, Fourth and Fourteenth amendment rights, denying Berkeley's motion to dismiss the case altogether.
The complaint "adequately alleges that Berkeley targeted [First They Came for the Homeless] for evictions in harsh winter months based on the content of the group's speech and its political engagement," lending credence to a First Amendment claim, Alsup wrote in his order. "In particular, plaintiffs allege that the group publicly opposed Berkeley's response to the City's homelessness crisis, including by establishing themselves in prominent places near administrative buildings, writing op-eds, and attending City Council meetings. In response to the group's criticisms, Berkeley allegedly began an aggressive campaign of evictions that included removing the group from twelve locations between October 2016 and January 2017."
Berkeley did dismantle a number of campsites established by the First They Came for the Homeless members in 2016 and 2017 while leaving some other homeless encampments alone.
City spokesman Matthai Chakko said Tuesday that the judge's order was just one step in the process, and that the city has not yet presented its evidence against the plaintiffs' claims.
"The city's motion to dismiss was based solely on the plaintiffs' allegations, and no evidence was presented to the court," Chakko said in a statement. "The city is confident that once the facts are presented, it will prevail on plaintiffs' remaining claims regarding unlawful seizure of property and First Amendment retaliation."
In the past city representatives have said they evicted the campers due to health and safety concerns and complaints, not to quell their protest.
The judge also said allegations that the city took campers' belongings that could not be carried out during evictions, and both disposed of some and stored others so that they were difficult to retrieve, without due process, were plausible enough for Fourth and Fourteenth amendment claims to continue.
The order also allows the plaintiffs to file an amended complaint, reinstating their dismissed allegations. Johns, with the Oakland firm Siegel, Yee & Brunner, said they are still deciding whether to do so.
One of the plaintiffs, who goes by the name Jim Squatter, said Tuesday that he had been hoping for a more significant vote of confidence from the judge. Comments by Alsup at earlier hearings — including indications that he might require the city to turn public sites into sanctioned encampments — made Squatter optimistic.
"It's not the sweeping win we had hoped for, but we advance," Squatter said. "It seems to me that the judge is trying to narrow our approach to this. It doesn't look to me that he's going to house all the homeless."
The First They Came for the Homeless encampment (former members who established the group but who have since found housing have questioned the continued use of that name) was among several in the Bay Area that got visits last weekend from United Nations Special Rapporteur Leilani Farha. She described conditions she observed throughout the region as "cruel" and akin to those in slums she has seen in less developed countries.
First They Came for the Homeless has long argued that the city should permit encampments like theirs, which operate under a strict set of rules on substance use and cleanliness, if no permanent housing is provided instead.
"Intentional communities are the direction to go to," Squatter said. "They don't cost the city anything, they're self governing, self-reliant" and offer homeless residents a sense of dignity, he said.
The city has not taken any steps to evict the growing encampment from the Old City Hall lawn.
"We have a complaint-based system that focuses on the health and safety," Chakko said. "Health and safety concerns are what drive our enforcement process." He said the city encourages residents to report concerns through 311.
Earlier this month, a camper at the Old City Hall site knocked over a candle in his lean-to, setting fire to his property and bushes, which firefighters had to cut down. Nobody was injured. According to a neighbor, the man had been living at the site before First They Came for the Homeless arrived. Squatter said all the campers have been more careful since.
Squatter said new people have begun camping next to the group at Old City Hall, trying to replicate their intentional-community model.
This story was updated with comments from the city.


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Liferay Digital Experience Platform (DXP)
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The roadmap to Liferay DXP includes Liferay Experience Cloud – SaaS based Digital Platform and Liferay Commerce – B2B and B2C Digital Commerce Platform that would allow you to further help down in breaking down the silos and delivering self-service systems that are addictive and efficient.
