SCOTSGAY MAGAZINE ================= ScotsGay is a monthly magazine for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Edited, printed and published in Scotland Issue 31 - December 1999 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 1999. 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) 12ukp 12 issue sub (Overseas) 24ukp Make Cheques and POs payable to 'Pageprint'or 'ScotsGay'and send them to: Subscriptions ScotsGay Magazine PO Box 666 Edinburgh Scotland EH7 5YW Inside this issue: Editorial - Praying on the gullible News Scottish Media Monitor The Nice Bit - bi vocal Eating disorders - One man's experience An Unholy Alliance - feminists and fundamentalists Edinburgh Glasgow Dundee Moray Voice Personals - For 1-2-1 Boxes - The ScotsGay Meet Market Venues International Media Extra - Mr Otton borrows a time machine Reviews - Film, literature and theatre Granny Spice Listings Helplines Joy Chart Scotsdyke - The lesbian 2000 calendar Credits -------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL ========= The forces of darkness and ignorance represented by organised superstition in Scotland have ondemned the Scottish Executive's modest proposal to repeal Section 28. It's easy enough to point out that, in Scotland, there are more practising homosexuals than there are practising Christians these days and that may well tell in the minds of politicians when they're weighing up the electoral implications of their actions. But that sort of numbers game, whilst amusing to play when yours are bigger than your opponents, doesn't really address the fundamental issue. And that is quite simply that our opponents are wrong. Not wrong because they don't like queers - which is a logical part of their illogical belief system. But wrong because their whole superstition is as batty as that of those who believe in a flat earth or the tooth fairy. That's not to say that superstitionists should not be freely heard in a pluralist society. (It's interesting to note that the majority brands of superstition frequently seek to silence those who adhere to minority brands which they refer to as 'Cults'.) But the non-superstitious should not be expected to take the voices of superstition any more seriously than we would take those of revisionists who claim that the Holocaust never happened. I'll no doubt be accused of rocking the boat here, and I don't deny that there are advantages to be had from making common cause with superstitionists whose readings of their scriptures differ from traditional homophobia such as the Metropolitan Community Church and the Scottish Episcopalian Primus Richard Holloway. Nevertheless, as we head into the last year of this Millennium, it would be nice if superstition took its place in the dustbin of history. But don't count on it. There are a lot of people out there who are fundamentally gullible - especially to fundamentalists. Despite everything, a Happy New Year to you all - when it comes! John Hein ------------------------------------------------------------------ NEWS ==== Queer Youngsters to Gather in Capital A major conference for young LGBT folk is going to take place in Scotland's Capital next spring. According to the organisers of YouthCon, March 2000 will see the bringing together of young LGBT people from all over Scotland for a weekend of parties and politics in Edinburgh. Kicking off with a Blind Date on the evening of Friday 10th March, two packed days of schmoozing, dancing and activism will follow. If you're looking for workshops on starting a youth group, the Scottish legal system or safer sex, they've got 'em. If you just want to spend a couple of days with other young queer people, they've got a chilled out programme of massage sessions, sports and, er, finger-painting. And in addition to Blind Date, there will be a big social on Saturday night, with both an alcohol-friendly venue and an equally exciting but legal alternative for under-18s and anyone else who chooses. And the weekend's (daytime) activities will only cost you UKP 10! The convention is aimed at anyone aged 25 or under who fancies attending, though obviously those with a queer sexual orientation are more likely to get a shag. Other aims include fostering contacts between LGBT youth groups and young people in Scotland, sharing resources and ideas, and maybe starting to make a permanent network to connect queer youth across the country. Contact details: Web: http://www.youthcon. force9.co.uk/E-mail: youthcon@youthcon.force9.co.uk Post: YouthCon, c/o 58a Broughton St., Edinburgh EH1 3SA --- No Room at the Inn as Christians Differ An East Lothian Christian Retreat Centre, on whose Board the Roman Catholic Church and the Church of Scotland are represented, has cancelled bookings made by an Edinburgh Church with a special ministry to lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transgendered people. A complaint has been made to the Equal Opportunities Commission. Carberry Towers near Musselburgh was formerly run by the Church of Scotland and is now administered by an ecumenical trust. Holy Trinity Metropolitan Community Church had, after several months discussions with Carberry, made two bookings for a retreat and a conference next year. Throughout, the diverse nature of the Church's membership was made clear to Carberry and no objection was raised until the cancellation. The Church is part of the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches, a