END SCOTSGAY MAGAZINE ================= ScotsGay is a bi-monthly magazine for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Edited, printed and published in Scotland Issue 13 - December 1996 ELECTRONIC EDITION ***Now available on the Web: http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/ How to Subscribe and Unsubscribe information is now at the END of the magazine. All Material Copyright (c) Pageprint Limited 1996. Permission is hereby given to distribute this material provided that this copyright notice is included and that distribution is specifically for non-profitmaking reasons. Distribution for profit must be done only with prior written consent of the magazine any deviation from this will be seen as an infringement of copyright. Hardcopies are limited to one per person for personal use only and such hard copies are subject to the same copyright restrictions as laid out above. The printed edition of ScotsGay is available by post at the following rates: 6 issue sub (UK & EC) 6ukp 6 issue sub (Overseas) 12ukp 12 issue sub (UK & EC) 10ukp 12 issue sub (Overseas) 22ukp Make Cheques and POs payable to 'Pageprint Limited'or 'ScotsGay'and send them to: Subscriptions ScotsGay Pageprint Limited PO Box 666 Edinburgh Scotland EH7 5YW In this issue: Editorial - the year that's awa' News - reports & investigations Interview - the Bjorn Again phenomenon Otton On... - a hard life Soapbox - a never-ending story Inside Out - the total scene guide Venues - what and where Scene - who and how Boxes - the ScotsGay Meet Market Story - the celebrating of Christmas International - news from around the world Reviews - books & films Listings - checked and updated every issue Helplines - if you need a friendly ear Music - Joy DJ Alan's latest chart ScotsDyke - best foot forward ----------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL ========= Another year away, and time to look back over the last twelve months. They've been a mixed bag. On the positive side: advances throughout the world in the struggle for lesbigay people to achieve equality have included the heartening result of the Hawaiian Court which has OKed gay marriages; the gay adoptions which have been permitted by a number of courts including those of Scotland; and, not least, the new Constitution in South Africa - the first in the world to protect us. Other advances have come in the treatment of AIDS. Once a virtual death sentence, the disease is now becoming 'manageable' on a long term basis - as long as you have access to expensive heath care. 100 On the down side: the Labour Party has abandoned any pretence of concern for lesbigay equality as they follow the Tories to the right; moves to censor the Internet and stop young people from having access to real information about human sexuality; and, of course, there is the recent depressing witch hunt in Stirling which has brought home to many of us how little things have changed outwith the cities. We acknowledge those who have died over the past year - and whose passing leaves unfillable holes. And we rejoice with those who have newly joined our queer tribe by making the personal decision to come out. Here at ScotsGay, we celebrate record readership as we move into our third year of publication on paper and by e-mail and our second year of publication on the World Wide Web. More people read ScotsGay than any other Scottish lesbigay publication and we'll be putting our print order up yet again in the New Year to satisfy the demand. Unlike another magazine, we have no need to lie about our circulation to keep advertisers happy! And thanks again to our advertisers who make it all possible. Thanks too to those who work behind the scenes at ScotsGay to make sure that things happen. None of us do it for profit - it's our contribution to the community. We hope you continue to find ScotsGay and InsideOUT enjoyable and a useful community resource. John Hein -------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS ==== BRILLO'S NEW POST CAUSES AIDS FEARS AIDS/HIV groups are concerned that the new chief of a leading Scots newspaper group will give publicity to the view that AIDS is not caused by HIV. Andrew 'Brillo' Neil, former editor of the Sunday Times, has just been appointed as Editor-in-Chief of Scotsman Newspapers whose titles include The Scotsman, Edinburgh Evening News and Scotland On Sunday. At the Sunday Times, Neil was a champion of AIDS dissidents and published a number of articles criticising the AIDS industry and its underlying hypothesis that the disease is caused by HIV. Now AIDS/HIV workers are worried that the Scotsman titles will promote this view in papers which are read by people who wouldn't read a posh Sunday paper. They fear that a few misplaced headlines in the Evening News could lead to the abandonment of safer sex practices by many Edinburgh people. Gay Men's Health's Gary Wilson told ScotsGay: "Publicity for this discredited belief can do only harm. There is always the fear that people will stop taking care. Whether or not AIDS is caused by HIV, and I believe it is, practicing safer sex and safer needle use makes good health sense because it protects against lots of other nasty diseases." According to Evening News Editor John McGurk, "Andrew Neil has promised that he will leave the editors to edit their own newspapers. We will continue to present our HIV coverage on the merits of the stories and will not take a particular editorial line." POLICE WITCH-HUNT CAUSES STIRLING SUICIDES Eleven men have been arrested, two of whom have since committed suicide, following a cottaging blitz in Stirling. A third man has attempted suicide. Gay activists have hit out at Central Scotland Police's tactics in fitting out the busy Beechwood public lavatories with hidden TV cameras and at their alleged involvement of a 13 year old male in the stake out. And ScotsGay can now reveal that another toilet at Stirling University has had police cameras installed. Central Scotland Police deny that their Beechwood operation was "an anti-gay witch hunt" claiming that the men involved were merely caught up in an enquiry into a "serious matter". The "serious matter" is thought to relate to the 13 year old who is said by local gays to have been offering himself as rent in Stirling cottages. First to die was Michael Cummings, 60, a divorced rigger, who threw himself 200 feet to his death from the Forth Road Bridge after being arrested in the Beechwood toilet. A month later, Cameron Daisley, 48, a youth and community worker based at Balfron High School hanged himself in the woods on Sheriffmuir after police took it upon themselves to inform his employers, Stirling Council, of his arrest. Despite his not having been convicted of any offence, his Equal Opportunities employer, a Labour controlled council, intended to suspend him. Mr Daisley was a member of Dunblane Cathedral Choir and the Scottish National Orchestra Chorus as well as being an Elder of the Cathedral where his funeral service was held on 22nd November. He had lived with his partner, John Rooney, for 21 years. Following the suicides, a police spokesperson said, "The force is concerned that there have been two deaths and have re-approached those involved to offer support". One man who has been charged is believed to have attempted suicide and to have been taken into protective custody by police. Over the last month or so, numerous people have appeared in court and have plead guilty to having sex in the toilets. They have been fined between ukp250 and ukp450 Most have refused to comment, but one, Sam Parker, 52, said, "I am ashamed and embarrassed but I think that filming in the toilets is a disgrace. This camera may have been set up to catch paedophiles but a lot of people who never dream of touching a child have been caught in the net. There have been two suicides already and, I assure you, there will be far more. It would have been enough to issue a warning. Many men caught will feel unable to go on after this." The Stirling Observer, hasn't helped by printing full details of those who have appeared in court. According to its editor, Allan Rennie, this is standard practice for all court appearances. He told ScotsGay, "Everyone regrets the tragic consequences and it has reminded us of the responsibility we have. It's very difficult." Robert Shorthouse, President of the Students' Association told ScotsGay that University sources had confirmed to him that police had installed a camera outside a busy cottage there. This camera has now been removed. The University has since refused to comment. It is not known if anybody was interviewed or charged as a result of this operation. According to Forth Friend's Ewan Wilson, the effect of the whole affair on the local lesbigay community has been devastating. At the switchboard's monthly disco there had been a moving minute's silence for the two men who took their lives. Calls to the phone line had actually gone down in number. "People are frightened", he said. OUTRIGHT Scotland's Ian Dunn commented, "Eleven arrests which result in two suicides cannot be claimed as successful policing. The way evidence was gathered was as undignified as it was immoral. If it was done in line with Scottish Office "guidelines", then the advice needs to revised, and revised with input from us." OUTRIGHT is to hold a seminar in the New Year on "Policing the Lesbian & Gay Community" and Stirling Council have decided to attend. It is being held in an effort to repair the damage and foster good practice between the Police and the Gay Community. OUTRIGHT is optimistic that such progress is possible. Meanwhile, further Beechwood cases, all allegedly involving the 13 year old, are currently understood to be at the Crown Office and more trials are expected. DISGRACE John Hein adds: When I first contacted Central Scotland Police for their comments, I spoke to a very genial Chief Inspector Reid. He assured me that the Beechwood operation hadn't been an anti-gay witch hunt. He became rather less genial when he realised that the soft soap he was dispensing wasn't going down very well. Although he managed to send out a picture and biography of the Chief Constable and some photocopied crime statistics from the force's Annual Reports by second class post, he refused to send out the actual reports themselves because of the expense involved. Every other force in Scotland is glad to send their reports to serious enquirers. It seems that Central Scotland Police would rather spend money on expensive surveillance operations targeted at gay men than inform the public of how effective their work is. There are a number of issues which arise from the Beechwood and University operations. Firstly, if Police were so concerned about the moral welfare of a 13 year old, why did they not step in before any alleged offences were committed? After all, presumably the pictures from the camera were being watched at Police HQ which is only a few hundred yards down the road. Then there was the question of Police informing employers of pending charges. Did they have any comment on the operation at the University toilets? What was the nature of the "support" which the police are offering those involved? Does Central Scotland Police have an Equal Opportunity Policy on employment or service delivery? Has the force learned any lessons from the affair? Do they intend to follow the practice of Lothian & Borders Police in their regular liaison with gay community leaders? I sent him a list of thirteen such questions - he did not respond. Frankly, it's a disgrace. The Chief Constable, William Wilson, is where the buck stops. In my view, he is directly responsible for the death of two gay men. After Dunblane, his notoriously homophobic force clearly took the view that gay men are indistinguishable from paedophiles. That line has come unstuck with the suicide of a respected local Kirk Elder who was widely known to be gay. His death has made many straight people in the local community re-think their attitudes to gays. But the Police have failed to rethink their attitudes. And that will only rebound on them as many gays continue to regard them as The Enemy. As I've said elsewhere, Central Scotland Police obviously aren't bright enough to realise the problems that they're storing up for themselves. If you wish to protest to the Chief Constable, his contact details are: William Wilson The Chief Constable Central Scotland Police Police Headquarters Randolphfield STIRLING FK8 2HD Telephone: +44 1786 456308 or +44 1786 456000 TeleFAX: +44 1786 472529 TELEX: 777735 GMH Gay Men's Health in Edinburgh recently held a housewarming party at their new offices in the Gay Triangle. The premises, at 10a Union Street, are in a basement and are not wheelchair accessible, but an application has been made to the Elton John Trust for ukp4,000 to fund a lift. PRIDE DATE Pride Scotland will be held in Edinburgh on Saturday 21st June and the organisers have moved into an office in the Edinburgh LGB Centre. POSITIVE MOVE The Body Positive Centre in Glasgow is to open on Christmas Day for the first time. Members and friends are invited to pop into the Centre between 6pm and 10pm when a cold buffet will be provided by Glasgow Food Line. BALL The Glasgow Bars AIDS Welfare Fund's Annual Gay Ball will be held in the John Logie Baird Suite at the Central Hotel on Monday 27th January. Tickets are ukp12. NEW PHACES Two new workers have been employed at PHACE west. Rosie Elliot is the new Buddy Co-ordinator, whilst Gillian Anderson is the new Direct Services Manager. The post of Gay Men's Project Manager is to be re-advertised. ABROAD David Gilmour has been appointed as OUTRIGHT Scotland's new International Secretary and intends to re-convene their International Group. He can be contacted on 0141-554 7159. BALLOONS Over 500 helium filled balloons were released in Glasgow's Sauchiehall Street to mark World AIDS Day. Whilst there was a march and vigil in Edinburgh. WIND UP The Lesbian and Gay Disability Forum has been wound up and its remaining cash has been contributed to the lift fund for the Edinburgh LGB Centre. OUTING Virgin Direct's mailing centre, based at Forres, has inadvertently outed lesbigays throughout the UK by sending out thousands of postcards which make explicit what kind of mailing list the recipient is on. Virgin have apologised for their thoughtlessness. RING RING Moray LGB Switchboard has finally opened after several years of planning. The number is Elgin (01343) 541188 and the service operates on Tuesday and Friday evenings with a lesbian service to start on Thursdays in the New Year. KILJOY Bisexuals who recently travelled from Edinburgh to London to appear on Kilroy have complained at being mislead by researchers after the TV programme focused on Multiple Partners rather than Bisexuality. SIZE The new Centurion Health Club in Glasgow promises to be the largest gay business in Scotland with floor space extending to either 8,000 square feet (according to architects) or 12,000 square feet (according to the people selling them carpets)! --------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERVIEW ========= BJORN AGAIN ----------- Well we've all heard it said 'that imitation is the highest form of flattery', well I guess that must be true because the last decade has seen the emergence of the tribute band. These are bands who perform the hits classic bands and look and sound like the artists they portray. One of the original and best known of all these tribute bands are Bjorn Again, the Australian ABBA tribute band. The band began eight years ago and have amassed a very large and loyal following both amongst the straight community and predominantly amongst the gay community. This became strikingly apparent earlier this year when the band played to over 300,000 people on Clapham Common at the London Pride celebration. The band are currently touring the UK with an all new stage show including a new stage set and the performance of songs never before performed in the UK. They return to Scotland's shores once again in December to once again set all us 'Dancing Queens' a twirling again. Being a big ABBA fan I managed to wangle an interview with Benny Anderwear from the band, I called him at his hotel in Liverpool and had a very bizarre conversation, it was totally uncanny speaking to this guy with a perfect Swedish accent! SG: I believe there's an interesting story behind how Bjorn Again came into being. Can you tell me about it? Benny: yes of course, well what happened was that we were up in our helicopter taking a trip when out of the blue we collided with a large glittery platform shoe, we crash landed on a dessert island and when we came around we couldn't remember a thing, but we had all these beautiful melodies going around our heads. So obviously we had to start singing them and ever since we have been travelling around the world making beautiful music SG: Have any of the original ABBA members ever been to your shows or commented on how they feel about your show? Benny: Yeah the members of ABBA saw us on TV in Sweden and thought we were very funny, they liked our act a lot. The only comment they had was made by their Bjorn who said that our Bjorn had a lousy accent!!! I don't know what he meant by that. SG: You recently performed in front of 300,000 people at Gay Pride, how did it feel to play for so many people? Benny: Well I tell you it was a wonderful day, everyone had a really good vibe about the whole event and everyone had a really good time. We closed the show and everyone was singing along and dancing, you guys really know how to party. And for some strange reason everybody seemed to just go crazy when we began to play Dancing Queen... I guess its an anthem to you guys! SG: You obviously have a very large gay following, what do you think it is about your act that captures everyone's imagination? Benny: I think its our philosophy because we promote love and understanding and of course platform shoes... for some reason you guys don't seem to wear platform shoes over here, I thought that everybody dressed this way, they do back home in Sweden. I think though that its just that you guys love to sing and dance and have a good time and our music is just good fun. SG: I believe you will be performing a lot of new material on this tour, what can we expect to see and hear this time around? Benny: Yes we will be performing some new stuff and there will be a few surprises but I won't give the surprises away you'll have to come along and see the show, but obviously we will be performing all the old favourites too... after all you guys would freak if we didn't sing Dancing Queen. SG: The Flash Back album was very successful, are there any plans to release any new material? Benny: Yeah we had a lot of fun recording the album and it seemed to go down really well with our fans, we were really happy when it did so well. We will be recording some new stuff in the new year and hopefully we will have some new music out later in the year. SG: what about a Christmas single? Benny: No we don't have a