Liferay Expertise at CIGNEX Datamatics
CIGNEX Datamatics is Liferay consulting partner since 2006 - Platinum Partner in the US and Gold Partner in UK, India and Singapore regions. CIGNEX Datamatics is the winner of "Liferay Innovation Award, 2015", "Community Excellence Award for eight consecutive years (2010-2017) and "Liferay Partner of the Year, 2011 and 2010 ". CIGNEX Datamatics' employees have authored 7 books on Liferay and have over 4000 community contributions in terms of forums and blogs.
CIGNEX Datamatics has 120+ Liferay consultants/experts, implemented 350+ Global Liferay implementations, and extensive track record in development, migration, upgrade. We have integrated Liferay with various proprietary and Open Source applications such as SAP/ERP, Salesforce/SFDC/CRM, Documentum, Alfresco, Magento, Canvas, SiteMinder, ServiceNow, ForgeRock and many more. This makes us an ideal Liferay solution partner for enterprise portals, modern websites, digital engagement platforms, social collaboration, and content management solution.
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Migrating over 16 external facing websites and intranet platform to Liferay DXP to stay current and leverage feature set of Digital Experience Platform.
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The platform improved time to market and user experience with extensive search capabilities.Read More
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- Certified Platinum Partner with a strong relationship with Liferay since 2006
- Implemented over 350 enterprise solutions using Liferay across all major industry verticals
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- CIGNEX Datamatics customer won "Liferay Pulse Award – Social Project & Collaboration, 2015"
- "Liferay Partner of the Year", 2010 and 2011 at Liferay West Coast Symposium


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The Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking to hire a training specialist at its office in Emmitsburg, Maryland, a USAJobs.com posting on Thursday said.
Basic requirements for this position include U.S. citizenship and the ability to pass a background check. Candidates may be asked to take a drug test, and male applicants born after Dec. 31, 1959, must be registered with the Selective Service.
This position is for a training specialist in the Emergency Management Institute (EMI). Duties include developing program policies and setting goals for the program, as well as evaluating the effectiveness of training programs. The hired candidate also will serve as an authority in effective program recommendation to all levels of government.
The selected candidate also will be expected to serve as an adviser on policy in international affairs relating to EMI training and will be required to review the agency's training programs and translate applicable training to non-agency participants. The candidate also will be expected to participate in conferences and workshops.
Qualifications for this position include one year of work at the GS-13 level within the federal government.
Candidates with emergency management training experience and those with experience working with colleges and universities and in the private sector will be heavily considered. Applicants must be able to provide evidence of the ability to apply research in practice in the daily operations of higher-education emergency management.
Interested applicants should submit their resumes and follow their online application at USAJOBS.com, which includes a questionnaire that will help determine eligibility. This position will close on Feb. 19 or when 200 applications have been received.
FEMA seeks training specialist in Maryland
The Federal Emergency Management Agency is looking to hire a training specialist at its office in Emmitsburg, Maryland, a USAJobs.com posting on Thursday said.


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The Humboldt County School District is a progressive public school system located in rural north-central Nevada, in the heart of the world's third largest gold-producing area. The district serves approximately 3,500 students in 11 schools—three K-4 schools, a 5-6 middle school, a 7-8 junior high, and a 9-12 high school located in the community of Winnemucca, as well as four K-8 schools and one K-12 school in remote rural areas throughout Humboldt County.
Humboldt County schools are routinely honored for their academic accomplishments, success that administrators attribute to strong leadership within the schools themselves, a core of talented and dedicated teachers, and strong parental and community support.
Over the course of the past several years, Humboldt County School District schools have been recognized as Distinguished Title I schools at the state and national level, and several sites have been recognized as high achieving and exemplary schools. Winnemucca Grammar School, our oldest elementary school, was also named a Blue Ribbon School.
The Humboldt County School District focuses on the individual learner, with the goal of helping each student achieve his or her maximum success. Truly, we understand that today's students will be tomorrow's leaders.
If you would like more information on joining the Humboldt County School District team, please review the information located on this page or call (775) 623-8100.
Come Work For Us!!
Click here to find out why you should come work for the Humboldt County School District.
