Louie Anderson, Popular Comic and Actor, Dead at 68

GEMMA Collins has told of the sickening abuse she suffered at the hands of trolls after bravely revealing her secret self-harming past. The reality TV star's documentary on her childhood trauma aired tonight - and Gemma read out the vicious trolling she got for speaking out. "So attention-seeking.

GEMMA Collins broke down in tears tonight over fears she'll self-harm again if she has a baby. The reality TV star became emotional when she spoke of her desire to have children in the Channel 4 documentary, Gemma Collins: Self-Harm & Me.

Gemma Collins confronted her mum Joan in her new documentary Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me on Wednesday night as she asked why she didn't address her self-harming when she was younger. The powerful show charted Gemma's, 41, 20-year battle with self-harm and shared a side to the The Only Way Is Essex star that the public are yet to see. During the hard-hitting documentary, Gemma had a heartfelt and honest conversation with her mum as she asked: "But what's more important, life being busy or your daughter hurting herself?" Earlier in the documentary, Gemma and her mum had a heartfelt chat while looking through old photographs from when Gemma was young.

CAIRO — Kuwait’s constitutional court overturned a law on Wednesday that authorities had used to prosecute transgender people, saying the statute violated Kuwaitis’ right to personal freedom. Activists hailed the decision as a landmark for transgender rights in the Middle East.

Related: School board member’s child got a scary death threat over trans student policy“I have a fucking right to be in this country, do you?” Schulze shouts.“Are you telling me to go back home?” the student yells back.Schulze also screamed a sexist slur at the student, as another student yelled back, “You’re literally arguing with children.”After being identified, Schulze received the fine for violating the Access to Services Covid-19 Vaccination Act, which prohibits the disruption of access to roads within 20 meters of K-12 schools, hospitals, and COVID-19 clinics.Schulze was part of a larger group of protestors violating these terms, according to Radio-Canada.The group was there to support 10 students who had planned a walkout to protest mask mandates. The adult protestors stayed put even after an officer informed them they were violating the law.Both police and school officials are being criticized for not stopping the protestors.

Gemma Collins sweetly recalled the first moment she met her fiancé Rami Hawash during her powerful documentary Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me on Wednesday night. The powerful show charted Gemma's, 41, 20-year battle with self-harm and shared a side to the The Only Way Is Essex star that the public are yet to see. During the hard-hitting documentary, Gemma, who recently told new! magazine that she's "desperate" to have a baby with fiancé Rami, revealed that they first met at a pub in Chigwell, Essex.

Cool Katt (GIF via GIPHY)

A gay RAAF veteran was surveilled and grilled over his sexual history and visits to gay bars, before being hounded out of the air force. Trigger Warning: This story discussed homophobia in the Defence Force and suicidal ideation, which might be distressing to some readers. For 24-hour crisis support and suicide prevention, call Lifeline on 13 11 14. For Australia-wide LGBTQI peer support, call QLife on 1800 184 527 or webchat.According to the Daily Mail, Liversidge was shown photos of himself outside a gay bar in Prahran and was asked about the type of people who frequented the establishment. Liversidge said it was his “Oh! sh*t moment.”“They then had a series of dates and times that they had known that I’d gone to gay bars.

June 2, 1965 — January 15, 2022Friends will gather at 440 Castro on Saturday, February 26, from noon to 3 p.m. to remember and celebrate our dear friend, brother in song, and beautiful soul.Help keep the Bay Area Reporter going in these tough times. To support local, independent, LGBTQ journalism, consider becoming a BAR member.

It was a sunny day in the Bay Area on Sunday, June 12, 2016 when news broke that there was a terrible mass shooting inside Pulse, an LGBTQ nightclub in Orlando, Florida. Within hours, spontaneous vigils were held in San Francisco, Oakland, and numerous other cities to mourn the loss of 49 mostly gay Latino lives and the 53 others who were injured.

The National AIDS Memorial Grove has announced special online programming to honor Black History Month.