world-wide Christian denomination which was originally founded by a gay man in consequence of the wide-spread discrimination in the mainline Churches. The Church's membership now includes people of all sexualities and religious backgrounds. In discussions with the Church following cancellation of the bookings Carberry has emphasised that it did not wish to be associated with lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgendered Christians. Ian Bonner-Evans, Pastoral Leader of the Edinburgh Congregation was deeply saddened by Carberry's action. "I am disappointed that, as we approach the Millennium, the Christian Church still seeks to promote division in our society rather than recognising our unity in Christ. I find it difficult to see any explanation for Carberry's action other than prejudice. We agreed a booking with Carberry and they will now not honour their commitment to us because we will not discriminate against people in our preaching of Christ's love. This is a slap in the face for all Christians who work to break down barriers. Many of my members are upset and angry as they feel Carberry has demeaned their integrity as Christians. I can only pray that Carberry will come to their senses and reinstate our bookings. Until then I am sure those people of faith who believe that the Gospel is Good News for all people, irrespective of sexuality, will not feel welcome at Carberry." The Church has made a complaint to the Equal Opportunities Commission. --- Initial Call for Papers Our nation? Queer voices from Scotland's past, present and future Edinburgh, April 2000 This is an initial call for papers or expressions of interest for a one-day conference to be held in central Edinburgh on a Saturday in April 2000. The conference will be as inclusive as possible. We hope to have presentations or papers from many different aspects of Scotland's diverse lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) communities. Reflections on the experiences of people typically less privileged or visible such as, for example, those living in rural areas, older LGBT people or LGBT people from different cultures would be especially welcome. We aim to have a representative selection of papers from as wide a range of areas of interest as possible. We therefore ask for expressions of interest from those with an interest in Arts, Oral History, Law, Culture, Social Sciences, Health, Theatre, History and all other fields. Further details will be sent out in mid January. It would greatly assist us, however, to receive even tentative expressions of interest as soon as possible. Please send comments, questions and proposals for papers to - Our Nation? Conference c/o Outright Scotland, PO Box 23253, Edinburgh. EH1 3XD . E-mail: Walter Morani walter.m@scotland.com Brian Dempsey 9463746@coll.sms.ed.ac.uk --- Joyous Noise Holy Trinity Metropolitan Community Church is pleased to announce Edinburgh's Second Annual Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community Carol Service. The Community Carol Service will take place at 6.00pm on Sunday 19 December in the Quaker Meeting House on Victoria Terrace (at the top of the Royal Mile). Last year's event was a tremendous success attracting larger than expected numbers and raising money for the Stonewall Youth Project, an Edinburgh based organisation working with lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered young people. The Community Carol Service provides an opportunity for the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgendered Community and its many friends and allies to celebrate the Christmas season together. Ian Bonner-Evans, Pastoral Leader of Holy Trinity Metropolitan Community Church, issued an open invitation to everyone to this years event: "Christmas is a time when many people, especially lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people, wish to participate in the traditions of Christmas but feel excluded from the mainstream Churches because of the often offensive attitudes adopted by some of these Churches throughout the year. I sincerely hope that our Community Carol Service can be a time when all people, irrespective of sexuality or background, can gather together to reflect on the Christmas message of goodwill to all people." There will be no admission charge for the Carol Service but an offering will be received in aid of Parents Enquiry Scotland, an organisation that supports the parents and friends of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered people in Scotland. For more information call Ian on 0131-664 8827. --- New Recruits Needed Strathclyde Lesbian and Gay Switchboard is looking for volunteers to join their existing team of telephone counsellors. As a charity, they depend upon committed and open minded individuals to run their telephone helpline which serves the West of Scotland. The Lesbian and Gay Switchboard provides information and support on a wide range of issues affecting our community. Selection will be in the New Year and full training will be given. They particularly welcome applications from women to support their expanded range of services including Lesbian Line. For further information and an application form, write to: Lesbian and Gay Switchboard, PO Box 38, Glasgow. G2 2QF or phone 0141-332 8372 any evening 7-10pm. The closing date for applications is the 4th of February 2000. --- Section 