Current Positions
Check out our current job openings and apply here.
Transfer Request
If you are interested in a transfer within HCSD, click here for instructions.


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27th College Day
22 April, 2016 was the day of our 27th College Day - a day that gathered past and present students in a celebration of academic achievements and moral excellence. The theme of this year's College Day is 'Success to Significance' - how our graduands, flush with current academic successes, will journey on to make a significant impact to society in their personal and professional lives.
Congratulations to all our award recipients!
(Photo: (L-R) Mr Mano, our Principal, Laura Chia, Student of the Year, Mr Viswa Sadasivan, our Guest of Honour)
Speech at 27th College Day at Serangoon JC on 22 April 2017 by S. Manogaran, Principal, Serangoon Junior College
A very good evening to our Guest-of-Honour, Mr Viswa Sadasivan, CEO of Strategic Moves and Former Nominated Member of Parliament, Mr Seow Seng Chee, Chairman, College Advisory Committee, Mr Abdul Mannan, Cluster Superintendent, Mr Lee Deming, President, SRJC Alumni Association, Mr Tan Teck Hock, Principal, Singapore Sports School, Mrs Wong Mei Heng, Principal, Eunoia JC, Members of our College Advisory Committee and the SRJC Alumni, School Leaders, Parents, Award recipients, my SRJC Colleagues and last but not in any way least, our JC2 students who are here to honour and be inspired by their seniors.
Welcome to SRJC's 27th College Day!
Today we will be honouring a total of 112 award winners - students who have done well academically, displayed good character, did well in their CCAs and also excelled in their respective Mother Tongue Languages. It's a proud moment for all of them, their parents and their teachers.
Much has been said about how grades are not important for success in life. Watching the students jump for joy when they received their A level results in March, as you watched in the opening video, tells a different story. That's their moment. Let's not take it away from them. We want to acknowledge the hard work, discipline, commitment and sacrifice our students made.
So to our award winners – Congratulations and well done!
However, if you had listened to our emcee Shahira, earlier, she said that we are here to commemorate "both our students' short term academic successes and the significant impact they will go on to make in society".
That takes me to the theme for our College Day.
Success to Significance
Success to Significance has been adopted as the theme for the college - to signal a shift in the focus of our vision and plans for the college. The college will continue to emphasise academic excellence while paying greater attention to leadership and values development amongst our youth. We want our young adults to think beyond academic success. We want to strengthen the skills and processes in our students that will anchor their hearts and minds towards impacting and enriching the community in the college and Singapore.
To achieve our refreshed vision of Leaders and Learners driven by Values and Imagination, the college will invest more time and resources to leadership development programmes. We will also develop our students to take greater ownership of their learning. This will free up more time and space for our teachers to develop some of the 21st century skills, so critical in the dynamic world we live in.
Building Upon a Strong Foundation - Acknowledgement of Stakeholders and Past Leaders
The college could not have succeeded without the strong support of the College Advisory Committee, the Serangoon JC Alumni Association, Parents, Teachers and Students. We appreciate their dedication and commitment towards of the college's vision and aspirations.
SRJC was not built overnight. We are celebrating our 27th College Day. 5 Principals have preceded me and all of them played a significant part in our college's growth, building upon the strengths of successive generations of students and teachers. So I am grateful for the presence of Mr Tan Teck Hock and Mrs Wong Mei Heng here today. I believe our past leaders' vision and clear sense of purpose helped our teachers and students believe in themselves, stir their imagination and pursue their goals with strong determination.
A new feature of today's College Day is the presence of the secondary school teachers of our award winners. We asked our award winners to nominate teachers who have made a significant impact in their lives from the secondary or primary schools. I am glad that despite their busy schedules, 3 teachers from the secondary schools are here with us. They are Ms Chen Wenwen, from Si Ling Secondary; Ms Veronica Tan, from Chung Cheng High (Main); Mdm Kwa Leng Leng, from Ang Mo Kio Secondary. I am sure there are many other teachers our students are grateful for but I understand they couldn't attend today because of prior commitments.