Christmas record out this year, but maybe next year you never know, maybe we'll release one just for you! SG: It's interesting to see that Bjorn Again are in their eighth year, you've out lasted the original ABBA because they split after 8 years of success, doesn't it feel strange to have lasted longer than the band you pay tribute to? Benny: Yeah I guess it could seem a bit strange but you know we believe that ABBA released and made so much great music that it's almost like they never really left, everybody knows their songs and has their records so you know they'll always live on and we carry on their legacy and have no plans to split up. We enjoy what we are doing too much. SG: You have toured extensively around the world, is there anywhere left that you really want to conquer? Benny: Wow, that's a hard one cos we have toured over so much of the world and seem to go down really well, but perhaps maybe America. We are going over there in January next year to do some shows. But for me personally I would like to crack somewhere exotic like... Skegness maybe! SG: I know it's a naff question to end with but what does the future hold for Bjorn Again? Benny: Mmmn that's a tough one... well after this interview I think we will probably have our tea... but seriously you are a tough act to follow but I think we will be touring and recording some more wonderful music to make the world a better place... I think we will pioneer the platform shoe revolution. We are gonna be playing up in Scotland in December so we are looking forward to that as we always have so much fun up there. Well that has to be one of the most bizarre experiences I have ever had, it was just like actually speaking to the real Benny from ABBA. Well yours truly will be at the concert in Aberdeen on the 19 December to review the show and get some piccies for the mag, it's a hard life being a top showbiz reporter, having back stage passes thrust upon you!, its a mucky job but someone's got to do it!!! You can catch them on the Scottish leg of their tour at the following venues: December 19 - Aberdeen Capital December 20 - Glasgow December 21 - Usher Hall Edinburgh Alternatively watch this space for a full review of the show and hot backstage pics. Well I'm off to press those flares and polish up me platforms ready for the gig and I might just give me ABBA Gold CD a spin just for the hell of it. Doug Stewart AKA Little Bear. --------------------------------------------------------------------- OTTON ON ... ============ A HARD LIFE ----------- Perhaps the weather's too cold in Scotland, but we just don't seem to have quite the number of rural eccentrics up here that you find in England and Wales. Gary Otton has been down south and reports here on the tale of a guy who is about as non-scene as you can get. Decide for yourself if he's straight acting! I had to leave my car on the snow covered track alongside an abandoned 1957 tractor and walk the rest of the way. My first glimpse of 27 year-old Mark Powell was clearing coppice in a Bedfordshire wood where he lives under a lorry cover. It was bitterly cold and snowing. He was working up a sweat, swinging his muscular arms over his head and bringing then down again to split logs with an axe. "I don't mind the cold," he told me, "but I love it in the summer when you're working hard and you can get really hot." He never bathes, shaves, or brushes his teeth, and his hair is a mass of unwashed- dreadlocks. But he does wash his clothes, and boils his 'smalls,' as he calls them, in a saucepan. He is a British Trust Conservation Volunteer whom his friends fondly call 'the fairy in the wood.' Mark is also gay. I'm invited to sit under the lorry cover with him and share a pot of tea: sage, mint or lemon balm. We sat huddled round a rusty oil drum with a hole cut out of the side to burn the logs. The smoke curled up out of a big gap in the roof and so did all the heat. The snowflakes that found their way in rested on my knee and melted by the fire. Mark is excruciatingly shy and avoids my stare by bending his ruddy, mud-smeared face over his metal hook whilst diligently splitting branches of hazel. Ever since he was 16 he has wanted to be a Woodman. This is the realisation of his dreams: sharpening spars for the local Thatcher to cover and insulate the homes in Country Life, Mark started life at Kimbolton School before being accepted at Durham University where he qualified with a Bachelor of Science in Geology. Developing an irrevocable urge to press wildflowers, he travelled to Bolivia to collect important rare plants for Kew Gardens and the Natural History museum, especially some obscure algae called Diatoms which he scraped from the river beds. He returned to work voluntarily for the Wildlife Trust and later for a bunch of Bedfordshire County Council men in C&A suits who wanted to conduct a wildlife ecological survey of the county before Mark found his pagan roots in a piece of Bedfordshire coppice owned by the Forestry Commission. The cold weather was presenting Mark with a problem. His potatoes. Last night he was trying to sort through them in the dark, worried that the frost would get at then. "Not that I mind them frosted," he explains, "I like the taste of them when the cold has got at them... sort of sweet. It's just that I can't keep them. They go black and rot very quickly." Mark eats lots of potatoes: for his evening meal and for breakfast. "Sometimes I pour on a bit of vegetable oil and mash it in," he confesses. "I like to use lots of herbs. Sometimes, when I get sugar, I even mash some of that in." He waxes lyrical about his favourite dish: Bubble and Squeak. As the seasons change: so does Mark's woodland plat de jour: cabbage, carrots, herbs, wood mushrooms or other fungi like funnel caps, shaggy parasols, woodland puff balls or wood blewits. But his favourite food is apples. Especially when he mashes them in with his potatoes. I spot an empty bottle of Lilt on the ground. Mark is about a mile away from a BP garage who occasionally profit from his otherwise discreet passion for convenience food. Mark doesn't like waste, neither is he impressed by my arrival by car. He is a vegetarian until someone locally runs over a pheasant or a rabbit. Sometimes, he has to finish the job off, smashing the skull of a struggling animal with his foot. It will be scraped up off the road and roasted. At the crack of dawn Mark gets up off his bed of wood shavings, and goes for a run to warm up. He will relight the fire and cook some potatoes already blackened by the frost. It will most probably be all he eats until sunset. He is eager to start work. It is the only way to keep warm. Mark has a little radio tuned to Radio 4 to keep him in touch with the rest of the world. "I don't like the arty crap," he tells me, turning his nose up when I mention Kaleidoscope. His favourite programmes are Gardeners Question Time, the Natural History programme, and From Our Own Correspondent. His ambitions are humble enough. He aims to be even more self-sufficient in the future but describes his latest project, a new fruit allotment, as a "selfish indulgence." He wants to train more conservation volunteers to look after the coppice and perhaps - he adds lightheartedly - get involved in some scientific research promoting food production. I wonder about his parents. His father died and his mother lives alone some miles away. "Mark's in the wood," she cheerfully explained when I called the previous day, as though her little huntsman had just nipped out to chop some wood for her and wouldn't be back 'til tea. If she had ever preferred her son to get a proper Job and rent a small bedsit in neighbouring Rushden, she concealed it very well. And what about boyfriends, I ask him? Highly unlikely. About as much chance of Riviera Lights (the Bedford gay nightclub), serving up pints of lemon balm. Heavyweight boots apart, the earthy appeal of Mark Powell would be lost on the clean cut Bedfordshire gay boys, he'd be isolated by the unrippled expanse of an Axminster moat. In any case, he doesn't want a boyfriend. He's celibate. In keeping with his earthy nature he holds a pragmatic approach to sexuality. His greatest ambition is to be self-sufficient in every way. If a guy wanted to share his pagan lifestyle: then they would just have to go and find another forest. With no desire to possess anything on the romantic front, what about books? He shrugged his shoulders. He didn't do much reading, but fondly remembered reading a copy of Thorreau's 'Walden' one day: the book of a man who goes to live in a wood. Mark was fairly indignant. "Why bother keeping a book you have already read? In any case, Thorreau was a con," he tells me. "He didn't grow all his own food. He got most of it from a nearby village." I glared at his bottle of Lilt. To my surprise, he had also read Terry Sanderson's 'How To Be A Happy Homosexual' although quite how it got here was beyond me. Mark was vaguely dismissive, feeling that in these isolated parts there had always been a tacit acceptance of homosexuality. They were respectfully called bachelors with no further questions asked. Poor Terry Sanderson had been sent back along his trail of breadcrumbs. And music? Mark paused briefly. Yes, something entwined with the memories of a past romance, a male-to-female transsexual. An old cassette he would listen to over and over again. The music of Enya would bring flooding back, a time when they shared their troubled lives, "a dreamy time: short of sleep and food." My questions exhausted and his work done, Mark will sit close to the fire and point up a pile of hazel: three points over his knee with his hook and bundle them together to be collected by the Thatcher in a few weeks. Tonight he might boil up a night-cap: a steaming hot cup of water infused with sage before curling up on the floor in his trenchcoat to sleep until dawn. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SOAPBOX ======= NEVER ENDING STORY Derek Ogg is a leading criminal lawyer and gay activist. He founded SAM, Scotland's largest AIDS/HIV agency in the 80's, and is currently a Trustee of Milestone House, Scotland's only AIDS hospice. He helped found the ground-breaking radical AIDS education agency GMFA in London in 1992. There is a little known secret I'm going to share with you. The people in the big-time AIDS agencies and departments already know it, they just haven't told you. They haven't told you because it's a dangerous secret. It's this: Gay men will almost certainly continue to become infected with HIV for the forseeable future, ie. for the rest of this generation's lives. To any adult reading this - it means you. The reasons are: there is no realistic prospect of a vaccine coming on stream for years and years. Secondly, gay men with HIV will continue to infect others with the virus through unsafe sex. So far as our community is concerned, HIV is already a fact of life, it will continue to be so. So let's stop the denial thinking of "when the epidemic's over there's gonna be this great big party". It's not. There isn't going to be that party. Real life (as in 'get a life') starts now, and for gay men it includes the reality of a virus that can make us sick and kill us prematurely. So why is this such a big secret? The AIDS establishment buys very heavily into the 'Happy Ending Scenario'. That's because current strategies to help you and me cope with HIV are these: (a) 'be safe and you won't get it, promise'; (b) if you have it, 'it'll be fixable soon, promise'; and (c) we're here to hug you meantime, promise. To acknowledge the truth, that this virus is endemic in our community because we are normal wonderful human beings with all the faults, lapses, mistakes, drunken misjudgements, romantic follies, drugged up lunacies and carried-away-fuck-it-all attitudes of every group of normal human beings, is impossible for the AIDS establishment or Government departments, local and national 'help' groups to accept. They see their mission as to re-programme gay human nature so that 'unprotected anal sex' (sooo glamourous their lingo, eh?) is eradicated, exterminated, no more, an ex-human-failing. Nice try, and for 15 years the trying has been going on. So, you may have noticed, has the virus. True, most of us, most of the time always are safe. We feel better by being safe. We feel, well er... safer. The virus however enjoys those other moments of our current sexual history, those moments we prefer to forget or dismiss as a 'one-off' or a 'drunken frolic'. All the establishment safe sex counselling, jargon and education hasn't stopped gay men having unsafe sex from time to time. We have successfully reduced our risks by a massive degree for self-preservation reasons. We have not, repeat not eredicated those risks. We, as a community, will probably never do that. (I say 'probably' because I do the lottery every week and fondly imagine I could win it). The result is, the virus will be a never-ending story. Handling this news, handling our sex lives and the real reasons for our decisions about what we do with our sex-time can only start when we start accepting the truth about ourselves. This is not a 'blaming' story. You are not a bad person because you've had unsafe sex. You are not mad and self destructive and sex-addicted if you accept that in all probability you will have unsafe sex again, and probably again. Understanding this epidemic, supporting each other, whether HIV- or HIV+, begins with the honest truth. Denial that HIV will affect you ever, or pretending the 'cure' will come soon, or hoping some magic bullet will make 'having it' glamourous but not terminal is the most dangerous mental health policy we could adopt. It leads to more and more unsafety and ill-health. Mainstream HIV prevention policies are selling us short, short on the truth about the progress of the virus and its permanent place in our community. Let's learn to handle it, and our own attitudes, from scratch. --------------------------------------------------------------------- INSIDE OUT ========== Scotland's clearest guide to the whole lesbian, gay and bisexual scene. Inside we have a complete list of venues, gossip from the four corners of the country and the broadest and finest selection of contact ads - maybe you'll find someone to share the festive spirit with... In this issue: Venues Aberdeen Dundee Edinburgh Glasgow Boxes - the ScotsGay Meet Market --------------------------------------------------------------------- VENUES ====== Aberdeen ABERDEEN WOMEN'S CENTRE Shoe Lane. Tel: (01224) 625010. Fax: 01224 625777. Mon-Fri 9.30-4pm. Where the women hang out. Lesbian group meets Wednesday 8-10pm. CASTRO BAR AND CLUB 47 Netherkirkgate. Tel: (01224) 624472. Mon-Sat 5pm-2am. Sun 7pm-2am. Cosy atmosphere. Totally refurbished since its last incarnation as the Pink Flamingo. CLUB CABERFEIDH 9 Hadden Street. Tel: (01224) 212181. Tue-Sun 10pm-2am. Disco - tends to be quiet midweek but busier at the weekends. SWEET! Exodus (upstairs), Triplekirks, Schoolhill. Tel: (01224) 624288. Fri 10pm-2am. Weekly house night with the JOY DJ's from Edinburgh. Dundee DEVA'S 75 Seagate. Tel: (01382) 226840. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight. Dundee's long established gay bar. Something for everyone! Pool table. LIBERTY NIGHTCLUB 124 Seagate. Tel: (01382) 200660. Thu-Sat 11pm-2.30am Sun 10.30pm-2.30am. Good atmosphere, very popular disco with wide selection of sounds and the occasional act/PA. Thursdays and Sundays are quieter - but not much. Edinburgh BLACK BO'S 57/61 Blackfriars Street. Tel: 0131-557 6136. Mon-Fri 12.30pm-2.30pm and 6pm-10.30pm, Sat 12.30pm-10.30pm, Sun 6pm-10pm. Superb little vegetarian restaurant. Friendly staff. Mixed clientele. Good value lunch menu. BLUE MOON 1 Barony Street/36 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-556 2788. Popular lesbigay cafe/bar complex. The Cafe opens Daily 11am-1am. The Buzz Bar is open Nightly 5pm-1am, and the new Pool Room is open Nightly 5pm-1am. CAFE STREUSELKUCHEN 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-478 7068. Tue-Sun 11am-9pm. Don't mention the war, Scottish Power or the bloody City Council! Due to council red tape, the place is closed until further notice! When it re-opens, this expensively re-furbished and friendly upmarket bun shop will resume selling sticky German buns (baked on the premises) and continental coffee as well as other snacks and light meals.WWW: http/www.scotsgay.co.uk/streuselkuchen/ CAFE KUDOS 22 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-556 4349. Daily Noon-1am. Food Noon-9pm. Fresh, stylish and always crowded. Mainly gay but tolerant of well behaved heterosexuals. WWW: http:/www.scotsgay.co.uk/kudos/ CAFE LUCIA 13-29 Nicolson Street. Tel: 0131-662 1112. Generally 10am-10pm but hours vary according to performances. Mixed bar attached to the Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Full of luvvies and their friends! C.C. BLOOM'S 23 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-556 9331. Mon-Fri 5.30pm-3am. Sat 1pm-3am. Sun 3pm-3am.. Karaoke on Thursday and Sunday. Male strippers Sun at 4pm. Disco every night from 10.30pm. CITY CAFE 19 Blair Street. Tel: 0131-220 0125. Mon-Sat 11am-1pm, Sun 11am-Midnight. Not as outrageously mixed as it used to be, but still seriously conventional. CLUB MERCADO - PLAYMATES 36-39 Market Street. Tel: 0131-226 4224. 1st, 2nd and 3rd Sunday of each month. Busy new club at rear of Waverley station. CYBERIA 88 Hanover Street. Tel: 0131-220 4403. Daily 11am-10pm (7pm Sun) Friendly mixed cybercafe with friendly mixed gorgeous staff. Where the wired queers hang out. WWW: http://www.cybersurf.co.uk/ EDINBURGH LESBIAN GAY AND BISEXUAL CENTRE 58a and 60 Broughton Street. Owned by OUTRIGHT Scotland. Houses Cafe Streuselkuchen. Calosa Publishing Limited, and PJ's Watches and Gifts. Provides meeting and noticeboard space for many lesbigay organisations. Private mailboxes available. FANTASIES 8b Drummond Street. Tel/FAX: 0131-557 8336. Mon-Sat 10am-9pm. Sun Noon-9pm. Scotland's ONLY licenced SEX shop where you'll be made welcome by the very bearish Vince (who's straight) or Paddy (who isn't). Toys galore, video rental too! Glamour shop upstairs. FOUR BBBB's CLUB 26b Dublin Street. Tel: 0131-538 7775. Big Beary Bulky Boys have their own club at Intense in the New Town Bar on the 4th Friday of the month. 8-10pm - bar opens to non members 9pm-1am. FRENCH CONNECTION 89 Rose Street Lane North. Tel: 0131-225 7651. Mon-Sat Noon-1am. Sun 1pm-1am. After a period as Maggie Rayes, this old favourite has reverted to the old name and the old management has returned. Never a dull moment. Karaoke Tue & Fri. JOY Wilkie House, Cowgate. JOY Info Line: 0131-467 2551. Saturdays - every 4 weeks. 