Following the resounding recall of three members of the San Francisco Board of Education, Mayor London Breed gets to select their replacements. The seats aren't expected to be officially vacated until sometime in late March, 10 days after the Board of Supervisors certifies and approves the election results.While each of the new commissioners will need to seek election this November for full four-year terms, the mayor has a unique opportunity to further diversify the school board for the rest of this year.

The Omicron variant of COVID-19 was certainly not what anyone wanted — especially for LGBTQ seniors and the agencies serving them, beleaguered after two years of constant adjustment to the pandemic's challenges.A year ago, when the Bay Area Reporter published a series of articles on various issues of import to LGBTQ seniors — including the loneliness that comes with social distancing, getting needed services to the vulnerable, and housing, the nation was optimistic that the roll-out of vaccines would bring a return to living like it's 2019. Now, policymakers are playing catch-up as new variants emerge the world over that are more likely to cause breakthrough infections.The more laissez-faire approach that the federal government is taking to the pandemic in the post-vaccine world — as well as the record number of cases caused by Omicron that started in late November and continues disrupting the workforce nationwide — is leaving local nonprofits and agencies to figure out for themselves how to respond and stay as safe as possible.

If everything felt a little more open, freer, on February 16, that might very well have been because California has loosened its COVID-inspired indoor mask mandate and eight of the nine Bay Area counties have followed suit. Of course, people have been here before.

If you're transitioning into your true gender identity, legally changing your name marks an important milestone in becoming your authentic self. It's a time for celebration and it's also a time for paperwork. Following a legal name change, it might seem obvious to update your identification, bank, and mailing information. It might not be obvious that you should also contact the three nationwide credit bureaus — Equifax, Experian, and TransUnion — to let them know of this change.

Since winning election in 2018 as San Mateo County superintendent of schools, Nancy Magee has yet to meet a counterpart in another county who is also LGBTQ. Magee, the second consecutive lesbian to serve in the countywide elected position, is the only superintendent of schools listed on a map of out elected leaders in California maintained by the LGBTQ Victory Fund.That could change this year.

Gemma Collins broke down in tears in her new documentary Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me on Thursday night as she opened up about her fears that her self-harm could return. The powerful show charted Gemma's, 41, 20-year battle with self-harm and shared a side to the The Only Way Is Essex star that the public are yet to see.

Gemma Collins clashed with her mum Joan over the TOWIE star's battles with self-harm as a teen.The 41-year-old reality star has spoken out for the first time about her struggles with self-harm in a new Channel 4 documentary, called Self Harm and Me.The documentary aired on Wednesday night (February 16), and it sees TV star Gemma try to find out why she used to self-harm for two decades.In the moving documentary, Gemma reveals that she started cutting herself as a teen and first self-harmed in front of her parents at just thirteen years old.In tense scenes, Gemma had a tough conversation with her mum Joan about her self-harming issues.Joan said her and Gemma's dad Alan dismissed the subject at first as they thought their daughters simply: "copying someone from the television".Gemma looked shocked by her mum's comment and told her it was a "silly thing to say".She told her mum: "I needed some help and support at the time,", adding: "Yours and dad's approach was to 'let’s never mention it'."Joan replied: "Life was busy, with everything going on."Gemma fired back: "Yeah but what’s more important, life being busy or your daughter cutting themselves?"Joan responded: "You seemed ok. The problem is with you it wouldn’t have been from home life."You had everything and was happy.

If it feels like Sarah Huckabee Sanders has been running for governor in Arkansas forever, it’s because she has. Sanders first announced her candidacy in January 2021, one year and 10 months before the election was scheduled to take place. But looking at her campaign website, you might think she’s already got the job, even though the election is still several months away.Related: Sarah Huckabee Sanders went on “The View” this morning and OMG you guysWhen most candidates run for public office, they indicate that they are, indeed, running for public office.