28 - The End? On October 29th the Scottish Executive announced that it plans to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act. First Minister Donald Dewar called the Section "a badge of shame", and Wendy Alexander, the Minister responsible for the Ethical Standards Bill, which will enact repeal, explained that the Section prevents schools from dealing with homophobic bullying. Three weeks later, the London Government, which had been swithering over whether to repeal the Section south of the border, announced it was following Scotland's lead and would repeal Section 28 in England and Wales, as part of a Local Government Bill at Westminster in the spring. Section 28 prevents local authorities from "promoting homosexuality" or from promoting the teaching in schools of "the acceptability of homosexuality as a pretended family relationship". It was introduced by right-wing Tories under the Thatcher Government in 1988. Although it's never been used in court, research shows that Section 28 has had a real practical effect, as well as branding us as unacceptable second class citizens. In fact over half of teachers surveyed say that the Section prevents them from providing proper help and support for young lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people, which leaves them isolated and often the victims of homophobic bullying. No wonder one in five young LGBT people attempts suicide. Section 28 is also used as an excuse by some local authorities not to support vital LGBT projects. In 1998, Perth and Kinross Council refused to give grant aid to Dundee LGB Switchboard, which provides a life-saving support service in the Perth area, because they claimed that to do so would breach Section 28. For And Against When the plan to repeal the Section was announced, the Scottish press had a field day. The Scotsman said it was the first time the Scottish Executive had showed vision and leadership, but a Daily Record headline forecast "Gay sex lessons in schools" and called repeal a waste of the Scottish Parliament's time. On balance though, most newspapers supported the Executive's plans. Not so the Tories, nor the Catholic Church. Tory MSP Phil Gallie was quick to condemn the proposal, and in a grossly prejudiced newspaper article rehashing the old myth of connections between homosexuality and paedophilia, Cardinal Winning claimed that repeal would make young people vulnerable to abuse. Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the SNP however all said they support repeal, as do organisations such as the STUC and the Convention of Scottish Local Authorities. So is the end of the Section now inevitable? In a word, no. South of the border, repeal must be approved by the House of Lords, and Baroness Young and her pals have already said that they will fight tooth and nail in the Lords to keep the Section. The same people have managed to hold up equalisation of the age of consent for two years, so there will be a real fight when the Lords debates the English repeal proposal. The Scottish Parliament The Scottish Parliament has no House of Lords, only elected MSPs, the majority of whom are from parties supporting repeal of the Section. But our enemies are already lobbying MSPs hard. Most vociferous are the religious conservatives, from the Salvation Army, the Baptists and Evan-gelical Alliance, to the Catholic Church with its profoundly anti-gay message. They include conservatives in the Church of Scotland, like Ann Allen, convenor of the Board of Social Responsibility, who can always be relied on by the press for an anti-gay quote, whatever the specific subject. More moderate and liberal Church leaders, including John Cairns, the Moderator of the General Assembly of the Church of Scotland, and Richard Holloway, Primus of the Scottish Episcopal Church, publicly support repeal of Section 28, but as always it is the antis who tend to make the most noise. Before repeal can happen, the Scottish Executive is conducting a public consultation on the issue. That ends on January 14th. The Executive must report to the Parliament on the results of the consultation, and how it has taken it into account. Then MSPs get to vote on the proposal to repeal the Section, probably in March, and again in May. Only then would Section 28 be repealed. The big question is, will the anti-repeal campaigners frighten the Executive and MSPs off? We have a major battle on our hands. Religious conservatives are pulling out all the stops on this. They are desperate to stop LGBT equality, because they think homosexuality is bad and wrong. We must make sure the Executive and MSPs know that, religious prejudice aside, people understand the damage the Section does, especially to young LGBT people, and many many people support the repeal plan. What You Can Do If we lose the battle for repeal of section 28, LGBT equality in Scotland will be set back years. Don't assume that won't affect you - it will. Don't assume that activists will do the necessary campaigning - they can't, there aren't enough of them. The most important thing you can do is write to your MSP. It sounds boring, but it really makes a difference. We must win the vote on this in Parliament. Write a short letter to your MSP saying you support repeal of Section 28 and want them to vote in favour of it. If you can put something in your letter about your own experience of discrimination as a young person at