10pm-3am. Joy, Scotland's most upfront gay club has moved yet again! ukp6 members/ukp7 non-members (reduced entry of ukp4 before 11pm). E-mail: 106124.3074@compuserve.com KUBHLAI KHAN 43 Assembly Street, Leith. Tel: 0131-555 0005. Mon-Sat 6pm-2am. Sun 12-Midnight. Mongolian barbeque. Mixed. MARMALADE CAT BISTRO Old Craighall Road, Millerhill, near Dalkeith. Tel: 0131-660 1211. Mon-Sat Noon-2.15pm and 6-9.30pm, Sun 12.30-2.45pm and 6-9pm. Mixed establishment specialising in Portuguese cuisine. Vegetarian menu available. NEW TOWN BAR 26B Dublin Street. Tel: 0131-538 7775. Daily Noon-1am. Especially popular with Bears, but has wide clientele. Intense, the sub-basement leather and fetish bar is open Thurs-Sun 9pm-1am - men only. No EIGHTEEN 18 Albert Place. Tel: 0131-553 3222. Mon-Sat Noon-10pm. Sun 2-10pm. Sauna club for gay gentlemen - run by a couple of straight Dykes! Now open on Sundays - great for that aprs Kirk Session! ORANGE Studio 24 (formerly Calton Studios), 24 Calton Road. Tel: 0131-558 3758. Every second Saturday. The best of upper class house. OVER THE RAINBOW 32c Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-557 8969. Daily 11am-1am. Good food. with a mixed crowd. PJ'S WATCHES AND GIFTS 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-558 8174. Mon-Sat Noon-7pm. Sun Noon-5pm. Sells the same sorts of useful bits and pieces as the shop in the Glasgow Centre. ROUTE 66 6 Baxter's Place. Tel: 0131-557 3379. Nightly 12.30pm-1am. Food served 12.30-10pm. Real Ale. Cocktails. Misnamed - it's the best Route to a 69 that we've ever found - ask for details of where the bus stops are! SOLAS CAFE 2/4 Abbeymount. Tel: 0131-661 0982. Mon, Tue, Thur, Fri 11am-4pm, Wed 5-9pm. Attached to Solas National HIV Information Centre. Good home cooking (everything cooked on the premises). Both dead animal and veggie. TACKNO 36-39 Market Street. Tel: 0131-226 4224. Last Sun of each month 11pm-4am. DJ Trendy Wendy. Mixed and crowded club night. TASTE The Honeycomb, 36-38a Blair Street. Tel: 0131-220 4381. Sun 11pm-3am. Weekly mixed members' club with DJs Fisher and Price. Visitor's passes from West & Wilde. THEATRE ROYAL BAR 24 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-557 2142. Mon-Sat Noon-midnight. Sun 12.30pm-11pm. Basically straight, this Real Ale bar (formerly a Gas Board Showrrom) in the middle of Edinburgh's Gay Triangle attracts a fair number of queers for an off-scene pint before heading for nearby fleshpots. TOMMY THAI'S BAR Linden Hotel, 9-13 Nelson Street. Tel: 0131-557 4344. Daily Noon-11pm. Quiet bar attached to Edinburgh's biggest gay hotel. Superb Thai restaurant. Owned by London's Philbeach Hotel. E-mail: linden.seal@ukonline.co.uk. WWW: http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/linden/ WEB 13 13 Bread Street. Tel: 0131-229 8883. Mon-Sat 10am-8pm, Sun Noon-8pm. Informal mixed cybercafe with homely and approachable staff. WWW: http://www.web13.co.uk/ WEST & WILDE BOOKSHOP 25a Dundas Street. Tel: 0131-556 0079. Tue-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun Noon-5pm. Scotland’s only lesbian and gay bookshop. Lots of books and quite a few magazines! Falkirk DROOKIT DUCK 16 Grahams Road. Tel: (01324) 613644. Mon 11am-3pm and 5pm-11.30. Tue-Thu 11am-3pm and 5pm-12.30am. Fri-Sat 11am-1am. Sun 7pm-Midnight. Straight bar used by a few discrete local gays. Galashiels GREEN'S DINER 4 Green Street. Tel: (01896) 757667. Mon-Tue 10am-5pm. Wed-Sat 10am-10pm. Mixed. discreet trendy cafe/bar. Regular meeting place for all Border Town lesbians, gays and bisexuals. Closed Sundays. Glasgow ASTRO GIFT SHOP GGLC, 11 Dixon Street. 10.30am-7.30pm. Wide selection of gifts with a Celtic, astrological or esoteric influence. ATLANTIS CAFE BAR 22 Cambridge Street. Tel: 0141-333 1375. European style cafe/bar welcoming people whose sexual orientation is not a big deal. AUSTINS 183a Hope Street. Tel: 0141-332 2707. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight, Sun 12.30am-Midnight. Friendly and busy basement pub. Food lunchtimes (until 5pm). Entertainment every evening. THE BASEMENT Calton Pool Hall, 18 London Road. Tel: 0141-552 5655. Mon-Thu 11am-Midnight. Fri-Sat 3pm-1am. Recently opened women only bar and pool club. BENNETS DISCO 80-90, Glassford Street. Tel: 0141-552 5761. Tue-Sat 10.30pm-3.30am. Now re-opened after extensive refurbishment! Tuesdays are straight. BETTY FORD CLINIC The Hatt Club, 228 Clyde Street. Tel: 0141-204 1404. Friday to Sunday. Now opening as a gay venue 3 nights a week. The plan is to see how things go, and if it all works out well, the club will be opening on week nights too. CCA Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street. Tel: 0141-332 7521. E-mail: cca@easynet.co.uk. Centre open Mon-Wed 9am-11pm Thur-Sat 9am-Midnight Sun Noon-10.30pm. Bookshop Mon-Sat 10am-6pm Sun Noon-5pm. Galleries Mon-Sat 11am-6pm Sun Noon-5pm (admission free). Two galleries, two performance spaces, cafe bar and bookshop. Lesbigay friendly place bustling with life, the universe and everything. Wheelchair accessible apart from upstairs performance space. CENTURION 19 Dixon Street. Tel/FAX: 0141-248 4485. Shop: (Until Sauna opens) 10am-5pm. Sauna and Shop: Noon-10pm. Shop sells toys, videos, mags and everything in between. Exclusive stockists for RoB. The much awaited sauna should open for trade (subject to plumbers) in time for the New Year. E-mail: info@centurion.prestel.co.uk CLUB X-CHANGE 25 Royal Exchange Square. Tel: 0141-204 4599. Tue-Sun 11pm-3am. Large basement club, popular with young crowd. Wednesday nights are straight (though still quite mixed). Not as busy as it used to be. COURT BAR 69 Hutcheson Street. Tel: 0141-552 2463. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight, Sun 8.30-11pm. Small bar beside former Sheriff Court. Straight until mid-evening. Auntie Annie's Basement Bar is open on Saturday evenings. DELMONICA’S 68 Virginia Street. Tel: 0141-552 4803. Daily Noon-Midnight. Food Noon-7pm. Busy pub with backroom area (not THAT kind of backroom!). DJ: Tue-Sun. Games/Quiz: Wed. Take your Prick: Thurs. Karaoke: Sun. Happy hours: 5-7 and 9-10 every night. Mondays: Becks at ukp1.15 all night. Big Breakfast Sunday has happy hours 12-7 and 9-10. GLASGOW GAY & LESBIAN CENTRE 11 Dixon Street. Tel/fax: 0141-221 7203. Daily 10am-10pm. Glasgow's community centre for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Cafe and two gift shops (PJ's - and Astro). Other businesses in the centre include Asset Mortgages and Calosa Publishing. Two large meeting rooms available for hire. Not as busy as it should be - it needs your support! E-mail: gglc@gglc.org.uk. WWW: http://www.gglc.org.uk/gglc/ GLC CAFE/BAR GGLC, 11 Dixon Street. Tel: 0141-204 5418. Mon-Sat 10am-Midnight. Sun 10am-8pm. The eaterie for the Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre. Now licensed for the sale of alcoholic beverages. JAVA CAFE 152 Park Road. Tel: 0141-337 6727. 9am-11pm. Popular cyber cafe with mixed clientele close to Glasgow University but popular with students and non-students alike. Http://www.java-cafe.co.uk/ LOVE BOUTIQUE The Arches, Midland Street. Te;: 0141-221 9736. 10.30pm-3am. 1st Saturday of the month. Busy mixed club popular with the younger crowd. MADAME GILLESPIE'S 26 Cheapside Street. Tel: 0141-248 4823. Cabaret bar: Sun-Thurs 9pm-midnight, Fri-Sat 9pm-3am for pool. Disco: Tues-Sun Midnight-3am.. Large club. Features regular PAs, and theme/party nights. Under new management yet again. PJ'S WATCHES AND GIFTS GGLC, 11 Dixon Street. Tel: 0141-226 9977. Fax: 0141-773 4376. Mon-Sat Noon -7pm. Sun Noon-6pm. Nicely appointed and stocked gift shop in the Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre. THE POLO LOUNGE AND CLUB 84 Wilson Street. Tel: 0141-553 1221. Lounge: Mon-Thu 5pm-1am. Fri-Sat 5pm-3am. Sun 2.30pm-3am. Club: Fri-Sun 10.30pm-3am. Upmarket bar and club. Club features Funky Pop on Fridays, Disco Pop on Saturdays and Brit Pop on Sundays! Something new and definitely different. SADIE FROST'S 8-10 West George Street. Tel: 0141-332 8005. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight, Sun 7pm-Midnight. Bar meals Mon-Sat Noon-7pm. Newly refurbished with no expense spared. Friendly staff who compliment the upmarket decor. Nice and convenient for rail travellers to the North and East of Scotland. SAPPHO'S 8-10 West George Street. Tel: 0141-332 8005 (ask for Jane). Mon-Sat 7pm-Midnight. Glasgow's first all woman bar. Very popular. Inside Sadie Frost's. SQUIRES LOUNGE 106 West Campbell Street. Tel: 0141-221 9184. Mon-Fri Noon-Midnight, Sat 12.30pm-Midnight, Sun 8pm-Midnight. Long narrow intimate basement bar, DJ Sun, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri & Sat. Packed at the weekend. Nightly happy hours 11pm-midnight (all night Sun). VICTORIA BAR 157-159 Bridgegait. Tel: 0141-552 6040. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight, Sun 12.30pm-Midnight. Basically straight, but justly popular with Glasgow's many real ale queens and dykes. THE WATERLOO 306 Argyle Street. Tel: 0141-221 7359. Daily Noon-Midnight. Popular, crowded, down to earth gay drinking shop. Scotland's oldest gay bar - what more can we say? Inverness NICO'S BAR/BISTRO Glen Mhor Hotel, Ness Bank. Tel: (01463) 234308. Wed and Fri 9-11pm. Smart relaxed bar popular with local gays especially on Wednesday and Friday nights (9.15pm onwards). Mixed clientele. Kilmarnock KAYPARK TAVERN 27/29 London Road. Tel: (01563) 523623. Straight pub - the lounge is used by some local gays on Mondays evenings. Kirkcaldy SANCTUARY: THE HOUSE OF GOD Caesars Nightclub, 13 Charlotte Street. Tel: (01592) 201389. Second Sunday of each month. 10pm-2am. New mixed night with loud popular noise by Maggie and Alan of JOY! Students/Members ukp4, Omnium Gatherum ukp5. Stirling BARNTON BISTRO 3 1/2 Barnton Street. Tel: (01786) 461698. Mon-Thur 10.30am-11.45pm, Fri-Sat 10.30am-12.45am, Sun Noon-11.45pm. (Food: Day and early evening). Near to railway station, Mixed, busy, bohemian and friendly bar/bistro. Popular with students and Sons/Daughters of the Rock alike. Good food. Real Ale. --------------------------------------------------------------------- ABERDEEN ======== Greetings from the pen of the Short fat Bearded one. The countdown is on, only a few days until we find out whether we've been naughty or nice!... funny building a whole holiday season around a fat little old man with a fetish for rubber boots and little kids!... and they call us deviants eh? I don't know, it's a crazy world innit? Well for the first time ever I've got all my Christmas shopping done before Christmas Eve and I didn't even use any dirty catalogues or anything, well okay maybe just for a few little stocking fillers but hey what's a girl to do, can't be good all the time now can I? So I suppose you want to know what's been going down on the Aberdeen scene since the last edition... mmmmm let me see... You may remember that I mentioned in my last column that yours truly was going to be interviewing Bjšrn Again for your very own ScotsGay, well true to their word the nice little press girl kept her promise and set up an interview with Benny Anderwear for me... yes that is his name bizarre ain't it... anyway to say it was a little O.T.T would be putting it mildly but I must admit I haven't laughed so much since the time Minerva told me she used to be a roughy toughy oilman... yeah right and I've shagged all of Boyzone while Peter Andre stood by with the KY... NOT!!!!! Anyway I digress, the interview went really well and you'll see it in all its glory elsewhere in this issue. Well it turns out that all the speculation about Pride Scotland taking place in Aberdeen next year was just yet another one of those rumours which seems to do its rounds on the scene every so often but Pride will be moving to a new venue next year. The event will be taking place in Edinburgh instead, never mind our day will cum! Castro's opening night went really well with a really large and enthusiastic turn out from both the straight and gay community which was a really good omen for the club. The owner and proprietor Tracy Lefevre took some time out to speak to me (and to the local press - Nice one!) and seemed very eager to make it clear that her vision isn't to compete with the Caberfeidh, the City's other premier hot spot, but rather she felt that the two clubs should be working together to compliment each other. The club itself has been totally refurbished inside and has been painted a rather fetching salmon pink colour which gives it a very warm and welcoming feeling. Inside it has kept a lot of its original features and still has a separate bar and club area with a very nice dark corner (I know where I'll be spending most of my time!) suitable for those romantic moments! The club is open 7 days a week and is free entry Monday to Friday and 2 pounds after 12 on the weekends and all are welcome. Speaking of the City's other premier hot spot, The Caberfeidh, a little birdy tells me that all the bans have been lifted... mmmmmnnn could this be a timely coincidence? Or a strategic tactic to entice people back? Come on ladies, the scene's big enough for the both of you it's just a case of working with each other, a little healthy competition ain't a bad thing. It's also up to us all as members of the Aberdeen scene to continue supporting both clubs after all we were all more than willing to go to Jaquies when it was the only place to go so come on guys it's up to you use them or lose them!..... Thursday 19th was due to see the return of Bjorn Again with an all new line up, all of whom hail from Britain as opposed to the previous line up all of whom hailed from Australia - both line ups speak with a fluent Swedish accent, bizarre or wot? The concert promised to be something quite special with new stage sets and performances of songs never before performed in the UK. So watch this space for a full show review and backstage gossip as yours truly has managed to wangle some super duper press passes for the event and I ain't scared to use them. Anyway there ain't much more to say other than have a great Festive season and remember a gay club's for life not just Christmas! So go along and support the festive programmes at both venues... double your pleasure, double your fun... mmmmn threesomes sounds good to me ! Anyway TA TA for now and if you can't be good be careful! Fuck hard and Fuck Safe. Doug Stewart AKA Littlebear littlebear@drink.demon.co.uk ------------------------------------------------------------------- DUNDEE ====== 'Have yourself a little Christmas, make the Yuletide gay...' Don't you just love this time of year? You can make your home wonderfully camp and get away with it! Anyway, on with the biz as there's lots to get through this issue. In case you were wondering, the pic last time featured the bar staff at Devas where things are hotting up for Christmas as wandering shoppers stroll into the bar for a quick one, or a few, before going home (drink, that is, at least that's what I meant!) The lounge area has been redecorated and a new dance floor put down and work is ongoing to complete the decoration throughout the rest of the bar. The pool area has new seating and Karen is considering a no smoking area in the seating area to the right as you go in. Lots happening! Well done too for opening the bar on World Aids Day. As I mentioned in my footnote last time, the Beamish Red is now installed. The women's pool comp was cancelled on Wednesday 11th December due to the poor turn out, however many of the regulars were attending a womens disco committee meeting which stretched on a bit as there was loads to organise for the Christmas Disco... As I have been saying repeatedly the Women's Disco at Sinatras is on Friday 20th December 8-12pm and if this mag is too late for that event you should all know about it by now anyway! The next disco will be on the 7rd February 1997 and monthly thereafter so if you haven't got your name on the mailing list yet, see one of the collective at the next disco and they will arrange for you to receive a regular newsletter regarding women's events in the area including disco dates. Liberty nightclub has lots to offer for the festive season including a late license to 3.30 am most nights. Christmas Eve and Hogmanay are special ticket events - ukp5 or ukp6 at the door if you dare risk not getting in. They will also be open on Christmas Day for those of you who have had enough of straight relatives and need to restore your sanity! Boxing Day features Karaoke with Susan and there is to be a Karaoke competition on the 2nd January. For those of you who like a bit of drag, Saturday 21st December features a comedy drag act Martell and on Saturday 28th December Kevin Peters comes all the way from Cyprus! Hope someone told him/her to bring the thermals! Alas the club is closed on 1st January but the hard working bar staff deserve a break! I wish all my readers a superb Christmas and New Year and if you haven't found love yet I wish you luck in 1997 Jol P.S. Well done Tracy on stopping smoking - keep up the good work! ----------------------------------------------------------------------- EDINBURGH ========= A varied month in Edinburgh. Lots of folk around, but not a lot of them doing an awful lot! However, with the season of cheer and goodwill just moving into sight, that should soon change! First for the bad news: Cafe Streuselkuchen, famed throughout the Lothians for their comely buns, have been closed for a while due to Council red tape. Frank and Volker hope to be open again soon, but the bureaucracy grinds exceedingly slow. A real shame, as the two lads have spent a lot a money, time and effort in converting the place into a really super bakery. Don't know if the open and close routine at the Fruit Shop was good or bad news. Anyway, the place didn't last long - wrong end of town, my dears. The queens just won't walk the length of Princes Street in the high heels. The good news? Well, it seems that Route 69 isn't getting a new manager after all. Stevie McLean's right hand man Craig Peacock (so that's what he uses it for!) got the top job after all when Stevie left for pastures new. Craig tells me that he's got local band Hearsay! lined up for a monthly stint starting in the New Year. They'll be playing every first Thursday from February. Up the road at CC's, Brian and Diane are continuing to pack the punters in and are planning to be open until 5am during the Festive Season - they're offering a free buffet too, so look out for that, all you phantom nibblers! At Frenchies, where, strangely enough, the queens do manage to drag themselves along (and up), Bab's 1st Birthday Party was due to happen on the 20th December. Now, I know she's not quite as young as she'd like to lead us to believe, but that's ridiculous - she must be 21 at least! I hear that Dockyard Doris went down a bundle on her recent visit - so much so that she's been asked back for some time in the spring. One exception to the quietude was the Western Stars line dancin' bash down Leith, which turned out busy hot and sweaty and wild and exciting and so on. They're looking round for a new venue for the dancin' lessons in the New Year - any ideas? Back in the Gay Triangle, all the gay eateries have been fairly packed. Cafe Kudos seems busiest of all, with a fairly extensive festive menu on offer. But Over The Rainbow and the Blue Moon are doing well in that