Release Your Inner Glabber!

This week saw the launch of a new online hub for members of the gay, lesbian and bisexual  (GLaB) community and their friends. GLaBUK has been set up by myself, my financee and two of our gay best friends. We decided to create an entertainment website for the LGB community to gather together our favourite books, music, films and celebrity profiles for other people to enjoy and relate to.

We have also created LGB history pages to document key movements which have helped to build on LGB rights in the UK and beyond. There's still a long way to go until gay, lesbian and bisexual people are equal to heterosexuals across the world, but it's important to reflect on how the world is changing for the better.

So, what can you expect from GLaBUK.com? The website is still in its early stages, with a mountain of content ready to be written up and shared with the world. What we would love is for you to join us! Being part of an LGB community (or a GLaBber as we like to call it!) is not only a fantastic opportunity to meet other people, but it also helps to build a sense of pride for who you are and what you believe in.

Why not take a look at the selection of films, books and celebrities that are currently on the site. If you don't see your favourite there yet, we would love for you to share them!

There's also a range of articles on the site which I'm sure many of you can relate to, from PDAs to living with HIV, written by Jayce Carberry.

Got a story to tell? You too can be a GLaBber and become part of a growing online and supportive community. Feel free to contact us on our website or tweet us @GlabUKOfficial, we would love to hear from you!

The New Normal to premiere tonight!

Creator of American Horror Story and Glee, Ryan Murphy is no stranger to representing diversity on TV. The extremely popular musical comedy Glee for one has aired a string of same-sex relationships, coming out stories and homophobic bullying. The show has influenced thousands of young people over its three seasons, and helped them to recognise that being ‘different’ is okay, in fact it’s kind of cool.

Now, Murphy breaks boundaries once again with the new US comedy The New Normal. Due to premiere on E4 tongiht, the series follows Beverley Hills couple Bryan (Andrew Rannells) and David (Justin Bartha) as they  try to have a baby, the one thing they see as missing from their lives.

Bryan and David seek the help of a surrogate in an effort to make their dream a reality and are paired up with Goldie (Georgia King), a waitress and single mum from Ohio who has recently arrived in California on the run from her dead-end existence. Goldie needs the surrogacy payment to look after her daughter eight-year-old daughter Shania (Bebe Wood) and fulfil her ambition of going back to college.

Trouble arises when Goldie’s small-minded grandmother Jane (Ellen Barkin) turns up in hot pursuit determined to prevent Goldie from going through with the surrogacy arrangement. Will Goldie manage to defy Jane and create the beginnings of a new family unit, or will Bryan and David's baby dreams be thwarted?

The pilot episode of this great new comedy airs tonight at 9pm on E4, with a cameo appearance from none other than Gwyneth Paltrow.

Here’s a sneak preview from NBC of what’s to come:

TV Pick For Tonight: Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me

Jeanette Winterson's Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit is a revealing and award-winning novel which was adapted into a ground-breaking TV drama in 1990. Despite having similarities to her own childhood, Jeanette claims the book is not a lesbian novel nor an autobiographical account. Whatever her intentions, Oranges Are Not The Only Fruit has certainly made an important and unique contribution to both the literary world and television drama.

The central story follows a young girl, Jeanette, as she struggles with life with an overbearing and very religious mother. Jeanette is outcast at school and finds her evangelical life difficult to cope with, especially after her feelings for her friend Melanie are discovered by her mother and religious community.  As those around her attempt to 'save' her from what they regard as sinful behaviour, Jeanette cannot hide her same-sex desires. 

Tonight, the BBC arts series Imagine discovers the real story behind author Jeanette Winterson's childhood. Nearly thirty years after her triumphant debut novel, Oranges are Not the Only Fruit, Jeanette returns with Alan Yentob to the scenes of her extraordinary childhood in Lancashire. The documentary reveals how Jeanette was adopted and brought up to be a missionary by the larger-than-life Mrs Winterson, but instead followed a different path: she found literature, fell in love with a girl, and escaped to university. Following her recent memoir Why Be Happy When You Could Be Normal, Jeanette Winterson tells the story of her recent breakdown and suicide attempt, her quest to find her birth mother and how the power of books helped her to survive.

Imagine: Jeanette Winterson: My Monster and Me airs tonight at 10:35pm on BBC1.

Image Credit: BBC

Gay Parenting Viral Film Tackles Inequality Throughout Europe

London, UK - Imagine if your family wasn’t legally recognised in the majority of Europe.

That’s the shocking scenario examined in a new online short film, which is the first of its kind to use Facebook and Twitter to raise awareness of the alarming inequalities facing gay parents throughout Europe.

Launched 5 November 2012 for the UK’s National Adoption Week, it is a joint project from online organisation All Out and producer Mike Buonaiuto, the award-winning director of the ‘Homecoming’ equal marriage video commissioned by the Coalition for Equal Marriage. The film is also supported by Michael Cashman MEP.

The #InvisibleParents film shows a daughter’s happy memories with her two dads before asking the question: Why isn’t their family legally recognised in the majority of Europe?