Gemma Collins breaks down in tears over her close friend's suicide after bravely opening up about her own history of self-harm.The 41-year-old reality star has struggled with hurting herself for two decades and has opened up about her past for the first time in a candid Channel 4 documentary which aired on Wednesday (February 16) evening.Over the course of the film, Gemma chatted with her therapist, Mandy Saligari, mum Joan, best friend Vicky and her fiancé Rami.She also met with people who have similar experiences of self-harm and learns about some of the support available.During her visit to Harmless, a centre for self-harm prevention in Nottingham, Gemma got emotional about her close friend's tragic death.The former Celebrity Big Brother star asked co-founder and CEO of the charity Harmless, Caroline Harrow: "Why is it more girls that self-harm then boys?"Caroline replied: "Yeah more girls show up then boys but more men kill themselves."A visibly emotional Gemma added: "A very close family friend of mine, he was like a little brother to me, he committed suicide," before breaking down into tears.Rhys Alan Smith, the ex boyfriend of TOWIE's Harry Derbidge, died in 2021 after taking his own life.He was close friends with several cast members in particular Gemma and her ex James Argent.Gemma also revealed in the documentary that she struggled with her meteoric rise to fame.She was a car saleswoman when she first appeared on The Only Way Is Essex back in 2011.It didn't take long before Gemma became one of the show's most iconic stars.Speaking about the impact of that for the first time, Gemma told fiancé Rami Hawash what triggered her to self-harm.She explained: "It was never about you, it was never about any of that."It

Senate passed a bill that inches the measure closer toward becoming law.Under the bill, called the Save Women's Sports Act, the Kentucky High School Athletic Association Board of Control would be directed to ban those identified as males on their birth certificates from engaging in girls' team sports.

Coronation Street, said she did not feel she could come out as gay during her time on the show.The star revealed she felt she wasn’t allowed to be her authentic self for two decades in a candid interview on Loose Women. Amanda, 86, starred in Coronation Street from 1981 to 1982, and again from 1988 to 2001. Throughout that time, the actress refused to confirm her sexuality in public and did not reveal her lesbian identity until after her time on the soap had come to an end. Amanda appeared on Loose Women today with her wife Hilary Bonner and was asked by the panel what it was like having to keep her sexuality hidden for so long. “There was no camo of any kind at that time,” Amanda explained. “There were various people in charge of the show, so they called the tune.

New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, is considering former City Council member Fernando Cabrera for a “faith-based” position in his administration, reports the Daily News. It’s a move that’s drawing condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates because of Cabrera’s history of anti-LGBTQ+ views.In a video recorded while Cabrera was visiting Uganda in 2014 — shortly after the country passed legislation making homosexuality illegal and punishable by life in prison — the pastor expressed his support for the law and made it clear he felt the country was on the right path, unlike his own.

Dallas County aims to end the HIV epidemic by 2030 through a multi-pronged campaign that promotes HIV prevention, testing, treatment and substance abuse recovery, according to a press release from the county this week. New diagnoses of HIV continue, and one in eight people unknowingly live with HIV, the press release notes, adding that “knowing your HIV status and taking steps to prevent further transmission will go a long way towards ending HIV in Dallas.” The Dallas County Ending the HIV Epidemic Campaign focuses on information and resources that provide hope for eliminating the HIV epidemic, with information available at EndHIVDallasCounty.org.

advancing LGBTQ+ equality across the country and worldwide. He promised to overturn Trump’s cruel anti-immigrant policies, close for-profit immigrant detention centers, and pass permanent relief for immigrants. But with Biden’s second presidential year underway, his administration left several unfulfilled commitments to LGBTQ+ and immigrant communities alike.

The ongoing polarized reception to HBO Max’s Sex and the City spinoff And Just Like That has taken another strange and unexpected turn. A new report suggests that while HBO Max is keen for another season, the creative minds behind the show may not be sold on the idea.TVLine reports that head writer Michael Patrick King and star Sarah Jessica Parker have not yet agreed to another season of the show, and that no plans for a Season 2 can begin until they do.“It’s honestly Michael and Sarah Jessica[‘s] decision,” HBO Max’s Chief Content Officer Casey Bloys told the outlet.