respect too. Talking of the Blue Moon, have you been downstairs recently to the old pool room? You'll find it totally transformed into a high fashion emporium selling clothes and jewellery with an emphasis on those locally designed. It's called OMO (On My Own) and is being run by Blue Moon's assistant manager, Ian Cuthbert. Prices are quite reasonable - maybe an excuse to get rid of the anorak and move into the 21st Century? I hear that No 18 have got themselves a new Swedish steam room - no expense spared! Glad to see that they'll be taking the traditional Scottish two days off at New Year. Mind you, they're also taking the traditional English two day holiday at Christmas. No doubt they deserve it! There will be lots of New Year parties, but Orange are heavily promoting their Hogmanay Bash from 9pm-5am which features Lekker (Whoop, London), Joel Exaviar (Whoop), Terry Marks (Club Follies, London) and Stuart Jay (Fire Island). Tickets from West & Wilde, OMO, etc. For my part, it will be up to the Tron to see the New Year in - to hell with all this commercialisation thought up by the City Council. The folk I'm really sorry for are those in the pub trade for whom Ne'er Day was one of the few days when they could put their feet up. That's changed and Scotland no longer closes down for 24 hours. Oh well, that nice Mr Forsyth has given us our stone back (or has he?) and all is well with the world. A Happy New Year to ye's a' - when it comes. Iain iain@drink.demon.co.uk ----------------------------------------------------------------------- GLASGOW ======= Here we go again, it's Saturday evening, and I've got to get this column written before putting on my party frock and going out clubbing. Still, I've got a couple of hours peace and quiet before the other half is scheduled to stagger in pished and fall asleep face down in his Chinese takeaway!. Well, it's coming up for Christmas again, the time of year when gay and straight clubs the length of the country traditionally reward the loyalty of their customers by hiking up the entry prices. This REALLY annoys me at this time of year, so don't anybody even DARE to give me the usual CRAP excuse about having to pay the staff double time. Yes it is true, but doubling staff costs from 7 to 14% hardly blows a hole in the budgets of clubs operating 68% G.P.s. There are various other excuses trotted out, any and all of which I will happily tear to shreds if any venue owners feel like trying to justify their actions to me. I'm not suggesting that all clubs are trying it on, far from it, but shop around before paying for an excessive entry ticket!. Now that I've got that off my tits, let's get on with the scene stuff!. Seems like it's all change down at the dyke and dick centre, or the Gay and Lesbian Centre as the politiqueens would call it. The word is that PJs is now staying, at least until after Christmas, after which time they might stay on. The second unit has now been re-let to Astro Gifts, who stock cards, pictures, calendars and various other campery that no self respecting poofter would be seen without. I couldn't help but agree with Gordon Gosnell who wrote in Pulse Magazine that the Centre needs to be better publicised. Posters don't cost THAT much to produce, and could always be sponsored by one of the pubs or clubs. Turns out there were a few repercussions about the piece I wrote last month regarding the row between Martha from Gillespies and David from Squires. He accused her of telling me the story, and banned her from putting out flyers in his pub, when it was actually one of the suits who were in at the time that was responsible. A few of the old crocks (Less of this ageism, you're not that bloody youthful these days - Ed) thought it was dead funny, and almost choked on their Sanatogen!. Glasgow's newest venue, the Polo Club, has now opened its doors to the public. Originally there was a dress code, but this seems to have been relaxed, and casual but smart would now appear to be acceptable. When you're a seventeen year old hairdresser earning peanuts, it takes a whole week's wages to buy a pair of Calvin Klein knickers, so I can imagine people getting annoyed after buying the matching designer jeans and being told they're not acceptable. Just wear something smart and you'll be alright. This month's probing question. Whose birthday party was actually held in November and not October, in which publication was the advert placed, and what happened to my celebrity invite? First e-mail with all three correct answers gets a mention next issue. Last month, I pointed out that unless you were in Bennets early, you would end up having to queue, and those who went along after the pubs shut had little chance of getting in before the curfew at the weekend. Some of you seem to have realised this, and the spread among the clubs is at last evening out. If you ARE intent on going to Bennets, make sure you get down EARLY!!. Clubbing is about having a good time, not standing in a queue because YOU left it too late!!. The bar part of Gillespies has now re-opened for those of you who play pool or want a quiet drink before heading next door to the disco. Marfa and Gazza have various events and PAs arranged over Christmas and new year, including strippers and the hilarious Betty B from Austins. Gonna have to leave you now, and get out clubbing, will write the rest of this when I get back, see ya soon. (Some hours later...) Well I'm back now after a few sherries, so I hope his Editorness is checking for my spelling mistakes, cos he knows what my typing's like after a few drinks!. Just been pulled over by the police on my walk home, that's twice in the past three days. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining. I actually agree with identity cards, and stop and search powers to get criminals off the street, but it makes me wonder why the police think that I look like a dodgy character! Right, back to what's happening at Gillespies. Watch flyers for various drinks promos, and check out the cheap entry prices. Another thing they're doing is the Sunday Trash Nite. It's 60s 70s and 80s music, and makes a change from all the modern stuff currently wrecking our ears. Another place which has recently opened is Centurion Health Club at 19 Dixon Street, just along the road from the GLC. At the moment, the shop is open, and the saunas, cafe and TV lounge should be ready by the end of the year. Centurion shop sells an exclusive range of RoB clothing, toys, videos, cards and magazines, and will also be stocking ScotsGay magazine, Scotland's most widely read lesbigay publication. They are now taking memberships for the club, which is free, and gift vouchers are available. They are still waiting for the relevant certificate to ensure that the floor meets the required specifications regarding the loading before they can install the gym equipment, and once this has been obtained the club will be fully open. Seems bizarre that the council need all these certificates to ensure that a Muscle Mary doesn't crash through the floor into the AER LINGUS office below when PHILIPPINE AIRLINES are allowed to fly open top 737s. Finally. As you are aware, I complain from time to time in this column about reports in the Daily Record about their attitudes regarding the importance of family values, respectability, heterosexuality, Christianity, morality, responsibility, being a nice law abiding citizen etc. Did anybody else notice a little snippet in the press, NOT reported in the Record, about one of their journalists being suspended after a drugs raid in Glasgow. I would like to make it clear that, unlike the Vice of Scotland, some columnists are actually able to get through our lives and write our copy without resorting to stimulants. Well, I'd better sign off now, as my glass is empty, ( hic!!) and the ashtray is overflowing!. (hic!!) Wishing you all a Merry Christmas, and hoping you carnivorous perverts get stuffed as much, and as painfully, as your turkeys. Speak to you next month, Minerva minerva@drink.demon.co.uk -------------------------------------------------------------------------- BOXES - THE SCOTSGAY MEET MARKET ================================ To reply to a Contact Ad: By e-mail: We can now accept replies by e-mail for Box Numbers. They should be sent to boxreplies@drink.demon.co.uk and will be printed out and posted on by snail mail to the box number holders. There will be no charge for this service. As box number holders are unlikely to have access to e-mail, please include yur name and address so that they can get back to you! And remember to include the box number that you're replying to clearly on each reply. By snail mail: Just pop your reply in an envelope with the box number written in the TOP RIGHT corner and place the envelope with your reply inside another envelope with two loose first class stamps. If you are writing from outside the UK, an International Reply Coupon (IRC) should be enclosed for each reply instead of postage stamps. International Reply Coupons are available from most Post Offices throughout the world. We are unable to send on replies without postage stamps or IRCs. Send all replies to: ScotsGay Magazine, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. To place a Contact Ad: Write to the above address enclosing your advertisement copy. Ads are FREE of charge to the advertiser. Or you can send them by e-mail to scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk Personal Ads in ScotsGay's Meet Market are read by more people than any other Scottish Gay Title! WOMEN ----- American Lesbian In Edinburgh 22, Taurean, easy going, positive attitude, VGSOH, enjoys cinema, dinner, occasional clubs, good conversation. WLTM similar lesbians for friendship and fun! E-mail tali@cybersurf.co.uk or write to Box SG13012. Aberdeen - Anywhere Said to be attractive, feminine lesbian, 34, professional with GSOH, own house, car, seeking similar females for friendship, possible 1-2-1, age immaterial. Can travel. Photo if possible. ALA. Box SG13059. MEN --- Moustached Glasgow Couple Couple seek other moustached guys for fun/friendship. We're 30/35, slim/medium, dark haired, into police/firemen/ uniforms etc..... Can accommodate. Box SG13002. East Borders Region Young 36, looking for the other gay men who must be around this area. Into... let's discover this later. Want to meet for fun, friendship and possibly more? Get in touch soon. Box SG13006. Sock Fiend - Liverpool Hi, I'm a boyish 34 crazy man, with a massive preoccupation with socks, boots and feet, ...oh, and uniforms. I'm SA and into restraint, games, imagination and genuine people. Cheers. Box SG13007. Edinburgh - Central Scotland I am 21 years old and inexperienced, straight acting, non-scene. Looking for similar to learn together! I can't accommodate but I can travel. Box SG13008. 23 Year Old Lost In Livingston I made a mistake and moved from Edinburgh to Livingston a couple of years ago! I'm fit, smooth and into sports; football climbing, mountain biking and snowboarding. I'm looking for someone my own age for fun and whatever may happen... I can travel and accommodate. Box SG13009. Student On The Rampage This 19 year old student (blue eyes, brown hair, 5'11" and quiet when sober) is well and truly pissed off with having little contact with other blokes and seeks a boyfriend of similar age to show him the joys of the scene. I am into music, books, art and anything that is interesting. Fife area, and close enough to Dundee as makes no difference. E-mail if possible. Box SG13010. Greenock - Glasgow - Anywhere I am moving to Greenock in January '97 and would like to meet some Gay people in Greenock & Glasgow or anywhere in Scotland. I am 24 y/o, 6'4'' tall, good looking. I'm into clubbing, pubs, travelling, eating out, sex (Who isn't?). If you are interested in getting to know me better then please E-Mail me at: Jamie_Neller@uk.ibm.com or write to Box SG13011. Horny Attractive young guy, mid 20's, fair hair, blue eyes, slim, looking for horny Glasgow guys for fun. Discretion assured. Can travel. Can't accommodate. ALA. Box SG13016. Falkirk - Anywhere 43, big hairy body with GSOH seeks red heads or guys with freckles. I am genuine and sincere. ALA. Box SG13017. Edinburgh Skin 34 years old, blue eyes, No 1 crop, boots, braces, looking for guys who want to get wet, gob and verbal abuse, boot licking, also into rubber, leather, army gear. Phone number and photo appreciated. Box SG13018. Edinburgh - Long Passionate Nights 23 year old, 6'0", dark hair/features, hazel eyes, good body, very good looking, passionate, sensual, loving, active/passive, needs similar w/e for Sleepless in Seattle kind of magic. Box SG13019. On Shelf - Unloved But not soiled. 35, reliable, honest, non-scene, fun loving, nights in, cuddles, hugs, love. Any offers? Tayside area. Phone/photo not essential but fun. Box SG13020. Edinburgh - 32 Year Old If you're into leather, I'm into you! Bikers a plus. Genuine frank letter, preferably with photo, ensures reply. Box SG13021. Young For Older? Very hairy genuine guy, 40, offers uncomplicated fun to younger (18-25) smooth chested young guy. Edinburgh based. Can travel or accommodate. Box SG13022. Glasgow Businessman Offers a firm hand to suitable young man. You should be slim. Your place or mine. Box SG13023. Edinburgh Intelligent, attractive, sometimes eccentric guy, 33, looking for fun, friendship and love. Tell me what you want. ALA - photo helpful. Box SG13024. Sexy 22 - Big, Happy Glasgow guy, big, sexy, VGSOH, into mature sexy guys (big or slim) who are honest, caring, romantic and know how to treat an old fashioned gal! ALA with photo. Box SG13025. Edinburgh - Glasgow - Central 30 year old, civil servant, dark receding hair, GSOH, NSx2, 5'9", 'tache, medium build, quite hairy. Into: briefs, etc, swimming, pianist, kilt wearer. Seeks similar for fun and friendship. 25-45. ALAWH. Box SG13026. Photography 24 years old, masculine, attractive, seeks professional or amateur photographer to build portfolio of erotic and nude photos. Urgent. Genuine replies only. Box SG13027. Dundee Guy 27 years old, medium build, good looking, GSOH, enjoys music, sports, etc. Sick of scene, seeks genuine guy, 20-35 for friendship, possibly more. Can accommodate. No time wasters please. Box SG13028. Anywhere Stinking piss boy, 32, seeks similar for long horny sessions in filthy gear. ALAWP. Box SG13029. Dundee - Tayside Young 50, slim build, s/a, n/s, looking for friendship or possible relationship with active guy any age, anywhere. Personality more important than looks. Can travel/accommodate. ALA. Box SG13030. Glasgow Guy Seeks Big Bulky Bears Very big guy, 37, seeks bulky boys/bears for fun and laughs. Skinheads also welcome with big beer bellies. I like rough and tumble. ALA with photos. Write soon! Box SG13031. Edinburgh 40's guy, slim, muscular, 6'1". Seeks fit younger/student guys for friendship and uninhibited times. Can accommodate. Go on, write - you won't regret it. ALA - I promise. Photo if possible. Box SG13032. Dundee Mature early retired guy would like to meet an active guy who is not particular about another's age for socialising, friendship and possible 1-2-1. Can travel/accommodate. Anyone interested? ALA. Box SG13033. Glasgow - Anywhere 31 year old wishes to meet 20-28 year old with view to close/long-term relationship. Will travel or accommodate. If you are romantic, then get in touch. Send long letter and photo. Thanks. Box SG13034. 23 Year Old Student - Edinburgh Caring male, tall, brown hair, medium build, GSOH, enjoys nights in/out, walking, talking, music, theatre. New to area. Seeks guys for relationship, friendship, good times. So get writing! Box SG13036. Male Models Shy or show off, passive or active - both types required to pose nude for attractive fit artist. Age flexible 18-30. All types considered. Box SG13037. Bulky/Beary Mates Wanted Urgently! Big bright bear seeks stocky skinhead, weighty wrestler or big butch bruiser for fun, food and frolics. Grant Mitchell or Butch Dingie lookalikes are most welcome. ALA with photo in gear. Box SG13038. Edinburgh Guy Young looking 27 year old professional with student mentality, straight acting, on/off scene, seeks similar guys for fun and friendship. Photo ensures reply but ALA. Box SG13039. Affectionate Master Seeks well developed, well groomed and loyal submissives, 18-25. Glasgow/anywhere. No fairies. Box SG13040. Glasgow - Central Scotland Genuine sports minded guy (37) seeks 20/30something straight looking/acting friend for badminton/other sports/leisure centre socialising. ALA. Box SG13041. Ayrshire Ayrshire male, 35, medium build and height, quiet, likes films and music, seeks male, 30's, light hearted and mature, strong and affectionate, for relationship. No ravers or stick insects or alkies. Box SG13042. Glasgow - Lanarkshire Young 35 year old guy, passive, GSOH, tidy, looking for active guys under 35, s/a. Can accommodate. Fed up going to bed alone. Don't just read it, get writing. Box SG13043. Slim Guys Wanted - East - Central - Anywhere 38 year old non-scene guy, medium built, s/a, seeks slim single guys or couples for no strings attached fun. Can travel or accommodate. Any age 18-50. All races welcome. Photo please. ALA. Box SG13044. Nae Bloody Bairns Please! Slim young student, 23, seeks older mature Sean Connery types for fun and friendship. Glasgow based. Box SG13047. Edinburgh - Anywhere - VWE Guy 26 year old looking for passive/active guys into red, blue, TT, poppers, smoking and a good time. Send explicit photo and letter. Can travel and accommodate. Box SG13048. Railway Enthusiast 39 year old with own anorak, would like to share sleeping bag and/or long train rides with young enthusiast - steam or diesel. Box SG13049. Looking For Huge Muscled Guys Attractive Dunfermline guy, 27, No 2 crop, s/a, would relish the chance to have some no strings fun with a huge muscly guy. Let me worship your body. Fife/Edinburgh/Anywhere. Box SG13050. Edinburgh Male, 60's, non-smoker, tactile, open minded, adaptable, sincere, seeks hairy, active guy, any age, to share interests. Box SG13051. Edinburgh Skin 34 year old, 5'9", No 2 crop, blue eyes, wants to meet skins for long wet sessions. Lots of gear, DM's, rubber, army gear. Own flat. W/s enthusiasts or novices welcome. Phone number for quick reply. ALA. Box SG13052. Young Guys Required Anywhere Young 30 year old seeks younger guys 18-25 for hot horny time. Videos, massage, long nights in, holidays a possibility. Clean, discreet, w/e young men need only apply. ALAWP if possible. Hurry! Box SG13053. Not Well Endowed? Hairy guy, 5'6", 15 st, 38 years old, seeks young (preferably smooth) guy with something nice and small between his legs. Don't be ashamed of being small - come and let me admire!!! Box SG13054. Help Me, Police Officer Stuart, Glasgow, young looking 25, blond hair, blue eyes. There has to be a gay policeman in Glasgow. If so, write for fun times guaranteed. Photo for reply. Box SG13055. Ex-Army English lad, 33, cropped, masculine, fit, hunky/horny, straight acting, discreet, genuine, seeks similar Edinburgh mates 18-40 to visit for hot fun weekends. Students/skins especially welcome. ALAWP. Box SG13056. Aberdeen - Anywhere Mature solvent male, s/a, n/s, GSOH, loving, very affectionate with right person, seeks long term relationship with 30+ versatile guy. Usual varied interests. Any nationality welcome. Photo appreciated. Can travel and accommodate. Box SG13057. Elgin - Inverness 31 year old gay guy seeks older active man into bondage, leather/PVC. Also interested in meeting gay couples for wild times. Box SG13058. Aberdeen 32 year old guy, 5'7", pierced, tattooed, hairy, non-scene, seeks gay or bi guys, 28+, non-camp, non-scene, for friendship, fun, maybe more. Discretion assured. 