school, or elsewhere, that is really effective. Keep the letter short though, and be nice even if the MSP is from a party you don't support! You can find out who your MSP is in two ways: if you have net access, fire up your web browser and go to http://www.scottish.parliament.uk/msps/search-msp.htm where you can find out your MSP by typing in your postcode. Alternatively, ring the Scottish Parliament Information Service on 0131-348 5000. In fact, you have eight MSPs, one for your constituency and seven for your region. Please write to your constituency MSP, but if you feel energetic, you could write to them all! The address is: Name of MSP, Scottish Parliament, Edinburgh, EH99 1SP. The second thing you could do is write to the Scottish Executive saying you support their proposal to repeal Section 28. This needs to be done before January 14th. It's very important because we know that evangelical churches are getting their whole congregations to write opposing repeal, which means hundreds of letters. Again, mention of your own experiences of homophobia would be helpful. The address is: Stephen Wilson, Local Government Division 2a, The Scottish Executive, Area 3-H, Victoria Quay, Edinburgh, EH6 6QQ. Thirdly, please keep an eye on reports and letters in your newspaper. If you read a report or a letter opposing repeal of section 28, please write in to the letters page and say you disagree. Finally, if you want to be kept up to date with the progress of the Section 28 campaign over the next couple of months, or want to find out how else you could help, please get in contact with the Equality Network, at 58a Broughton St, Edinburgh, EH1 3SA, or on 07020 933 952. WUNCH REPENTS The Bank of Scotland is clearly trying to throw off their homophobic image by buying advertising space on Rainbow Network, a major new commercial gay and lesbian Internet site which also features information supplied by ScotsGay and our contributors. WWW: http://www.rainbownetwork.com/ THE BELLS Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard's Halloween Ceilidh raised over UKP 600 for funds. Their next big thrash is their Valentines Ball next February. DOON RA WATTER Body Positive Strathclyde are to hold a two day re-union in Millport in February. GUESTS On Xmas Eve, Divine Divas in Edinburgh will admit invited male guests to the normally all women event. VALETE Dr Alan and Senior Nurse Christine Pithie formerly of Gartnavel and Ruchill Hospitals in Glasgow have emigrated to Christchurch, New Zealand. SKIRT The Winter issue of the Tartan Skirt (the magazine of the Scottish Transgender Community) is now out. AYR TODAY A new gay friendly bar is welcoming us in Ayr. Called Wee Windaes, this Scottish Brewers tenancy is hoping to increase its lgbt patronage. SCI-FI Edinburgh's Claremont Bar is holding an Xmas Eve disco party (10pm till 2am) and a no extra charge Champagne Style Hogmanay Glitter Party (10pm till 4am) with 100s of giveaways. JUMP! Body Positive Strathclyde raised UKP 400 from a charity parachute jump at Strathallan airfield. RAINBOW Rainbow Fund, the Johnstone based HIV/AIDS fundraisers netted over UKP 850 from two recent events in Glasgow's Court Bar and Waterloo. AWA' Copy from Derek Ogg, Nessie Lessie and Gus was delayed by the wrong sort of snow. We trust they will be back with us next issue. Granny Spice finally fought through the snowdrifts. Heather White, on the other hand, is in the Mediterranean diving for muffs. --------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOTTISH MEDIA MONITOR ====================== Garry Otton dances on the Church's grave The Herald's poll found 44% of the public thought religion had only "a minor part" to play in their lives. Just 8% of young people said it "was a major part of their lives." With the repeal of Section 28 looming, religionists have had to work fast. What they needed was something to show how the repeal of Section 28 would unleash unconstrained homosexual propaganda on innocent children. Oh, the power of prayer! The Scotsman revealed two Scottish schools buying an education pack "which encourages children as young as 14 to act out homosexual roles in the classroom." Something at last to challenge kids preconceptions of homosexuality? Not a bit of it! The Scotsman's education correspondent, Tom Little wrote: "The pack, which includes a video and costs UKP 35, encourages children to empathise with characters such as a married man who is caught 'cottaging,' a bisexual grandmother and a sado-masochist. In one game pupils are encouraged to play 'Spot the Heterosexual.'" One character in the pack, Karl, advised "Try experimenting with other boys and girls and see who you feel most comfortable with." Tom Little had 'Sexfinder General' Monsignor Tom Connolly of the Catholic Church wheeled out to wag a finger at anyone daring to 'experiment' with their sexuality. Valerie Riches of the right wing family values propaganda machine, Family and Youth Concern, (described in this report as an "independent think-tank)," thought: "This puts concepts and activities into the minds of youngsters they would not normally think about. That is a dangerous thing to do in child as young as 14." (Yes kids do normally think about sex at 14 and no, it is not dangerous for them to discuss it). The Christian Institute was next. Ian Bainbridge of the "charitable research foundation" declared it "one of the worst examples of its