You know there is a Chinese saying, Yin Shui Si Yuan: when you drink water, remember the source.
Gaining Momentum, Scaling New Heights - The SRJC Narrative and new Social Imaginary
The SRJC narrative continues to inspire our teachers, students and key stakeholders.
The college has made commendable, if not remarkable, progress over the last few years. Close to 90% of our students are eligible for university admissions and 77% of the 2014 cohort were admitted into the publicly-funded universities in Singapore. This is a sound testament of the leadership provided by the school management team and the rigour of the instructional programme. Our teachers, without doubt, play an active role in delivering a holistic and balanced education, enabling our students to broaden and strengthen their career aspirations.
I am happy to share that the college has just received the Project Work Results for our JC2 students. Firstly all of them passed, with 99.3 percent of our students obtaining Grades A and B. In terms of distinctions, its encouraging to note our steady climb. In 2013, the percentage of distinctions was 34.5%, in 2014, it was 53.8% and in 2015, it is 58.1%. Well done JC2s! The results have inspired our students to aim high and see far. My deep appreciation to the Project Work Department teachers and all other teachers who served as coaches to the students as they prepared for their presentations last year. Believe me, it was hard earned.
In CCA, our students have learnt to deepen their skills, exercise leadership and experience success in the 31 CCAs we offer in the college – ranging in sports, aesthetics and clubs and societies.
CCA Achievements for 2016
1. Rockclimbing : National Schs Bouldering competition – 'A' Boys 1st, 'A' Girls 2nd
2. Rockclimbing : National Schs Speed Climbing competition – 'A' Boys 1st
3. Canoeing : National Schs Canoeing Championship – 'A' Boys 4th
4. Canoeing : National Schs Canoeing Championship – 'A' Girls 4th
5. Debates : ITE Debate Championships organised by Debates Association of Singapore : Shahira Banu, our Emcee, is one of the top 20 speakers in the Gold Division even though she belongs to the Silver Division.
6. In 2015, Taekwondo clinched the National Inter-JC Poomsae Championship - Overall Champions for Boys and Girls teams. Subsequently, both teams were awarded National School Colours.
7. Touch Football emerged Champions at the Touch Football Singapore JC League.
SRJC has been Champions since 2013. Our girls are in the finals again this year and they will play at 10.40 am tomorrow.
8. For Ultimate Frisbee, at the Inter-JC Ultimate Tournament we emerged Champions for the first time.
9. S*Star, our CCA dedicated to innovation in Science was awarded the School Challenge Trophy by the Science Centre for best performing school again in 2015.
10. Dance, Guzheng and Chorale were awarded the Certificate of Distinction for the Singapore Youth Festival Arts Presentation.
I am sharing these achievements as our college receives students from more than 100 secondary schools each year. Many of these students prefer to take on a new CCA in the JC from what they are used to in the secondary school. So it's a tribute to our teachers, students and the coaches who are able to turn champions and winners out of these students who come to us raw in talent. But these students live up to our college anthem for they believe we can "Lead them to Glory" and despite the "Challenges Ahead", they "turn them all to Gold".
Later at 7.30 pm our students from the Aesthetics CCA, 215 of them – performers and backstage crew - will be putting on the Performance Arts Special – Incandescence - the first time the Symphonic Band, Guzheng, Guitar Ensemble, Chorale and Dance – are coming together in a spirit of collaboration and synergy. I have watched parts of the programme at rehearsals and I must say the students are very impressive. Good enough to perform at the Esplanade or Victoria Concert Hall one day.
Pushing Boundaries - Purpose, Identity, Relationships and Future
Finally I would like to end my college address by returning to the theme of 'Success to Significance'. While achieving positive student outcomes will continue to underpin the college efforts, it is the impact these outcomes have on the people in the community that will define our future.