100% genuine. Can accommodate. Photo appreciated. Box SG13060. St Andrews Genuine, chunky, 5'8", blue eyes, 35, seeks caring guy who wants to be cared for too. Must be under 45, fit, non-camp, who enjoys good food, wine and togetherness. Box SG13061. Central London Mature guy from Philippines seeks younger guy to be my holiday partner, friend and lover. Must be straight acting, loving and caring with GSOH. Phone and photo gets speedy reply. Box SG13062. Edinburgh - Glasgow Uncomplicated afternoon fun offered to young student type by older guy. I have flats in both cities. Total discretion assured. Box SG13064. BISEXUAL -------- Seeking Something New Bi-curious middle aged male (50) seeks to embrace new experiences no experience - WLTM bi couple or assertive TV. Interested in experiencing everything except pain - see me as your project! E-mail:squidphoto@aol.com. Box SG13001. Central Scotland Bi guy, early 40's, seeks similar for some horny fun. Must be discrete. Can travel, but not accommodate. ALA. Box SG13003. West Coast - Argyll Lost Virgin looking for teacher for some safe randy fun. 25, medium build, brown hair, 5ft 10in. Can accommodate. Please contact soon cause I just can't wait for someone to tell me what to do. Box SG13005. Bi-Male 24, brown hair and eyes, 6ft tall, slim build, nice cute butt, seeks gay or bi-male for no strings attached fun and safe sex. Raunchy letter and photo or phone number please - also sae for fast reply. Can travel only. Scotland. Box SG13013. Bi-curious? Mature guy offers safe considerate experience to young (under 26) first-timer. Discretion assured. Can accommodate (Glasgow/Edinburgh). Box SG13014. Bisexual - Edinburgh Area Slim, fit sub and bi male, late 40's, non smoker and GSOH seeks lesbian or bi couple to serve and be used by. Travel or accommodate. Box SG13035. Edinburgh Weekly/fortnightly fun offered to smooth young lad by older hairy versatile guy. Would suit bi guy with girlfriend who requires total discretion. My place or yours - afternoon or evening. Box SG13045. Edinburgh Mature 46 year old, WE male, offers free massage to male or female. Will also pose for artists or photographers. Travel only. Edinburgh. Box SG13063. STRAIGHT -------- Edinburgh Mature hairy silver bear (45) seeks younger woman for fun and friendship - possibly leading to 1-2-1. Your cave or mine! Box SG13015. Edinburgh - Central History graduate, 40something, male, seeks similar graduate female, preferably younger, for evenings in/out. I'm getting into a rut and need new friends! Box SG13046. LOOKING FOR ----------- Seeking Nesbitt/Nisbet's I'm seeking to meet people with the Surname Nesbitt/Nisbet or other variations thereof. I am a member of the Nesbitt/Nisbet Society (a genealogical and clan society) and plan to attend next year's gathering in Scotland. I would like to meet some of my Scottish "family" cousins. Write: Timothy Nesbitt, 104 North Morgan Avenue, Andrews, South Carolina 29510, USA or E-mail: jornes@sccoast.net EMPLOYMENT OFFERED ------------------ Discreet Rent in Edinburgh Shall be in Edinburgh 6-9 January (and in Glasgow 3-6 February). Looking for trim, discreet, youngish, preferably uniformed rent for an evening. You'll need to negotiate entry to hotel. Box SG13004. Cash For Your Body Photogenic guys can earn ukp75 cash - or ukp100 with chest and arm definition - posing for Mike Arlen who has had 13 glossy magazines published called Mike Arlen's Guys. Send snapshots of your magnificent body to him: Mike Arlen, Wetherby Studios, 23 Wetherby Mansions, Earls Court Square, London. SW5 9BH or call him on 0171-373 1107. FRIENDS ABROAD -------------- Warm & Affectionate Guy Seeks Younger Guy I would be happy to find nice, sincere and warm guys to correspond with and hopefully meet in the future whenever I am able to travel to Europe again as I expect I will. I would be interested in staying with you in your apartment or flat while I am visiting you. About myself. I am a 58 year old gay guy living in Redondo Beach, California; 5'8", 220#, brown hair, brown eyes, hairy chest but no beard; warm and affectionate; retired on a medical disability pension due to my hearing problems. I am hard of hearing since birth and wear hearing aids. My interests are camping, travelling, Bridge, Chess, computers, and I am interested in the intellectual pursuits. I am always horny. You can either contact me by writing: John Coyle, 2121 Vanderbilt Lane, #3, Redondo Beach, CA 90278. Or you can e-mail me: johnc2000@earthlink.net. Indonesia I'm Titus, 23 year old, Asian. I live in Indonesia. I like to make a friend with all of you from all over the world (m/f) I'm open minded person. I like music, reading and see the movies. Write: Titus Emilius, Cipinang Empang #19, Jakarta 13240, Indonesia or E-mail: sititus@hotmail.com South African Male Seeks Penpals (Almost) 30 year old neurotic tall hairy guy, smoker, drinks, ugly with close relationship with PC would like to do e-mail with others into classical music and books.Write: Dietrich de Beer, Box 93772, Yeoville, 2143, South Africa or E-mail: dietrich@global.co.za Indonesia I'm very lonely gay, seeking for while guy like to keep in touch, long term relationship if possible. Please write me. Write: A. Joni, JL. Mampang Prapatan VIII, No. 50E. Gg. PLO., Jakarta Selatan, Indonesia. Texas Traveller Texas GWM, 39, 6'2", 185 lbs, brown/blue, travels all over the place on business and pleasure, in the US and abroad. This Texas Cowboy would like to correspond with and meet if possible a charming, smart gentleman who can appreciate a real Texas stud. Romance? Passion? It's up to you! Write: Tom August, PO Box 70167, Houston, Texas, 77270-0167, USA or E-mail: tomaugust@earthlink.net Boy Next Door American, 34, slender, cute, looking for 1-2-1 relationship and lesbian wife! Please write: Bob Cavender, 5785 Oberlin Drive #220, San Diego, California, 92121, USA. In Need Of A Buddy German 30s 5'9 168 lbs medium blond short haircut straight acting, non scene seeks straight acting guy 25-35 for friendship, e-mails and much more. Everybody can write (Pics?) - write to H.Dueber - P.O.Box 300 167 D-63088 Rodgau Germany or send E-mail to 106012.2772@compuserve.com .Will answer all I am so excited! Hey I'm so excited of being here, 22, study social communication, broad-minded, crazy, dreamer, intelligent... modest, happy, shy, good looking, 1:78 mts...plazz! By, by. Write: Cesar Octavio Gonzalez, Blvd. Camino Real 535, CP28010. Colima, Mexico or e-mail: colimatzin@hotmail.com BACK RUBS --------- Edinburgh Masseur A caring skilled personal touch at excellent poundstretcher value. Jim. 0131-556 7199. Escort Edinburgh/Glasgow, huge tool, perfect ass, handsome, versatile, Scotland's top escort guarantees you'll be more than satisfied. Box SG13065. Escort Glasgow/Edinburgh locality. Attractive 25 year old student offers professional unhurried service. Available some days/weekends & some evenings. Advanced bookings prevent disappointment. 01683 221486. Gary Good looking 24 year old professional masseur and escort. Glasgow/Edinburgh/Ayrshire. Go on: treat yourself! 0421 035644 (24 hours). Masseur - Aberdeen - Dundee Young guy, 29, gives great massage. Phone Steve on 0589 565418. Anytime. Masseur - Paisley Relaxing aromatherapy massage. Reasonable rates. Paisley area. Phone Tony on 01505 324561. Give yourself a treat. Rex 24 hour escort or massage. My place or yours. Built to please. Phone 0541 570727. SERVICES -------- Books Good quality books for gay men available by mail order. Fast confidential service and good discounts. Titles include Spartacus '96, New Joy of Gay Sex and Safer Sexy. Call 0171-635 0332 for leaflet or write: Frontier Books, 149 Chadwick Road, London. SE15 4PY. Company Formations Why pay more? For only ukp90, Cosun Limited will supply a freshly formed Scottish, English/Welsh or Northern Ireland Limited or PLC with your own choice of name. For a free copy of our "Guide to Limited Companies": Freephone 0800 526421. Gay Business Association Member. E-mail: cosun@drink.demon.co.uk. Http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/cosun/ Genuine Phone Dating For Gay Men The Dating Line that has it all! Instant Messaging, VoiceMale Dating and 'Traditional' Phone Dating. 0891 556655. 45p/min cheap, 50p/min other. TBO, Box 425, PE25 2RQ. CALL NOW! Get Wet Leather, rubber & PVC clothes for men & women, leather & rubber harnesses, silicone and latex toys, lubricants, SM equipment, wholesale available. Send ukp5 for catalogue or sae for price list to: Get Wet, BCM 3564, London. WC1N 3XX. Tel/Fax: 0171-627 0290. Golden Wheel Seeking discreet gay or bisexual new friends, male or female? Long standing service, all areas and worldwide. Send stamp for details to: (Sadie), The Golden Wheel, Liverpool. L15 3HT. Internet Training Special Offer - 15% off 1-1 Internet Training in Cyberia Edinburgh, 88 Hanover St. One hour's intense training for the special discount rate of ukp19.97. Just pop in or call 0131-220 4403 and ask for Seumas. Pen Friends Gay, Lesbian and Bi-sexuals ages 16+, non profit organisation, members nationwide and worldwide, membership ukp6 p/a or ukp3 p/a concessionary. Write, enclosing 2 stamps to: LGB National Pen Pals, PO Box 2000, Horwich, Lancs, England. BL6 7PG. Penpal Mag Penpal Mag for adults: over 500 photos. Approval copy from: Matchmaker (K38), Chorley, PR7 4BS. Or ring: 01257 480155 (24 hours). Translations English to German and German to English. General business and personal translations undertaken by native German speaker. Details: Phone Colne (01282) 862351. Used Underwear/socks PTI offers used socks and underwear. Phone 0541 570727 and ask for Tomo. Worldwide Penfriends Regular lists. Make friends, exchange holidays, improve your languages. For general and music lovers' lists send ukp3 to "The Penpal List", c/o 221B Merton Road, Southfields, London. SW18 5EE. PHOTOGRAPHY Explicit/confidential Photo Processing 6"x4": 24exp ukp6.00, 36exp ukp7.00, extra set ukp4.00. 7"x5": 24exp ukp7.50, 36exp ukp8.50, extra set ukp6.00. Please add ukp1.00 p/p per film. Chq/PO: A2Z Trading Co., 501 International House, 223 Regent Street, London. W1R 8QD. Discretion assured. Overnight service. Just 18 Nude photo sets, sample set ukp15 from BM Ferrari, London, WC1N 3XX. Cheques and postal orders payable to 'M Bentley'. Models required. Send photo to above address. VIDEOS Free Video Lists The premier "one-stop" mail order service for all the best videos/books/photosets fom Prowler, Pride, SAP, Load, etc., etc. Plus exclusive 'BoyBabe' videos unavailable anywhere else! Trading Post, Freepost BR1307, Eastbourne. BN21 1BR. Telephone: 01323 737481. WHERE TO STAY Ardbeg House Ardbeg House Hotel, Dervaig, Isle of Mull. Welcome breaks, two nights or more, ukp27 per person per night, Dinner B&B (some en-suite rooms with four poster beds). Scenically situated. Beautiful period country house full of character, home comforts and good food. Phone Neil on 01688 400254. Beside the Seaside ... Roseland Guest House, Ayr. Ron invites you to enjoy Bed and Breakfast in his quiet, centrally located Victorian townhouse. For that totally relaxing break. (Not exclusive). Please Tel/Fax 01292 283435 for current prices. Birmingham, West Midlands Sebastion Guest House. Telephone: 0121-455 9459. Large Georgian house located in the city centre, close to the gay village, all rooms colour TV, double beds, tea/coffee, communal lounge, sun room and large gardens. Blackpool Regent Hotel. Telephone: Blackpool (01253) 22787. Recently refurbished, Late Bar, Happy hour daily, En-Suite available, Flamingo's concessions, Mid-week specials Mon-Fri ukp44 B/B, Fri-Mon B/B (excluding Bank Holidays). Single nights available. Call Ernest NOW to avoid disappointment. Brighton Shalimar Hotel, 23 Broad Street, BN2 1TJ. Exclusively gay in centre of gay village. Most rooms en-suite. Four poster for that special occasion. Full English breakfast. Tea/coffee. Fridge. Hairdryer. Colour Television. Clock Radio/alarm. Telephone. Residents' bar. Phone or Fax Kevin or Lawrence - 01273 605316. Brighton Women's guesthouse. Fantastic value accommodation from ukp11pp in a friendly atmosphere next to the sea - and you don't have to get up early! Leaflet: The Only Alternative Left, 39 St Aubyn's, Hove, Sussex. BN3 2TH. Telephone: 01273 324739. Scotland-Brighton direct train! Capital Accommodation Want a gay stay for a holiday or just a change of scene?!!! Aries Guest House offers a warm, friendly welcome to Edinburgh. Ten minutes from Princes Street, close to theatres, cinemas, shops and restaurant, clubs and bars. Telephone: 0131-229 4669. Central Private Hotel Mixed clientele, Junction 28 M1, short distance to Nottingham, Derby, Sheffield, ALTON TOWERS, Sherwood Forest, Rooms En-suite, Licensed Restaurant, vegetarians, laundry service. Own front door key, no restrictions, Massage & Sunbed room. Weekend rates available. Phone: 01623 552373/Fax: 01623 443106. Fife - Scotland B&B Private Residence - central situation - convenient public transport - parking if required. Good facilities, relaxed friendly. Businessmen, UK tourists, overseas visitors, welcome - guys only. Telephone: Vic -01592 201985. Glasgow Berkeley Hotel, 63 Berkeley Street, G3. Phone: 0141-204 5470 or 0141-221 7880. Central, gay friendly, TV room, pool room, self catering facilities, shared and doubles. Special midweek rates. Isle of Mull, Scotland Fun breaks, Christmas and New Year. 3 nights ukp125 incl or stay longer. Transport can be arranged. Tel or Fax Neil: 01688 400254. New York and San Francisco Pride Travel has the largest selection of gay and lesbian friendly hotels, guest houses and apartments in New York, San Francisco and throughout the USA/Canada. For brochure, phone Pride Travel-USA on 01273 606656. Provincetown USA Provincetown - America's most popular gay/lesbian resort. It's like being at Gay Pride every day of the week. Live the legend. For free brochure telephone Pride Travel-USA on 01273 606656. Scarborough Hotel Interludes, "Holiday Which" recommended, welcomes gay men/women. Friendly, peaceful atmosphere. Licensed. Unique theatre theme. Elegant, en-suite, non-smoking seaview bedrooms (double, twin, 4-poster). ukp24pp B&B with 5% discount for 4 nights and 12.5% for 7 nights. Phone Ian/Bob 01723 360513. Torquay Oscars Hotel is a gay family run hotel in the heart of Torquay's English Riviera. Single, Double & Triple rooms available all year round. Very comfortable 2 star accommodation and candlelit cellar restaurant. Call Ricky or Allan for details. 01803 293563. 10% discount on stays of three nights or more offered to ScotsGay readers! Want a friendly B&B? Balnacrive Guest House, Dulnain Bridge, by Grantown-on-Spey. Anne and Mary warmly welcome you to the Scottish Highlands. All sports and recreation available from walking to ski-ing. Please phone 01479 851228 for brochure. York Pauleda House Hotel, 123 Clifton, York. YO3 6BL. Enjoy superb accommodation centrally situated only minutes away from all the historic attractions. All rooms en-suite. Satellite TV, some Fourposters. Parking. B&B from ukp20 pppn. Family run. Gay Friendly. Tel: 01904 634745. Fax: 01904 621327. ---------------------- InsideOut: a monthly magazine for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. ISSN: 1360-9327. Edited, printed and published in Scotland. (c) Pageprint Publishing Limited, December 1996. PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5JW. In even numbered months, InsideOut appears as part of ScotsGay. Non profit use by the lesbigay community of material in the magazine will normally be permitted free of charge - but contact us first for permission. We haven't had sex with most of the people who appear in the magazine, so we don't actually know what their sexuality is. Editorial: Tel: 0131-539 0666. Fax: 0131-539 2999. E-mail: scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk. Internet World-Wide-Web: http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/ Advertising: Tel: 0131-558 1279. Fax: 0131-539 2999. Subscribing by E-mail: Send a 'subscribe scotsgay-list' message to listserver@drink.demon.co.uk and the text files of future editions will be delivered to you by e-mail. To unsubscribe: Send an 'unsubscribe scotsgay-list' message to listserver@drink.demon.co.uk ------------------------------ STORY ===== THE CELEBRATING OF CHRISTMAS ---------------------------- Ho, Bloody Ho! We don't feel like Christmas either. It's not the best of seasons for Ho Ho Homosexuals, is it? Drew Payne doesn't seem to think so either in this morose slice from life that is all too close to what many of us will be experiencing over the Winter Solstice. Jamie lay slouched on the sofa watching the James Bond film on the television. He had seen this Bond film before yet it was a pleasant distraction for a while. James Bond was about to rescue the screaming heroine. Jamie was ready to drift off to sleep. As usual he was spending Christmas alone. He had cooked and eaten far too much food, taking comfort from eating. It helped him to forget that he was alone. Now he was paying the price for that indulgence, indigestion and a drowsiness washing over him. Jamie and Sam had had their usual argument about the holiday and as usual Jamie had lost. Ever since Jamie had come out to his parents, in his late teens, they had cut off all contact with him leaving him alone, especially at Christmas. Every year, for as long as he had known him, Sam had gone back to his parent's for Christmas. For the last few years Sam had returned back to spend New Year with Jamie, but after five years living together it had come as a small victory. Spending Christmas alone was one of those facts of life he had grown used to before he meet Sam, but now more and more he had come to recent it. In the weeks leading up to Christmas all he seemed to hear were plans that other people were making, together. Slowly he would grow envious of them. Listening to others joyfully making their plans he heard all the things he was missing out from his own Christmas. Jamie glanced back at the television only to find James Bond and his heroine in a passionate kiss. If Sam had been here they would have made fun of the film together. All Jamie wanted to do at Christmas was share it with Sam. To eat Christmas dinner with Sam. To laugh at the Christmas Day afternoon film, on television, together. To watch Sam