"EU member states pride themselves on integration, but their governments still fail to resolve the legal hurdles keeping same-sex families from full recognition across borders," says Andre Banks, Executive Director of All Out, a global movement fighting for LGBT equality. All Out is running an online campaign alongside the film, calling on the European Commission to address the situation. http://www.allout.org/invisibleparents

Michael Cashman said, “Gay and lesbian parents can often find themselves legally invisible in a large percentage of the continent, putting their entire family in a very vulnerable situation especially with regard to healthcare, holidays or family legal systems.

“The #InvisibleParents film argues that all children should be treated with legal equality regardless of the sexual orientation of their parents. It is a brilliant way to allow people to connect with these very real issues and then do something about it,” Cashman said.

The #InvisibleParents project is supported by other organisations such as ILGA-EUROPE, NELFA and BAAF. They are available to offer advice to anyone watching the film seeking support.

Please get behind the project by sharing it with your friends, visit www.invisibleparents.eu and hashtag #InvisibleParents.

UK filmmaker Mike Buonaiuto has produced many short films for international brands and organisations, several to critical acclaim. For more information check out www.MikeB.co.nr or say hello on Twitter @Videographer88.

Sue Perkins to Star in New Self-Penned Comedy Series

I often get excited whenever I hear news of a glimpse of lesbian representation on TV but the idea of a comedy written by and starring Sue Perkins is like Christmas has come early!

The Great British Bake-Off host will be taking the lead role in her new comedy Heading Out, with six 30 minute episodes planned. Sue stars as Sara – a veterinarian so skilled she can spay a tortoise one-handed. She’s successful, she’s popular – there’s just one chink in her armour – she’s too scared to tell her parents she’s gay.

On the evening of her 40th birthday, Sara’s friends give her an ultimatum: either she tells her parents when they come to visit in six weeks’ time, or they will. To help Sara achieve this goal, they’ve saved up to buy a series of sessions with Toria, the eccentric and mildly-qualified lifestyle coach / therapist, and so the countdown begins...

Coming out is never an easy process for anyone so I wholeheartedly welcome a Sue Perkins comedic touch on what is often a very unsettling time for many gay and bisexual people.

Heading Out starts production in September and is due to be broadcast next year on BBC Two. The supporting cast includes Jo Scanlon, Nicola Walker, Dominic Coleman and Dawn French .

Speaking of the show, Sue Perkins told the BBC: “I think once the gnawing terror, sleepless nights and relentless self-doubt has subsided, this might well be the thing that I’m most proud of. It’s been a joy to work on, and I hope that joy proves to be infectious.” I'm sure it will, Sue, in fact the joy has already started in my house!

TV Pick for Tonight: Accused

Jimmy McGovern's award-winning series Accused returns for a second series. Each episode follows a different person's story as they await the verdict of their trial.

The new series begins with Tracie's Story as English teacher Simon's secret life as transvestite Tracie Tremarco is exposed.  

Simon Gaskell (Sean Bean) is a college English teacher who specialises in poetry. What his students don't know is that his alter ego is a transvestite called Tracie Tremarco, who is lonely and looking for love. Manchester's bars dressed up to the nines has not produced a lasting or truly fulfilling relationship however.

Then as fate would have it, Tracie falls head over heels in love in unexpected circumstances, following an altercation with some blokes out on a stag night. One of the stag revellers, Tony (Stephen Graham), a satellite and aerial engineer, comes to Tracie’s aid and offers her a lift home.

Tony and Tracie soon become smitten with each other and hesitatingly their love affair begins. But Tony has a secret too - he’s married to a local beautician, Karen (Rachel Leskovac), and he cares deeply for his wife. Before long, Tracie becomes entangled in a triangular love affair that leads inexorably to a terrible crime of passion and the dock...


Accused begins tonight on BBC1 at 9pm

Image Credit: BBC/RSJ Films

Lesbian Action with Billie Piper!

This Sunday sees the beginning of a new improvised drama series True Love, by the award-winning writer and director Dominic Savage. Five stories explore modern day love through a series of overlapping dramas. Each story is led by a lead actor, including David Tennant, Billie Piper, Jane Horrocks, Ashley Walters and David Morrissey, and asks the audience what they would do in the characters' situations.

Tuesday's story  follows a young unfulfilled teacher, Holly, (played by Billie Piper) who is in an unsatisfactory relationship with a married man and suddenly finds herself drawn to one of her female pupils. When the feeling proves to be mutual, Holly is left with a decision to make...Can she hold back her feelings for her student or is their love too powerful?

Storyline sound familiar? It's no secret that the student/teacher relationship has been done over and over again with straight, gay and bisexual couples, but we all love the drama it creates, don't we?! Bloomington and Loving Annabelle are two of my favourite lesbian films which both see a female teacher giving in to her feelings for her female pupil. The films have different endings, but the students surprisingly seem to be in control of both of the teacher/pupil relationships. Is this because they have less to lose or is first-time love the hardest to resist?

Bloomington (2010)

Loving Annabelle (2006)

You'll have to wait until Tuesday 19th June to find out what Billie Piper's character does when faced with the love of a pupil...

True Love begins on Sunday 17th June on BBC1 at 10:35pm


Image credit: BBC/Working Title