Indeed, as our students complete their formal education in our system what becomes more urgent and not always clearer for our youth are
- Their purpose in life
- Their identity as an individual and as a citizen of this country
- The relationships they need to forge
- What the future holds for them
That's why the college has strengthened its Character and Citizenship Education programme with a strong focus on Education and Career Guidance. Students are challenged and guided to know themselves better, identify their strengths and keep their options open for several careers.
Our Career symposium this year witnessed more than 40 professionals from 18 Sectors sharing their experiences and career opportunities to our JC2 cohort.
Supporting the importance of career guidance and continuous learning, Our Acting Minister for Higher Education, Mr Ong Ye Kung, shared just 2 days ago that "paper qualifications would still serve an important purpose. However, they needed to be more diverse and varied, and reflected not just academic qualifications but also qualifications for skills and other aptitudes. He challenged us to create a future where our people collectively, in whatever field, would focus, continuously practice and upgrade, share knowledge and learn from fellow practitioners. This would help Singapore stand out in terms of quality and competitiveness"
The impact of the ECG programme can be seen in the reflection of this student who shared with our career guidance counsellor:
"I want to thank you for your time and energy helping me to find myself again and to look for a new career path".
"Thank you for your advice - the one where I am to plan options for every possible event after I receive my A Level results. I now know what to do in the event that I do well in A's or so-so in A's or fail in A's and I am ready to face whatever happens. I am now super prepared for March!"
"Thank you also because I now found a new career path! I went for talks to find out about certain career paths and scoured the internet as well. In the end, I chose nursing because I realise I want to be one of those in the healthcare frontlines and I want to help the community. I know that the job of a nurse and of a doctor is extremely different, but I am still set on being a nurse. I plan to be an advanced practitioner nurse specialising in paediatrics."
I was not sure what an Advanced Nurse Practitioner is. I checked the MOH website and found out that you will need a Masters Degree to be an ANP plus more than 1000 hours of clinical practice.
In short we want more of our students to aim high and set appropriate career goals for themselves. We want them to be leaders in their respective industries or professions; continue to learn and make a significant impact in the community they live in.
I hope SRJC has nurtured our students well and we will continue to help our students who came to us young teens go on as morally upright youth, ready to face the challenges the world will throw at them.
Finally, I want to thank the Chairman of today's College Day Organising Committee, Ms Sabrina Teo and her team and the Advisor to the Committee, Mrs Shirley Foo for successfully executing today's memorable event.
Thank you.
Let me now say a few words about our Guest of Honour before I invite him on stage to address us. When I invited Mr Viswa to our College Day in January, he told me he would be away on a business trip then but agreed to reschedule his programme so that he could join us. He just returned last night.
Viswa Sadasivan is regarded as one of Singapore's influential thinkers. With over 30 years of media experience – as practitioner and policy maker - Viswa is best known to Singapore society as the face of the (then) Singapore Broadcasting Corporation's such as Talking Point, Feedback and Today in Parliament. He has interviewed Asia's top business and political leaders, including Singapore's first Prime Minister, the late Lee Kuan Yew, the first Prime Minister of Malaysia, the late Tungku Abdul Rahman and Dr Mahathir Mohamad, Malaysia's longest serving premier
A former Nominated Member of Parliament, Viswa has a strong appreciation for public policy and ground sentiment.
Viswa is also the founder and Editor-in-Chief of IQ [Inconvenient Questions], a rising socio-political site that seeks to be the conduit for honest engagement between stakeholders and the government.
Trained as an elite Guardsman, Viswa holds the rank of Colonel and in his National Service capacity, serves as Deputy Director, Joint Operations, Singapore Armed Forces (SAF). He also serves as a Vice-President in the Executive Committee in SINDA, an organisation he has volunteered and served in for more than 20 years.
After graduating from the National University of Singapore with a Bachelor of Arts and Social Sciences (Political Science), Viswa proceeded to undertake a Master in Public Administration (MPA) at the Kennedy School of Government and Administration, Harvard University. Viswa topped his class in Negotiation and Conflict Resolution, and was awarded top honours in the same field upon graduation in 1992.