actually opening his Christmas present on Christmas Day, not having to exchange them days before. A Christmas together seemed out of the question. Out of the question for Sam, that was, because it would mean Sam coming out to his parents and family that Jamie was more then just his flat mate. No matter how much Sam said he was committed to Jamie this was one step he shied away from taking. Jamie stared at the television feeling too tired to switched it off. He hated all the "Family Celebrations" of this time of year. He always felt like an outsider watching something he was not allowed into. This was not his favourite time of the year. Sam sank down into his arm chair and wished for some quiet or at least a reduction in the noise level. His nephews and nieces were quite happily destroying their new Christmas presents, his mother and Aunt Mabel had started on their usual discussion about how Christmas wasn't like it was when they were young, the sound of his father's deep snoring was rapidly increasing, his sister and her husband were now arguing over some unknown subject and the television was blurring out the Christmas Day James Bond film - one he had seen a long time ago with Jamie. He closed his eyes, the noise of his "family Christmas" all around him. "Samuel have you fallen asleep?" "No, Mother, just resting my eyes." "Well don't slouch. I don't know why you're so tired you didn't eat half as much as your father did." "Yes, Mother." On his bed in the box room lay his Christmas present from Jamie, unopened. It was one of those little rituals he always followed. He would keep his present from Jamie until he found a quiet moment on his own when he could open it. So far he had had little chance to do so. He had been woken up, early that morning, by his older brother's two sons rushing into his room to show him a selection of their new toys. After that the house had filled up with people, denying him any moment to himself. The household was certainly full, what with himself, his parents, his older brother, his wife and two sons, his very pregnant sister, her husband and three month old baby, his younger brother, his wife and five children, Aunt Mabel and Uncle Terry and his Grandmother and her equally old dog. Yet even with all these people around him he did not feel part of it. Everyone else seemed to have someone with them, someone to share it with, except him. Inviting Jamie here would have opened up far too much conflict than he was prepared to face. It was hard enough to listen to his father's jokes about "queers" and his mother's talk of "sinners" in need of repentance. So he kept his head down. It was also an unwritten family rule that they all came together for Christmas, so just staying at home with Jamie was out of the question as well. Christmas was all part of his family duties and there seemed no way he could escape from them. Later on in the evening, he told himself, he would sneak off and make a quiet telephone call to Jamie. The chance to exchange a few pleasantries before being called back to the celebrations. He would then rush back to Jamie at the earliest possible moment after Boxing Day. "Samuel wake up!" "I'm not asleep, Mother." "Well open your eyes it's nearly tea time." "Yes, Mother." The prospect of eating even more food did not fill him with joy. What was worse was the prospect of all those couples around him. They only went to remind him that Jamie was not there. These family occasions were only an act of duty for him, not the enjoyment that seemed to be expected from him. Slowly, Sam pulled himself out of his arm chair and began to follow everyone back into the dinning room. In the middle of all this chaos he felt alone, but was not prepared to admit it. Drew Payne --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL ============= ILGA PLANS ROMANIA BOYCOTT The International Lesbian and Gay Association is preparing to launch a boycott of Romania in protest against its refusal to legalize homosexuality. Targets will include wine, tourism and TAROM, the national airline. "The vote by Romania's parliament to ban gay bars, clubs, associations, media and organizations breaks the commitment to decriminalise homosexuality, given by the government over three years ago," said ILGA spokesman Andy Quan. "It is a flagrant violation of the European Convention on Human Rights and condemns Romania's sexual minorities to further state persecution." Despite demands from the Council of Europe, Romanian legislators have failed to legalize gayness and - during their drawn-out consideration of the matter - have managed to pass two new anti-gay measures. One states, "Sexual intercourse between persons of the same sex, taking place in public, or producing a public scandal, is punishable by one to five years imprisonment." The second new measure states, "Propositioning or enticing a person to take part in sexual relations with a person of the same sex, as well as propaganda or association or any other acts of proselytism with the same purpose, is punishable by one to five years imprisonment." 86 COUNTRIES BAN GAY SEX Eighty-six nations (or semi-independent states) ban gay-male sex and 44 of those countries also prohibit lesbian sex, according to data accumulated by the International Gay and Lesbian Human Rights Commission in San Francisco. Gay-male sex is illegal in Afghanistan, Algeria, Angola, Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Australia (Tasmania state only), Azerbaijan, the Bahamas, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Benin, Bhutan, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Brunei, Burma, Cameroon, Cape Verde Islands, Cayman Islands, Chile, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Ecuador, Ethiopia, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, Guyana, India, Iran, Jamaica, Jordan, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kuwait, Kyrgyzstan, Lebanon, Libya, Macedonia, Malawi, Malaysia, Mauritania, Mauritius, Morocco, Mozambique, Namibia, Nepal, Nicaragua, Nigeria, Niue, Oman, Pakistan, Papua New Guinea, Puerto Rico, Qatar, Romania, Saint Lucia, Saudi Arabia, Seychelles, Singapore, Solomon Islands, South Africa (which is also the only nation in the world with a ban on anti-gay discrimination in its constitution), Sri Lanka, Sudan, Swaziland, Syria, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Togo, Tokelau, Tonga, Trinidad and Tobago, Tunisia, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, United Arab Emirates, United States of America (21 of 50 states), Uzbekistan, Western Samoa, Yemen, Zambia and Zimbabwe. The states which ban gay-male sex but do not ban lesbian sex are Antigua & Barbuda, Armenia, Australia (Tasmania), Azerbaijan, Bahrain, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Botswana, Burma, Cayman Islands, Chile, Cook Islands, Cyprus, Ecuador, Fiji, Georgia, Ghana, India, Jamaica, Kazakhstan, Kenya, Kiribati, Kyrgyzstan, Macedonia, Mozambique, Nigeria, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Tajikistan, Tanzania, Tokelau, Tonga, Turkmenistan, Turks and Caicos Islands, Tuvalu, Uganda, Uzbekistan, Zambia and Zimbabwe. In most instances, lesbian sex is permitted because sexist legislators didn't think to ban it rather than because of good will toward lesbians. Corrections to these lists should be sent to IGLHRC, 1360 Mission Street, San Francisco, CA 94103. Telephone: 00 1 415 255-8680. Fax: 00 1 415 255-8662. E-mail: iglhrc@iglhrc.org. AUSTRIA The first chamber of Austria's parliament, the Nationalrat, have voted to repeal two anti-gay laws and have reached an impasse on a third anti-gay law. Legislators voted 128-52 to repeal a ban on gay organizations (Article 221) and 90-89 to repeal a ban on pro-homosexual information (Article 220). But a vote to lower the age of consent for male-male sex from 18 (Article 209) to 14 (which is the age of consent for heterosexual and lesbian sex) ended in a 91-91 draw. The repeal measures now move to parliament's second chamber where the same outcome is expected. BELGIUM Gay Belgian Deputy Prime Minister Elio di Rupo is under investigation for paedophilia, local activists report. But they say there is doubt about whether the youth in question was below the age-of-consent (16) at the time of the alleged sexual contact. And they allege that the youth has a reputation for making up stories about his affiliations with famous people. Di Rupo has called the allegations baseless and politically motivated. The activists said there is a good chance di Rupo will be exonerated. CANADA A British Columbia law specifically legalizing adoption by gay and lesbian couples came into effect from Nov 4. It is believed to be the first such law in the world, said the Vancouver gay newspaper Xtra! West. The "gay marriage" laws that are in effect in Denmark, Greenland, Iceland, Norway and Sweden grant all the rights of heterosexual marriage except access to adoption, church weddings and artificial-insemination technology - although gay couples in Iceland can adopt their partner's biological children. SWEDEN Sweden's national social insurance office has granted a lesbian policewoman paternity leave. The woman, identified only as "Pia," was initially denied time off after her wife, "Monica," gave birth to their child, but the decision was reversed on appeal. Such leave is commonly granted to fathers under a policy that lets men use some of their wives' year-long maternity leave. SOUTH AFRICA South Africa's Constitutional Court has authorized President Nelson Mandela to sign into law the new constitution - the only one in the world that bans discrimination based on sexual orientation. Mandela signed it on Dec 10. The justices dismissed objections by two political parties to the revised draft constitution adopted in October by the National Assembly and Senate. The objections weren't related to the gay protections. VIETNAM "I.E.C." is Vietnam's first gay AIDS-education group. The letters stand for "Information, Education, Communication." The group's 40 members cruise around Ho Chi Minh City's cruisy Nguyen De Boulevard dispensing condoms, advice and crudely duplicated pamphlets to the estimated 20,000 gay and bisexual men who visit the city's gay pick-up spots. They also host discussion groups and offer counselling at their small downtown office. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS ======= books ----- For A Lost Soldier by Rudi van Dantzig G.M.P., ukp9.95 It is the winter of 1944 and in Holland a group of children have been evacuated to a small fishing community on the desolate coast of Friesland. Amongst these children is eleven year old Jeroen who eventually meets a Canadian soldier named Walt, who has arrived with the liberating forces. They go on to have a whirlwind relationship full of emotional and sexual experiences. In a world full of dark days and death there is a light that shines and this light is Jeroen and Walt. These two war weary souls meet and find that for a short time they can escape to a better place. Eventually Walt disappears with the troops and Jeroen goes back to Amsterdam and spends his time searching for the soldier he has lost. Will he find him? Well, that you wont know till you have read the book. I sincerely hope that you go and get this book or the video (available from Dangerous To Know, Cat. No. DTK 005) as there are not many books written with such passion and depth of feeling and I had a slight suspicion that this could possibly be the author's autobiography but released under the heading of fiction. Sadao Hasegawa Paintings and Drawings Edition Aubrey Walter, ukp19.95 Here's one I've saved for this Christmas Edition. It's given pleasure and amazement to me and my friends ever since its arrival in our house. It's a stunning collection of the most astounding homoerotic graphic art I've ever laid my eyes on. Richly endowed males are posing or moving through space or are pictured tied up in some sado-masochistic ritual, but there is so much more to discover. Amidst the beautiful and muscular youths you'll find a rich mixture of tattoos, sake bottles, hallucinogenic mushrooms, fantastic forests and a fusion of elements that are ancient, classical, Asian and mythical. The shining muscles on slim and smooth bodies make Hasegawa's males appear somewhat superhuman. They are pictures of perfection. The artist includes in these pictures the largely Japanese view of a universe larger than the human world because it includes the spirit and the animal world. The pictures are very professional, very detailed and by using the vibrant and colourful palette of acrylics available to the modern artist he brings together Japanese art and Western techniques. Altogether, I am convinced that this book would make a very attractive and I am sure well received present under any Christmas tree that hasn't got the fairy just on top of it. Dirk Kreite film ---- Barbra Streisand is probably the most intelligent woman in American show business and is frequently suggesting suitable guys to her gay son, Jason Gould, a highly desirable hairy young man in his twenties. These are two of many reasons why I am sorry she only makes a new movie every five or six years now. But you can be sure it will be well above average and "The Mirror Has Two Faces" is certainly that. Barbra's quest for perfection means she produces and directs as well and this time she has cast herself as a university lecturer in romantic literature whom, we are asked to believe, has never worked out how to make the most of her appearance although she is very eager for romance. Jeff Bridges teaches mathematics at the same university and wants a satisfying mental relationship with a woman with a major brain who doesn't need to be attractive as he has had a life of stunning girls falling in and out of his bed. He places an ad requesting a woman for companionship who must have a degree, be over 35 and it stresses physical appearance is not important. Barbra's well-meaning sister gets them together and, intellectually, they are so compatible that as time passes a celibate marriage happens. But, you might have guessed, Miss Streisand's romantic needs become so intense she revamps her dowdy appearance to become quite a stunner. The only false note in the plot is that her expertise as a teacher mesmerizes thousands of her students and yet we have to believe that kind of woman would not know how to attract vast numbers of men. Despite that you could enjoy "The Mirror Has Two Faces" as much as I did and for added value Lauren Bacall and Pierce Brosnan are on hand. The sex and violence In the first half of "Sleepers" was so unpalatable I almost left the preview screening. I'm glad I didn't as the second half made me realize why it is the most successful film in America currently. Considerable research vent into establishing that in the 'States in the sixties teenage boys in reform schools were sexually and physically abused by sadistic guards in ways that are alarming to British eyes. "Sleepers" follows the experiences of four New York boys who survive it mentally scarred. Two grow up to follow careers in law and journalism. Two become hired killers. Eleven years after their traumatic experiences the two killers notice one of their most repulsive guards played brilliantly by Kevin Bacon, eating in their local bar. When they reintroduce themselves to him he continues his arrogant dialogue. They quickly produce guns and empty the bullets into him. I imagine this scene of revenge is one of the reasons why the film has broken box office records. Plus a trial where Brad Pitt and Dustin Hoffman are opponents in court and Robert de Nero is a priest on the witness stand. "Sleepers" is likely to be the drama of the year. The music from "Evita" has become so known from the highly successful Andrew Lloyd Webber/Tim Rice stage musical that Madonna in the colourful life of Argentina's Eva Peron is bound to find a wide film audience. Those of us not aware of the melodies will appreciate them more by playing the CD first. Moviegoers could take awhile adjusting to the fact there is no dialogue and only singing. Antonio Banderas and Jimmy Nail bring their widely contrasting appeals to the film and the record. If you are an art lover and find Pablo Picasso one of the most significant painters of this century you will have more patience than I have with "Surviving Picasso". Francoise Cilot spent ten years of her life and had two children by him, writing a book about her experiences. Even the considerable abilities of Anthony Hopkins didn't help the situation for me as he is playing a man who is constantly domineering, frequently unfaithful and often cruel. The script implies he was also charismatic. Not for me he wasn't. "Some Mother's Son" Is extremely dramatic fare with Helen Mirren as one of 21 Irish mothers watching their sons on hunger strike as the British Government won't recognise them as political prisoners rather than common criminals. Anyone against IRA violence might well ask if it is the least important whether they die on hunger strike. Their lack of commonsense in refusing to wear prison uniform is only topped by the lack of commonsense of the British authorities announcing they would not be released from their cells or allowed access to toilets till they did as they were told. Stupidity on top of more stupidity from both sides will keep the IRA problems with us indefinitely. I loathe kidnap movies. But cinemagoers seem to love them. That must be why "Ransom" is taking record breaking money in America. Mel Gibson and Rene Russo face exhausting negotiations when their son is kidnapped and I suffered as much as they did. But audiences enjoy this it seems as Mr Gibson's profit from this one is astronomical. BEST OF THE CURRENT RELEASES "Extreme Measures" has Hugh Grant as a doctor who finds a patient dies wearing a mysterious hospital wristband and he has unwittingly uncovered a chilling research programme. Mr Grant's girlfriend, Elizabeth Hurley, proves she has quite a brain too as she produced this one. "Your Beating Heart" is a French movie with an effective sexual tension that has a couple pick each other up on the Paris metro and spend time satisfying each other in hotel rooms. The leading man, Thierry Fortineau, is worth the ticket price if you fancy tall, butch 35 year olds. "Starmaker" is 1953 Sicily where a con man tours with a movie camera persuading simple country folk that film stardom is near if they pay to make a screen test. "The Proprietor" has Jeanne Moreau as a successful novelist living in New York who decides to bid at auction for the flat in Paris her Jewish mother left in the war to escape the Gestapo. It is marvellous to see Miss Moreau on-screen again in absolutely anything. "The Spitfire Grill" is an American cafe that Ellen Burstyn decides to sell by raffle to the most deserving letter. Heart wrenching stuff so take plenty of tissues. Malcolm Epstien --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTINGS ======== We TRY to provide Scotland's most up-to-date and accurate listings. If your