Sweet Magnolias. I immediately assumed it was a sequel to the classic film Steel Magnolias, so I clicked on it and started to watch. I quickly learned that Shelby, Ouiser, and Truvy were not making a comeback and that this show had its own set of adorable characters.If you haven’t seen it, the show is what some might say a “lite read” — but in a good way. It doesn’t require you to think too hard or follow plots that twist and turn and cause confusion.

San Francisco’s Golden Gate Park, which spans more than 1,000 acres, has its roots with the early environmentalists who wanted to grow trees in sand dunes. The park separates San Francisco’s Richmond and Sunset Districts, starting near Haight-Ashbury’s iconic Hippy Hill and ending at The Great Highway across from Ocean Beach— that’s one mighty big stretch of greenery!In fact, Golden Gate Park is the largest urban park in the US.

Anyone needing a bit more gayness in their daytime soaps, take heed: Will and Sonny, the beloved Days of Our Lives gay power couple, will return to the long-running show on February 21.Will and Sonny, played by Chandler Massey and Freddie Smith, made history as the first gay male couple to get married on a daytime soap opera way back in 2014. Of course, as characters on a soap, they had their fair share of relationship woes.

New York City’s mayor, Eric Adams, is considering former city council member Fernando Cabrera for a “faith-based” position in his administration, reports The Daily News. It’s a move that’s drawing condemnation from LGBTQ+ advocates because of Cabera’s history of anti-LGBTQ+ views.In a video recorded while Cabrera was visiting Uganda in 2014 — during which the country passed legislation making homosexuality illegal, punishable by life in prison, and eligible for the death penalty — the pastor expressed his support for the law and made it clear he felt the country was on the right path, unlike his own.“The United States of America has put pressure; It has told Uganda, ‘We are not going to fund you anymore unless you allow gay marriage,’ and they have stood in their place.

The Bay Area Reporter.Mannix filed his suit in 2018 in San Francisco Superior Court. He claimed that at the city’s Central Station, he was subjected to frequent antigay insults from Sgts. Patrick Tobin and Lawrence McDevitt.

At the Ivy League women’s swimming championships this week, many eyes in the crowd will be fixed on Lia Thomas, a star of the University of Pennsylvania team. In recent months, Thomas has made headlines not only for her speed — handily winning one Ohio race that went viral — but also for her gender identity. In 2019, while competing on the men’s team, Thomas began to medically transition, taking testosterone blockers and estrogen.

You read this headline correctly.

The post Exclusive: Jimbo lets rip on her controversial Drag Race UK vs the World exit appeared first on GAY TIMES.

Brace yourselves. Telephone psychic, infomercial queen, and ’90s icon Miss Cleo is the latest celebrity to get the Hollywood treatment.Miss Cleo–real name Youree Dell Harris–rose to international fame for her pay-per-call psychic hotline in the 1990s.

Ahead of her new, eye-opening documentary, reality star Gemma Collins has opened up about her experience with therapy over the years. During the Channel 4 show, Gemma Collins: Self-Harm and Me, audiences are afforded an insight into Gemma's sessions with long-term therapist Mandy Saligari. Over the course of the film we see Gemma open up to Mandy as well as share her story with her best friend, mum and fiancé Rami Hawash.

Flee is the Oscar-nominated film about Amin and his journey from one city, Kabul, to another, Copenhagen. It is 1996 and, as the Taliban forces their way into the capital and takes control, people start to leave. Amin’s family is one of them, but it seems only to be the start of his journey of terror.Jonas Poher Rasmussen’s documentary is an animated feature interspersed with real footage of Afghani refugees and victims.

A shooting in the parking lot of Market Street Safeway in the Castro left one person injured late Tuesday afternoon. The shooting took place during a fight involving "a large group of juveniles," according to a story in the San Francisco Chronicle.

Tom Daley is currently participating in a grueling four-day trek, rowing, cycling, running and swimming event from London to Plymouth.The event is raising money as part of the Hell of a Homecoming for Red Nose Day campaign for the Comic Relief charity organization.“I’ve never done anything like this before,” Daley revealed in a promo. “I mean, I’ve trained for the Olympics, but I’ve never done any kind of endurance training, let alone swimming in that freezing water.