While preparing my speech, I chanced upon this book in our library, "The Journey of Leadership", published in 2006[1]. I opened it and the first chapter was titled, "An Entrepreneur with a difference", by Viswa Sadasivan. I like what Viswa said at the end of that chapter
It's as if Viswa was speaking to our award winners and our JC2 cohort here, and his message is also very well aligned to our theme of 'Success to Significance'.
"One of the biggest challenges of success is managing it. This often boils down to managing one's ego. And the best way to check this is to stay connected with people from all walks of life. That's when you realise that often success is predicated upon being in the right place at the right time, and because there were people to help you at key points. It makes you realise how fortunate you have been. The right exposure in life would be to give you the humility to move from self-praise to gratitude for the opportunity. This is essentially the seed for further and greater success."
Ladies and gentlemen, I have the pleasure now to invite Mr Viswa to address us.
[1] Alicia Teo, The Journey of Leadership, Elisher Communications, Singapore, 2006.


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Top News Links: Wednesday, Sept. 13
Energen seeks ruling on investor rights as funds push for sale
Energen Corp. on Tuesday sought guidance from an Alabama court on the state's shareholder rights laws which an activist investor had said it would use to force a sale of the Birmingham oil and gas producer. Corvex Management, a $5.5 billion hedge fund run by Keith Meister, has waged a public campaign since May aimed at making Energen put itself on the auction block to help bolster its lagging stock price, a position echoed by hedge fund Elliott Management. – Reuters
Continental Motors picks partners for headquarters project in Mobile
Continental Motors Group Ltd., an AVIC International Holding Corporation company, announced this week that it signed a Letter of Intent with Stonemont Financial Group and Clayco Inc. to develop its new state of the art headquarters at the Mobile Aeroplex in Mobile. AVIC International Holding Corporation was set up in 1979, with majority shares owned by Aviation Industries of China. – Aviation Pros
Pine beetle remains timber industry's single greatest foe
For such a small bug, it's creating huge problems. The Southern pine beetle is gnawing its way through woodlands in the state, killing trees and profits. Money really does grow on trees in Alabama. Agriculture is the number one industry in the state, generating a yearly economic impact of $70.4 billion, according to the Alabama Farmers Federation. And timber production and processing is the largest aspect of agriculture in the state, generating a $21.4 billion yearly impact. – Montgomery Advertiser
Mixed-use development coming to Alabaster
A 350,000-square-feet mixed-use development is coming to Alabaster at the corner of Interstate 65 and Highway 31. Tuscaloosa-based Alumni Properties has reached an agreement with the city of Alabaster to build the development, set to open in 2019. Beau Young, Executive Vice President of Leasing for Retail Specialists, is leasing the property. Birmingham's Civil Consultants Inc. is the civil engineer. Williams Blackstock is handling architectural panning. – AL.com
Alabama Power crews do storm duty here and across state lines
Alabama Power crews have been restoring power to areas of the state affected by Tropical Storm Irma with hopes of the remaining customers back on early Wednesday. At 5 p.m., Alabama Power said it had 6,200 customers without power statewide with most of them in the Phenix City and Eufaula areas. Line crews have been working around the clock to get power back on where the winds from the former hurricane knocked down trees and lines. – ANN
ASK finds new home in renovated bowling alley
ASK Telemarketing held the grand opening Tuesday of its new headquarters in Montgomery - a renovated bowling alley that will allow the company to add another 400 jobs. The company spent $2.7 million on the renovation, which transformed the former Brunswick Woodmere Lanes bowling alley on Carmichael Road only two blocks away from their offices. ASK is doing a two-year expansion. – AL.com
Unusual logistics problem: Gator underneath tractor trailer
It wasn't the typical traffic call for police in the Alabama city of Tuscaloosa. Police were dispatched to a local business where a truck driver reported that an alligator had crawled underneath his 18-wheeler. Police told Alabama news outlets that the gator measured nearly 8 feet long. – WVTM