group isn't listed, - or if your entry needs updating - please write to ScotsGay with full details. We're not clairvoyant: If we don't know about it, it just won't go in! We'd also like to know about your forthcoming events and meetings. Although many of the listings are for specific towns, they often cover a much wider area. If in doubt, you can always phone one of the Switchboards for more information. Write to:- ScotsGay Listings, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh EH7 5YW, Fax them to: 0131-539 2999 or e-mail them to scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk. NATIONAL ORGANISATIONS OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND is Scotland's oldest lesbian, gay and bisexual rights organisation. It was founded in 1969 as the Scottish Minorities Group, later became the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group and changed its name to OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND in December 1992. OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND owns the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre. To contact, write to: The Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA or send e-mail to tmh@dcs.ed.ac.uk Why not join OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND? Membership is ukp12 waged, ukp6 low-waged (under ukp10,000 pa) and ukp3 unwaged. Life membership is ukp150. Please make out your cheque/Postal Order to OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND and send to The Membership Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, 58a Broughton Street, EDINBURGH. EH1 3SA. LESBIAN ARCHIVE AND INFORMATION CENTRE: The UK's largest and most significant collection of materials relating to lesbian lives. LAIC (at Glasgow Women's Library) 109 Trongate, Glasgow. G1 5HD. Tel: 0141-552 8345. Open Tue-Fri 1-6pm and Sat 2-5pm. WWW: http://www.quine.org.uk/resources/glasgow_womens_library/lesbian_archive.html. PRIDE SCOTLAND: Pride Scotland organises the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered Pride event in Scotland, which will next be held in Edinburgh on Saturday 21st June 1997. Phone: 0131-556 8822 Mon-Sat 2-5pm, Tue 7-8pm. Or write: c/o 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1SA. E-mail: pridescotland@drink.demon.co.uk. WWW: http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/pride/. All kinds of help are urgently required all year round! LOCAL ORGANISATIONS ABERDEEN: North East Scotland Gay Group caters for all ages and meets at 7.30pm on the 3rd Sunday of every month. Phone Ron on Aberdeen (01224) 312547 (7-11pm) for information or write to: PO Box 129, Aberdeen. AB10 7QT. Icebreakers is a social group which meets on 2nd Friday and last Monday of each month. Contact Aberdeen Switchboard for details. AYR: Ayrshire Forum is a group for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals providing support and acting as a social focus. Write c/o The Leisure Centre, 24 Wellington Square, Ayr. BORDERS: Borders Gay Switchboard operates every Mon, Wed & Fri evening 7.30-10pm for confidential information, advice and counselling. Phone Galashiels (01896) 756611 or write to Borders Gay Switchboard, PO Box 13305, Hawick, Borders. TD9 9YG. Icebreakers social group meets every second Monday at 7.30pm in Green's Diner, 4 Green Street, Galashiels. Phone Switchboard for more information CAITHNESS GAY AND LESBIAN CONNECTION: A friendly informal group which meets regularly. Write to: Box 689, Journal Office, 42 Union Street, Wick, Caithness. KW1 5ED. CENTRAL REGION: Forth Friend has a disco (1st Saturday of most months) and a social group which meets every second Wednesday. The Forth Friend phoneline operates each Monday from 7.30pm to 9.30pm on Stirling (01786) 471285. Or write to: PO Box 28, Stirling. FK9 5YW. DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY: Regular social meetings - usually every second Thursday. For details of all events: phone Dumfries (01387) 269161 Thursdays 7.30-9.30pm or write to Dumfries and Galloway Lesbian and Gay Group, PO Box 1299, Dumfries. DG1 2PD. DUNDEE: OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND Dundee Focus Group for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals meets 4th Thursday of each month at 7pm in the YMCA Special Projects Office, 76 Bell Street. Write to: PO Box 104, Dundee. DD1 3DU. Tay Friend, holds regular social meetings for gay men. Write to: Tayfriend, PO Box 182, Dundee. DD1 9UP. EDINBURGH: Icebreakers is an alternative to the scene and takes place between 7.45pm and 9pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each calendar month in Cafe Kudos. Phone Lothian Switchboard for details. ELGIN: MuGGs meets second Wednesday of each month 7.30pm in the Cat's Whiskers pub in New Elgin. Also meets every Saturday 3.30-5pm for informal coffee afternoon in La Fontaine (lower ground floor of St Giles shopping mall). Sunday afternoon outing takes place every 4th Sunday. Phone Bobby on Elgin (01343) 542928 for details. Or write: MuGSs, 2-4 Lamb Street, Bishopmill, Elgin. IV30 2DG. FIFE FRIEND: Small voluntary phoneline offering support, advice and information to lesbians and gay men within Fife. Friday: 7.30-10.30pm. Telephone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688. Write to PO Box 19, Kirkcaldy, Fife. KY1 3JF. Runs a monthly disco. GLASGOW: Glasgow Gay & Lesbian Centre Project, fundraising, campaigning and social group. Committee meetings held on 1st Saturday each month at 2pm in the Centre, open to all. Write to Glasgow Gay & Lesbian Centre, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow, G1 4AL or contact 0141-221 7203 (phone/fax). Childcare expenses and BSL interpreter available - please give advance notice. E-mail: gglc@gglc.org.uk. WWW: http://www.gglc.org.uk/gglc/ Glasgow Gay Group is an informal social group for gay men. Has a regular weekly pub night as well as running other social events like theatre, cinema, bowling, etc. Phone: Logan on Duntocher (01389) 875078. Icebreakers Cafe, for lesbians gays and bisexuals new to the scene:12.30-3pm on First Sunday in each month. GGLC, 11 Dixon St. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard. HAMILTON: Lanarkshire Gay Men's Group is a group which meets every Wednesday. Social and educational events. Details from Phace West: 0141-332 3838. INVERCLYDE: Inverclyde Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group meets every Tuesday 7-10pm. Details from Joe Hammill on Greenock (01475) 745903. INVERNESS: Gay Group meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 28 Huntly Street. Phone Andrew on Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or write to: PO Box 67, Inverness. IV1 2XX. WOMEN'S GROUPS ABERDEEN LESBIAN GROUP: Meets every Wednesday 8-10pm in the Women's Centre, Shoe Lane. Phone Aberdeen (01224) 625010 or 627415 for details. DUNDEE: Sumbiddies Dachters (Lesbian Support Group) meets at 7pm every second Tuesday at Women's Health & Family Project, 1 Russell Project, Hilltown, Dundee. DD3 7RU. Telephone: 01382 810230. EDINBURGH: AD Group: For lesbians 45+ (younger lesbians who support the concerns of lesbians 45+). Meetings for discussion and support. For more details, phone Lesbian Line. Dykes Nytes Out: social events for couples and singles in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Edinburgh Bisexual Group meets every Thursday at 8pm-9.30pm in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. All welcome. Lesbian Line 0131-557 0751, Mondays and Thursdays 7.30–10pm. For information, advice and counselling in confidence. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU. Lesbian Mothers Group: Phone: Sue Robertson - 0131-556 3899/4563. Or write: One Parent Scotland, 13 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh. EH1 3NX. LIAS: Lesbian Information And Support. A self help group which meets fortnightly at 40 Shandwick Place (EAMH Meeting Room). Offers help and support and provides a comfortable environment to meet and discuss problems/issues for the lesbian community in the Lothians. Phone: 0131-225 8508. Women's Network: PO Box 159, Edinburgh. EH7 5EL. GLASGOW: Dykes Nytes Out: social events for couples and singles in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Glasgow Women's Library, 4th/5th Floors, 109 Trongate, G1 5HD. Tel: 0141-552 8345. Open Tue-Fri 1-6pm. Sat 2-5pm. Closed Mon. Lending and reference library - books, magazines, journals, videos, leaflets and information. UK and overseas feminist and lesbian publications. Contains the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre - a unique national collection of publications, journals and ephemera by and for lesbians. WWW: http://www.quine.org.uk/resources/glasgow_womens_library/ Lesbian Avengers: Meets regularly. Phone 0141-552 8345 for details. Lesbian Line: 0141-552 3355 Wednesdays 7-10pm. Write to: PO Box 686, Glasgow. G3 7TL enclosing an sae for monthly 'Lavender Listing'. Lesbian Mothers Discussion Group: Meets every second Monday at 6-8pm. Support group, social events, informal chat. Crêche and fares help available. Phone Vicky on 0141-333 1450. Lesbian Networking Meeting: Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for meeting details and Lynne on 0141-221 7150 for childcare information. Lesbian Sports Group: Squash, badminton, tennis. Meets weekly. Phone Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. Olderwomen's Group: Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. Team Caledonia West Women's Cycling Group: Phone Women in Sport on 0141-227 5933 for details. Women's Softball Group: Meets weekly. Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. INVERNESS: Out and About is a friendly lesbian social group that gets together once a month. Write to: PO Box 91, Inverness. IV1 2GJ. LESBIAN INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 8, Todmorden, Lancashire. OL14 5TZ. Please enclose an sae. Phone/Fax: Todmorden (01706) 817235. BISEXUALS DUNDEE BI GROUP: Write: Fiona or James, c/o Dundee LG Switchboard, PO Box 53, Dundee. DD1 3YG. EDINBURGH BISEXUAL GROUP: Meets every Thursday at 8pm-9.30pm in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. There's an excellent programme of talks and speakers usually followed by a visit to a local pub for socialising. Phone: Bisexual Line on 0131-557 3620. EDINBURGH SM BI GROUP: Meets regularly. Write: Edinburgh SM Bis, 58a Broughton Stret, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. GLASGOW BI NETWORK: Social support and health advice to Bis and supporters. Meets GGLC. Contact Dominic Aveyard on 0141-248 6864 (day) or e-mail greenaction@gn.apc.org GLASGOW BI WOMEN'S GROUP: Meet 2nd and 4th Wednesdays at the Centre for Women's Health. For details, write: FAO Carole, c/o Centre for Women's Health, 6 Sandyford Place, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G3 7NB. E-mail: (mark mail FAO GBWG) quine@quine.org.uk. WWW: http://www.quine.org.uk/gbwg/. ATHEISTS/HUMANISTS EDINBURGH FREETHINKERS: An informal network of militant atheists (with one militant humanist agnostic atheist). Write to: PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW or e-mail god@drink.demon.co.uk GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (GALHA): A group for non religious lesbians gays and bisexuals which promotes an enlightened, rational Humanist approach to homosexuality. Details from GALHA National Office, 34 Spring Lane, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. CV8 2HB. Phone/Fax: Kenilworth (01926) 858450. BEARS BEARS' CLUB UK: For hairy men and admirers. Meets in the New Town Bar, Edinburgh on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 8.30pm. Write to: BCUK, 56 Albert Street, Beswick, Manchester. M11 3SU. BEREAVEMENT LESBIAN & GAY BEREAVEMENT PROJECT: Lesbians and gay men needing advice and support can ring 0181-455 8894 at any time. Or write to: Lesbian & Gay Bereavement Project, Vaughan M Williams Centre, Colindale Hospital, London. NW9 5HG. THRESHOLDS: Individual and group support for gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men, within Edinburgh and the Lothians. 10a Union Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Telephone: 0131-558 9444. BIKERS GAY BIKERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: A UK-wide club for women and men. Active Scottish section. Write for details to GBMCC, PO Box 33, Nottingham. NG10 2BF. CHRISTIANS CHANGING CHURCH ATTITUDES: Write c/o 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. E-mail: cca2000@btinternet.com EVANGELICAL: Lesbian or gay? From an Evangelical tradition? So are we. Phone: Ewan on Polmont (01324) 715542 or write: EF/LGC, 13 Westbrook Drive, Macclesfield, Cheshire. SK10 3AQ. HOLY TRINITY METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH: An inclusive church of the lesbigay and trangendered community open to all irrespective of sexuality. Services: first and third Sunday of each month at 6pm in the Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh and third Sunday of each month at 1pm in the Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. Phone John on 0131-556 1309. Write: Holy Trinity MCC, PO Box 12433, Edinburgh. EH1 3FU. E-mail: mcc@tattoo.ed.ac.uk. L&GCM: Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Write to PO Box 1436, Glasgow. G31 2NY. QUAKERS: Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship (formerly Friends' Homosexual Fellowship) is a welcoming and supportive national group for people of all sexual orientations and their friends. Write to: Ruth, 3 Hallsfield, Cricklade, Swindon, Wilts. SN6 6LR. QUEST: Organisation for Roman Catholic men and women who are gay. Monthly meetings are held in Glasgow and Edinburgh. For information, call Linkline Glasgow on 0141-948 0397. Sunday 7-10pm. Or you can write to: Quest, PO Box 280, Glasgow. G12 0AW. COMMUNICATIONS CHAPPS BBS: 24 hour board operating at speeds up to 28,800. 0131-539 1132 or 0131-538 3345 (speeds up to 14,400) Fido echoes. LAMBDA AMATEUR RADIO CLUB (EUROPE): Europe's only club for gay/lesbian/bisexual/transgendered amateur radio enthusiasts and their friends. Sae to: LARC, PO Box 2782, Brighton. BN1 7LJ. LAMBDA BOARD - EDINBURGH: A free 24 hour computer based bulletin board system. Private mailboxing, areas for Women, Gay Men, Bisexuals, Leather Enthusiasts, TV/TSs, etc. 0131-556 6316. Scrolling (8N1) and Viewdata (Prestel) formats at speeds up to V22bis (2400/2400). CULTURAL CLANN AN UABHAIR (A FAMILY OF PRIDE): New York City's own Gay & Lesbian Scottish Association. Membership open to anyone. Dances, ceilidhs, cultural events throughout the year. A particular warm welcome to anyone visiting our town from Scotland! E-mail: Gay_Piper@NYCnet.com for any and all information, or snail mail to Clann An Uabhair, G.L.S.A., P.O. Box 630, Murray Hill Station, New York, NY 10016, USA. Phone: 00 1 (212) 726-1418. GLASGAY!: Lesbian and gay arts festival. Takes place next 31st Oct-8th Nov 1997. Write: c/o CCA, 350 Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G2 3JD. Phone: 0141-332 7521. GLASGOW GAY MEN'S CHORUS: Meets Mon, 7.30pm, GGLC. No auditions: new members always welcome. Phone Jerry: 0831 177707. INTERNATIONAL KILT APPRECIATION SOCIETY (IKAS): Contact and social group for guys interested in viewing/wearing kilts. Regular newsletter: SAE Mervyn Tacy, 'Ziveli', 20 Ordsall Park Road, RETFORD, Notts, DN22 7PA. LONG YANG CLUB: An international organisation for gay orientals and interested people of other nationalities. Promotes social events, education and mutual help services and publishes a magazine. Phone Ray: 0131-336 1287. E-mail: raymond@probus.demon.co.uk WESTERN STARS: Western style line and partner dancing for gays, lesbians and friends of goodwill. Weekly, new Edinburgh venue to be announced in January. Phone: 0131-453 3284. DRINK PROBLEMS If you are a lesbian or gay man with a drink problem and want help and advice, ring Tom on 0141-770 6599, 7 days a week anytime. Tom refers to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), but does preparatory work. FORCES AT EASE: An advice service to armed forces personnel and their families on any subject. Free, independent, confidential, impartial. Write: 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS or phone (Sundays 5-7pm only) 0171-247 5164. RANK OUTSIDERS: Support group of Lesbian and Gay Ex Armed Forces Personnel. No rank distinctions. Write:Rank Outsiders, BCM Box 8431, London. WC1N 3XX. National Helpline: 0171-566 0044 Wed 7-9pm. HEALTH MATTERS BODY POSITIVE (GLASGOW): Providing support for those HIV+ and with AIDS in the West of Scotland. Phone: 0141-332 5010. Or write: 3 Park Quadrant, Glasgow. G3 6BS. E-mail: bpstrathclyde@enterprise.net. BODY POSITIVE (GRAMPIAN): Support and assistance for gay men with HIV/AIDS. Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 404408. Or write to: PO Box 83, Aberdeen. AB9 1AA. BODY POSITIVE (LOTHIAN): Phone to speak to a gay positive person 1:1 on 0131-652 0754 Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri 10am-4pm, Thur 10am-7pm. Or write to: 37-39 Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh. EH7 5DJ. BODY POSITIVE (TAYSIDE): Self help for HIV+ people on Dundee (01382) 461555 Tue, Wed Thu 10am-4pm. CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH: 6 Sandyford Place, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G3 7NB. Open Tue-Thur 10am-4.30pm (other times by arrangement). Fully accessible. Telephone: 0141-211 6700 (Minicom: 0141-211 6701). CRUSAID SCOTLAND: 25 Queensferry Street, Edinburgh. EH2 4QS. Telephone: 0131-225 8918. Fax: 0131-220 4033. AIDS/HIV Fundraisers. DOT (DUNDEE OUTREACH TEAM): Harm Reduction Centre, 55 Constitution Road, Dundee. DD1 1LB. Telephone: Dundee (01382) 201919. Sexual health and relevant issues for gay and bisexual men. Free and confidential service. Drop in coffee shop: Sat 2-5pm. Friendly and informal. FRIENDS FOR LIFE: Provides support and information in Glasgow and surrounding areas to people affected by terminal or long term chronic illness. ie Cancer, AIDS, MS, etc. Please call 0141-204 2202 or write to Friends for Life, 5th Floor, 52 St Enoch Square, Glasgow. G1 4DH. GALUP: Gay and Lesbian United Programme. Promotes health issues among lesbians gays and bisexuals in the Dundee area. Write: c/o YMCA Special Projects Office, 76 Bell Street, Dundee. GAY MEN'S HEALTH: A voluntary sector project for gay men, bisexual men and men who have sex with men. Services include individual support and counselling for all issues, Thresholds (a bereavement project), scene work, educating and training. 