Reuters reports. In some instances, the attackers forced their victims to send bank transfers.“Those arrested have confessed to having robbed at least 15 or 20 people using the same method in the last four months,” J.P.

Meet Christopher-Aaron Felker. He’s an openly gay candidate currently running for Burlington City Council in Burlington, Vermont.

LGBTQ comedians Sampson McCormick and Kia Barnes will be performing at Mixx Atlanta (1492 Piedmont Ave NE) on February 22. The show, called “Black Joy,” will start at 7:30pm with doors opening at 7pm. Tickets are $20 for singles and $35 for couples in advance and $25 and $40, respectively, at the door.

Michaela Jaé Rodriguez will be honored with the Stephen F. Kolzak Award at the 33rd Annual GLAAD Media Awards in Los Angeles at the Beverly Hilton on Saturday, April 2, 2022.The award goes to an LGBTQ+ professional who has made a difference in promoting queer acceptance, according to a press release.

On Thursday, February 16, Limerick unveiled its first Pride rainbow crossing. It was installed by Limerick’s Active Travel team who are aiming to improve the City’s pedestrian and cycling network.  The vibrant new feature exists outside the City and County Council offices at Merchant’s Quay, beside a pedestrian crossing on Bridge Street. As previously mentioned, […]

Government officials in Cuba have launched a series of public consultations across the nation to discuss future legislation surrounding marriage equality and adoption for same-sex couples. The first neighbourhood meetings were held at the start of February, with a total of 78,000 expected to occur by the end of April. The meetings were organised by […]

A resurfaced clip of Sade’s appearance on The Wanda Sykes show is reminding fans of their love for the singer, and offering many a first chance to hear the famously private artist’s speaking voice.Plus, it’s proof of Sade’s comedy chops, as if there aren’t enough reasons to admire her.The Nigerian-born British singer has long evaded the limelight, despite being one of the most successful recording artists alive with over 50 million records sold.Related: Sade’s trans son posts moving Instagram post thanking momWhen her 2010 album Soldier of Love was released — her first album in 10 years — Sade joked about her own elusiveness with Wanda Sykes.We don’t know why this video resurfaced, but we’re glad it did:this sketch was so funny she’s really mother pic.twitter.com/H5C5FcIMRt— é (@foxxybemine) February 16, 2022The Sade love came flooding in, and many remarked it was their first time actually hearing her speak:Would you believe this is my first time hearing Sade's speaking voice? lol https://t.co/9CO0Yr4pSW— nathan (@868nathan) February 16, 2022Sade’s voice ??????????????? I love it https://t.co/zwO49JEx1p— F R E E B O D Y $ H Y (@SHYBRIM) February 16, 2022I’m realizing I’ve never heard Sade speak before now https://t.co/OYwh3epq7y— Modern Day Esther ? (@ModernEsther_) February 16, 2022I just realized I’ve never heard her speak outside of singing omg, her voice is alluring— Mani Moo (@ManiFreakingMoo) February 16, 2022Me if they use her voice for Siri: pic.twitter.com/kX1qOiWqlE— The Assuaging Charientist (@Rihannas_Crush) February 16, 2022Sade is just ethereal.. she is one of those artists that’s multi generational..

teenagers so no one else would know they were gay, a biographer claims. Gangsters Ronnie and Reggie Kray terrorised east London in the 1950s and 60s with their thuggery and violence all the while keeping their homosexuality a secret, John Pearson wrote.One of his books became second only to the Bible for popularity among locked up criminals, but Ronnie's shocking admission was in another, MyLondon reports.The author chose to only publish the twin's shocking allegation once they had both died and his book Notorious: The Immortal Legend of the Kray Twins hit shelves in 2011.Mr Pearson, who died last year aged 91, interviewed both twins upon their personal invitation and claims Ronnie disclosed the secret of the incestuous relationship.

ABOVE: If someone told you to jump off a bridge for Robby Benson, would ya?