10a Union Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Telephone: 0131-558 9444. GLASGOW BARS AIDS WELFARE FUND: Raises funds for various HIV/AIDS projects in the Glasgow area. PO Box 3954, Glasgow. G51 4RA. GLASGOW FOOD LINE LIMITED: Unit A, Maryhill Workspaces Ltd, 45 Garrioch Road, Glasgow. G20 8RG. Phone: 0141-946 0003. GLASGOW HIV CARERS SUPPORT GROUP: Phone: 0141-353 2979. Or write to: Church House, 340 Cathedral Street, Glasgow. G1 2BQ. GRAMPIAN AIDS LINE: Aberdeen (01224) 574000 or write to GAL, PO Box 250, Aberdeen. LANARKSHIRE HIV COUNSELLING: Phone Airdrie (01236) 747960 (Mon-Fri 9am-5.15pm) MILESTONE HOUSE: Residential care (primarily respite and paliative care) for people with HIV/AIDS. 223 Oxgangs Road North, Edinburgh. EH14 1EB. Phone: 0131-441 6989. PAISLEY SUPPORT GROUP: For people with HIV, partners, friends and family. First Wednesday of the month 7.30pm at The Wynd, School Wynd (off Moss Street). Phone: Margaret McAllister on Brediland (01505) 814284. PHACE WEST: A locally based and managed agency for people affected by HIV/AIDS serving Glasgow and the West of Scotland. 49 Bath Street, Glasgow. G2 2DL. Phone: 0141-332 3838 (Fax: 0141-332 3755). E-mail: 101606.3052@compuserve.co.uk. POSITIVE HELP: Practical help for people who are HIV+ or who have AIDS and their families, children, friends and carers. 64a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. Phone: 0131-558 1122. REACH OUT HIGHLAND: encourages and supports people throughout the Highlands - whether living there or visiting - to take responsibility for, manage, and make informed choices about their sexual health and well-being. 28 Huntly Street, Inverness. IV3 5PR. Phone: Inverness (01463) 711585. E-mail: support@reachout.demon.co.uk SOLAS NATIONAL HIV INFORMATION CENTRE: 2/4 Abbeymount, Edinburgh. EH8 8EJ. Information, advice and cafe. Information centre: Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri - 11-4pm. Wed, 5-9pm. Phone: 0131-659 5116. E-mail: information@solas.demon.co.uk STEVE RETSON PROJECT: Weekly sexual health service for gay men. Tuesday 5.30-9pm. Department of GU Medicine, Main Outpatient Department, Royal Infirmary, 16 Alexandra Parade, Glasgow. Phone: 0141-211 4753. WAVERLEY CARE TRUST BUDDY SERVICE: Buddying Service for people with HIV/AIDS. Buddy Service Co-ordinator, 4a Royal Terrace, Edinburgh. EH7 5AB. Phone: 0131-556 3959. Fax: 0131-556 5045. NATIONAL AIDS HELPLINE: 0800 567123. A Freephone, 24 hour service for confidential advice and information. Minicom: 0800 521361 (10am-10pm). LEATHER MSC SCOTLAND: MSC Scotland, PO Box 28, Edinburgh. EH3 5JL. MSC Scotland is a member of the European Federation of Motorcycle Clubs. LEGAL GAY AND LESBIAN LEGAL ADVICE: GLAD is a London based advice line run by lesbian and gay lawyers. Phone: 0171-831 3535 (Mon-Thu 7-9.30pm). State clearly that you seek Scottish legal advice as our law is very different from that of England and Wales. NON-MONOGAMY ABUNDANCE: New supportive UK/European network for non-monogamous people. For more info on polyamory/polyfidelity, write enclosing sae to: Abundance, PO Box 5190, Birmingham. B13 9DJ. E-mail: polyenq@sugito.demon.co.uk ORDERS ORDER OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE: The Sisters and Brothers of the OPI are part of a world wide order of queer men and women of all sexualities which is open to all who feel the habit. Its tenets are: The expurgation of stigmatic guilt and the promulgation of universal joy. Contact Sister Solicitation OPI, c/o 60 Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. OUTDOOR CLUBS GAY OUTDOOR CLUB: Holds regular events including walking, cycling, hillwalking, windsurfing, cross-country skiing, camping and youth hostelling etc. For more details send a large (A5) sae to: GOC, PO Box 24, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8YZ or ring one of the Scottish Contacts:- East: Grant on 0131-556 8705 (Hill-walking), John on 0131-657 3707 (Cycling). West: Douglas on 0141-636 5894. North: Michael on Inverness (01463) 230651. South-West: Philip and Mark on Southwick (01387) 780653. GAY RAMBLING GROUP: Walks on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Phone Ross on 0141-427 1511. OVER FORTIES PHŒNIX: The only national group for the over forties and friends of any age. Write (enclosing an sae) to: Phœnix, PO Box 103, Wallington, Surrey. SM6 9SJ. PARENTS PARENTS' FRIEND: Phone: 0113-267 4627. Or write to: Voluntary Action Leeds, Stringer House, 34 Lupton Street, Hunslett, Leeds. LS10 2QW. SCOTTISH PARENTS ENQUIRY SERVICE: Support for parents of lesbians and gay men. Contact via Lothian Switchboard or write to SPE, PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU. POLITICAL DELGA: Democrats for Lesbian and Gay Action - write to 4 Cowley Street, London. SW1P 3NB or e-mail archdruid@cix.compulink.co.uk LESBIAN AND GAY FREEDOM MOVEMENT: LGFM is a movement to bring Anarchist ideas and ideals to lesbians, gays and bisexuals, and to make sexuality a major campaigning issue for all anarchists. Details (3 postage stamps please) from LGFM, BM Box 207, LONDON. WC1N 3XX. LIBERAL PARTY LESBIAN AND GAY CAMPAIGN: Phone: Southport (01704) 500115 (day), 0151-259 5935 (ansaphone), write to: Liberal Party Lesbian & Gay Campaign, 41 Sutton Street, Liverpool. L13 7EG or e-mail: libgay@libparty.demon.co.uk SCOTTISH LABOUR CAMPAIGN FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS: Works within the Labour and Trades Union movement to secure equality for lesbians and gay men. Meet quarterly. Contact c/o GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. TORCHE: Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality - write: BM TORCHE, London WC1N 3XX. RAPE/SEXUAL ABUSE RAPE AND ABUSE LINE: For male and female survivors. Women: Dingwall (01349) 865316 7-10pm nightly. Men: Dingwall (01349) 862686 Mon and Wed 7-10pm. Write: PO Box 10, Dingwall. IV15 9LH. SCIENCE FICTION DELANEY'S CHILDREN: Meets every 1st Sunday of the month in Edinburgh from 3-4.30pm. Contact Jane on 0131-556 6109. GLASGOW GAY SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY: Meets every 3rd Sunday of the month. Contact Paul on 0141-339 9176. S/M EDINBURGH SM BI GROUP: Meets regularly. Write: Edinburgh SM Bis, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. SM GAYS: Write to SM Gays, BM SM Gays, London. WC1N 3XX. E-mail: bandanas@dircon.co.uk SPORTS ABERDEEN GAY MEN'S SWIMMING GROUP: Swim every Wednesday: Phone David on Aberdeen (01224) 317552. BRITISH GAY AND LESBIAN SPORTS FEDERATION: Encourages participation in sport. Write (with sae) to BGLSF, Central Station, 37 Wharfdale Road, London. N1 9SE. EDINBURGH GAY MEN'S RUNNING CLUB: Meets for 3-4 mile casual local run. Alistair: 0131-661 0008. EDINBURGH GAY MEN'S SWIMMING GROUP: Meets informally, Commonwealth Pool on 2nd and 4th Thursdays - details from Tom on 0131-229 5755. GAY BODYBUILDERS/WEIGHTRAINERS CLUB: contact Winston Duncan on 0171-379 3480 for contact with Scottish members and nationally. Produces "Iron-Up" magazine as part of ukp25 membership. GAY FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS NETWORK: Glasgow group holds monthly meetings in Squires Bar. For further details, please contact Ewan on 0141-779 2321 or write enclosing sae c/o Phace West, 49 Bath Street, Glasgow, G2 2DL. GLASGOW & EDINBURGH ALTERNATIVE WRESTLERS: Edinburgh club meets every Sunday 6.15-9.30pm. Glasgow club meets every Friday 10am-4.15pm. Pinfall & Submission plus Pro-Style Wrestling. Phone: Derek on 0131-467 1465 or Iain on 0973 845865. Write: Alternative Wrestlers, PO Box 437, Glasgow. G42 8HU. E-mail: iainscott@dial.pipex.com GLASGOW GAY BADMINTON & SWIMMING: Every week during term time at Woodside Secondary School, Berkeley St. Badminton: Mondays at 8.30pm and Thursdays at 6.30pm. Swimming: Thursdays at 8.30pm. Details: Ian 0141-959 0543 (Badminton) or Douglas 0141-636 5894 (Swimming). STUDENTS Many Universities and Colleges have Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Societies. Contact these via your Student Union or Student Association. Many are open to non-students living in the area. There are also groups covering wider areas run in conjunction with the National Union of Students - East of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, East of Scotland Area NUS, 11 Broughton Market, Edinburgh. EH3 6NU or phone on 0131-556 6598. North of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, North of Scotland Area NUS, University of Aberdeen, 50/52 College Bounds, Aberdeen, AB2 3DS. West of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, West of Scotland Area NUS, Cathcart House, Langside College, 50 Prospecthill Road, Glasgow. G42 9LB. You can contact the NUS Scottish Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Officer on 0131-556 6598 or write to NUS Scotland, 11 Broughton Market, Edinburgh. EH3 6NU. E-mail: nus-scot@dircon.co.uk. OPEN UNIVERSITY L&G SOC: Phone David: 0141-554 7159. TEACHERS EIS GAY AND LESBIAN NETWORK: Write c/o 46 Moray Place, Edinburgh. EH3 6EH. Or contact Simon Macaulay, Assistant Secretary, on 0131-225 6244. TV/TS ABERDEEN: Crossdressing Group. Contact Aberdeen Switchboard for details. EDINBURGH: Scottish TV/TS Group meets in private rooms last Saturday each month bar December. Ring Lothian Switchboard for further information. GLASGOW: Crosslynx meets second Wednesday of each month from 7pm-10pm. Phone Strathclyde Switchboard for more details. VISUAL IMPAIRMENT VISUAL IMPAIRED GAY GROUP SCOTLAND (VIGG): Offers a listening ear and support to women and men. Phone Colin and Jim: Dumfries (01387) 261679. WORKPLACE GMB: Contact Mary Harrison, Regional Equal Rights Officer, Fountain House, 1/3 Woodside Crescent, Glasgow. G3 7UJ. Phoen: 0141-332 8641. LESBIANS AND GAYS IN NAPO: Phone Ian on 0131-554 0043. MSF: Lesbians and Gays in MSF. Phone: 0171-738 5469 or write c/o 39b Pentonville Road, London. N1 9LP. UNISON NATIONAL L&G CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE: Phone: 0131-469 3880. Or write: c/o 18 St Giles Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1PT. YOUTH GROUPS ABERDEEN LGB YOUTH GROUP: For 21s and under. Meets Noon-4pm on 2nd and 4th Saturdays, Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 272975 or e-mail src038@abdn.ac.uk LESBIAN YOUTH SUPPORT INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 8, Todmorden, Lancashire. OL14 5TZ. Please enclose an sae. Phone/Fax: Todmorden (01706) 817235. STIRLING YOUTH GROUP: Details from Forth Friend on Stirling (01786) 471285 Mon 7.30-10pm. STONEWALL YOUTH GROUP: For lesbians, gays and bisexuals under 26. New members group meets Wed night and Core Group and 20+ Groups meet Fri night. Phone: 0131-556 4040 Tues 7.30-9pm (answering machine outwith these times). Or write: Stonewall Youth Project, Dunford House, 7 Boroughloch, Edinburgh. EH8 9NL.. STRATHCLYDE LESBIAN AND GAY YOUTH MOVEMENT: Friendship and support for under 26s. Meets Tuesday 7.30pm and Sat afternoons. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard or Glasgow Lesbian Line. Write c/o GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. SWITCHBOARDS AND HELPLINES BISEXUAL PHONELINE: Thurs 7.30-9.30pm Phone: 0131-557 3620 BORDERS GAY SWITCHBOARD Mon, Wed, Fri 7.30-10pm Phone: Galashiels (01896) 756611 DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY L&G PHONELINE: Thurs 7.30-9.30pm Phone: Dumfries (01387) 269161 DUNDEE LGB SWITCHBOARD: Mon 7-10pm Phone: Dundee (01382) 202620 EDINBURGH LESBIAN LINE: Mon, Thurs 7.30-10pm Phone: 0131-557 0751 FIFE FRIEND: Fri 7.30-10.30pm Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688 FORTH FRIEND: Mon 7.30-9.30pm Phone: Stirling (01786) 471285 GLASGOW LESBIAN LINE: Wed 7-10pm Phone: 0141-552 3355 GRAMPIAN LESBIAN, GAY & BISEXUAL SWITCHBOARD: Wed & Fri 7-10pm, Tues 2-5 Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 633500 (Minicom available) Fax: Aberdeen (01224) 634055 LOTHIAN GAY & LESBIAN SWITCHBOARD: Nightly 7.30-10pm Phone: 0131-556 4049 MORAY LGB SWITCHBOARD: Men: Tue & Fri 7-11pm Women: Thu 7-11pm from Jan Phone: Elgin (01343) 541188 STRATHCLYDE GAY AND LESBIAN SWITCHBOARD: Nightly 7-10pm Phone: 0141-332 8372 LONDON LESBIAN AND GAY SWITCHBOARD: 24 hours Phone/Minicom: 0171-837 7324 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- MUSIC ===== ALAN'S CHART ------------ 1. Arkarna - R U Ready (R U Ready Mix) (Fume) 2. Souvlaki - Inferno (Ibiza Scorcher Mix) (Wonderboy) 3. Baby Blue - Child (White Label) 4. Joy Tracks - Tealumps (Original Mixes / Pete Bones Remix) (Red Ant) 5. Paganini Traxx - Zoe (Sony S3) 6. Octavia - Equinox Project / The Visitors (Fluid) 7. Transverse - I Am House (Jon The Dentist Remix) (Bosca Beats) 8. Lochi - London Acid City (Jon The Dentist Remix) (Stay Up Forever) 9. Inspirazione - Psalm / Stealth (XVX) 10. Tomoki Hirata - Facing Up (Dizzy n Jack Vocal Mix) (Ouch!) 11. EJ Doubell - Axiational (Fire Walk Mix) (Chug N Bump) 12. Temple Of The Groove featuring Portia - Treat Me Right (CL's Edge Factor) (UMM) 13. Scoff Boys - Hyperventilate (Oracle) 14. Low Pressure - The Bifter (2012) 15. Slacker - Scared (The Lonely Traveller / Of Tomorrow) (Loaded) 16. Juno Reactor - Jungle High (Our House Remix) (Perfecto) 17. Virus - Moon (Our House Mix) (Perfecto) 18. Panic - Get Static (Mu Mu Mix) (Vintage) 19. Old Skool Rivals - Universal Sound / Transmission (Wax Trax) 20. The Brain - The Party (Original) (Byte Blue) ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOTSDYKE ========= BEST FOOT FORWARD ----------------- Ooh. Ow. Sorry. 'Wait up. I'm walking slower than usual. We were a group out to dinner, then to a show trucked down to South Florida on a flatbed truck for all the transplanted New Yorkers who wouldn't be caught dead at The Bellasco Theatre in NYC paying a gazillion dollars to catch a musical. A half a dozen in our go-to-town silks, cottons and linens, walking back to the car. "How come you're limping?" Someone asked on our way to back to Wallet Parking. "I can't help it," I replied. "I'm wearing girl shoes." I was. Alligatored patent pumps adding inches short of needing to carry portable oxygen to my stature. Shiny. Pointy. High. Can't run in them. Built for dancing backwards. The kind of shoes some self-respecting dykes (like me) still occasionally wear on occasions. This night, I heard the-mama-in-my-head saying. "You aren't going to wear those out in public, are you?" as I longingly surveyed my comfy line-up of tennies. So I dragged out my girl shoes, and dressed myself right up. Tailored wool pants. Cable knit white tennis sweater with pink and teal cables and cleavage down to there. Linen jacket in case of emergency air conditioning. Good jewellery. Even a hat. And, of course, my girl shoes Funny thing, though. My mama was nowhere in sight. Not an aunt, or a grand aunt, or an uncle. Not my high school ethics teacher. Not an ex- or future employer. Not even a school principal. We did have a school vice principal, retired. But she was with us. One of us. And she wasn't wearing girl shoes, either. Well, not exactly. She had on sort of dyke-modified girl shoes. Very low heels. Nothing you'd have to amputate a toe for. "Should've worn your dyke shoes. Like us." one of our group responded. And as the muscle in my right thigh clenched, I agreed. "Yup, 'should've." They all had worn theirs. One pair of black boots. Modified heels. Shined. Dyke shoes. One pair of low cut suede black boots. Low heels. Dyke shoes. One pair of brown leather lace-ups. Low heels. Dyke shoes. One pair of white slip-on Keds. New. Still white. Dyke shoes. Etc. Etc. Dyke shoes. None of them were wearing Timberland steel toes. None of that "yer mother wears hiking boots" foot fashion in sight. Nonetheless, the lesbian fashion police would not have found grounds for a Politically Incorrect arrest for anyone. Except, of course, me. And I was the only one limping. It made me wonder why I'm still playing mama tapes over as silly a thing as shoes. Then I remembered. It wasn't mother. It was Whatzername! My third lover. Or fourth. Of course! Whatzername! A big lady. Not qualifying for the Guinness Book of World Lesbians or anything, but seriously substantial. And rather than hiding herself in vertically striped awnings, this lady learned how to dress. She could pass muster at diplomatic receptions. Security guards never gave her a second glance. She taught me about natural fibres, designer pleated pants and blazers. Silk. Gold button earrings. Pearls. Chic. Together. Cool. "Dress tailored." she said. "But always wear little femmy shoes. It confuses them." Well, say no more. I knew which "them's" she was talking about, and at that point in my life I certainly didn't mind keeping them guessing. So she wore her little femmy, girl shoes with Jones of New York and Anne Klein pleats. And I watched her. Kate Hepburn al Grande in sling-backs. It even confused me. I never did figure out which of us was butch and which was fem in that relationship. Which also may tell you why I can't recall whether she was number five or number eleven. But what surprises me now is that I'm still doing it. Wearing little femmy "girl" shoes. When I don't have to. I didn't know any of those people seeing the performance. I did know, and like, all those people I was with. None of whom would have judged me on my footwear, or needed to be confused by the fact that I was holding hands with the woman I was seated next to in the theatre. I don't spend time hiding my real life any more. Or worrying much about confusing "them" or keeping "them" guessing. I don't want them to guess. I want them to know. Except, apparently, for this one little ankle bending, thigh flexing exception. This footwear fetish I still seem to be tottering on top of. Well, that's an easy fix. Just as soon as my calfs stop spasming, I'm going into the closet to dust off my comfy, politically correct Bass Weegens. And Nikes. I wonder if the Lesbian Herstory Archives takes Joan and Davids? Phew! What a relief. Look, Ma. Comfortable shoes! I'm a lesbian cliché (c) 1996. Shelly Roberts. All rights reserved. May be reprinted only in its entirety with written permission. Shelly Roberts is an internationally syndicated columnist, speaker, and author of Roberts' Rules of Lesbian Living. Spinsters Ink. ---------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ======= ScotsGay: a bi-monthly magazine for lesbians, gays and bisexuals edited, printed and published in Scotland. ISSN: 1357-0595. (c) Pageprint Publishing Limited, December 1996. Non profit use by the lesbigay community of material in the magazine will normally be permitted free of charge - but contact us first for permission. We haven't had sex with most of the people who appear in the magazine so we don't actually know what their sexuality is. Editor: John Hein. Contributors in this issue: LittleBear, Garry Otton and Derek Ogg (Features), Doug, Jol, Iain & Minerva (Scene), Rex Wockner (International), Alan Nicholls (Music), Dirk (Books), Malcom Epstein (Films), Shelley Roberts (ScotsDyke) Editorial Enquiries: Write to: ScotsGay, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. Telephone: 0131-539 0666. Fax: 0131-539 2999. E-mail: scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk We welcome news, articles, photos, cartoons, etc. - especially lesbian and bisexual material. Advertising Enquiries: Telephone: 0131-558 1279. Fax: 0131-539 2999. World-Wide-Web: http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/ Subscribing by Internet: Send a 'subscribe scotsgay-list' message to listserver@drink.demon.co.uk and the text files of future editions will be delivered to you by e-mail.