kind..." and Brian Monteith, the Conservative's education spokesman declared it "a breach" of Section 28. The Scotsman ought to look more carefully at press releases- and this appalling piece of propaganda extolled by organised religion - before committing to print. And Tom Little should have spent less time on sensation-seeking and more time with his nose in Neil Duncan's study, Sexual Bullying. Duncan found a close link between homophobia and violent attitudes towards women and anyone perceived as vulnerable. Boys who were 'nice' to girls were often perceived as 'gay.' This hard culture does not bode well for boys entering into human relationships of any kind. Despite the fuss, of the 76 education packs sold in England, only two were supposed to have been sold to secondary schools in Scotland: One in Fife and the other in Inverness. Both denied ever having used them. A Highlands Council spokesman said the pack "was inappropriate and schools would be advised not to use it." Muscular Christianity rules OK! In a report in the Sunday Mail the Church was being accused of helping Cliff Richards' ghastly 'Millennium Prayer' to number one in the British charts by buying up stocks and giving them away to churches. The Daily Record smugly concluded, "...When it comes to music, like everything else, the majority is always right." And how far right they are too! The battle over the repeal of Section 28 thundered on in the letters pages. Alisdair C Sampson cried in The Herald: "I have come to the inescapable conclusion that one of the most discriminated against groups in society are people like me- white, heterosexual males... I can say absolutely nothing critical about the views or actions of... those of a sexual orientation which is not of my choosing." Is that right? Well it hasn't stopped George Cooper who lives in Provand Hall Crescent, Baillieston delivering a threat in Glasgow's homophobic Evening Times: "If any of my boys come home from school talking about loving other boys, I will remove the teacher's teeth without anaesthetic." One of the greatest human rights activists of our time Peter Tatchell has been vilified by all sections of the media and even suffered the indignation of a hammering from The Herald columnist, John Macleod for "denying his sexuality" during the Bermondsey by-election. Unlike John Macleod, Peter Tatchell never maligned gays whilst concealing his homosexuality- if that is indeed what he ever did. With Peter's permission I am reproducing his reply that appeared in The Herald's 'Letters to the Editor' page on the same Tuesday Macleod's feature normally appeared: And didn't! "John Macleod should check his facts before making wild, untrue personal attacks (23 November). He is mistaken to accuse me of 'denying' my sexuality during the 1983 Bermondsey by-election. Although I did not discuss my private life with the press, I did speak out for gay equality and I was open about my homosexuality with voters on the doorsteps. It was my honesty that provoked the huge homophobic backlash, which included 2,000 hate letters, 150 assaults and attacks on my home, 30 death threats and a bullet through my door. John is also wrong to claim that OutRage! 'demonstrated' at the Cenotaph. We held a solemn, dignified act of Queer Remembrance in honour of lesbian, gay and bisexual servicepeople who died fighting Nazism, laying wreaths and observing a minute's silence. Our ceremony of remembrance was necessary because the Royal British Legion refuses to acknowledge that an estimated 500,000 homosexuals and bisexuals served in the armed forces from 1939-45, making a significant contribution to the defeat of Hitler. Most members of the public who witnessed our ceremony at the Cenotaph did not find it offensive. They cheered and applauded. It is untrue for John to say that OutRage! 'stalked' President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe. We made a lawful citizen's arrest of Mugabe on charges of torture, citing evidence from Amnesty International. Under British and international law torture is a criminal offence. If General Pinochet can be arrested for torture, then so should President Mugabe. John is further mistaken to state that OutRage! advocates the age of consent being 'lowered to 12.' We have supported an age of consent of 14 for two reasons. First, to reduce the criminalisation of young people involved in consenting sex (14 is now the average age of first sexual experience). Threatening these teenagers with prosecution does not protect them. It is a form of abuse. Second, an age of consent of 14 would lessen the legal obstacles to earlier, more effective sex education in schools. Many teachers are afraid to give explicit advice on contraception and safer sex to youngsters under 16 because they fear prosecution for aiding and abetting unlawful sex. While sexual abuse should be severely punished, there is no ethical justification for the criminalisation of victimless relationships. Our view is shared by the 12 European countries that now have ages of consent of 14 or lower." In fairness to John Macleod, he claimed Peter Tatchell - a member of "the most extreme gay-rights organisation in Britain" - had "stalked Michael Portillo" and "mugged Robert Mugabe." But face it! If anyone stalked Michael Portillo, it was the media. And as for the 'mugging' of Mugabe, Peter risked being shot at by Mugabe's security guards attempting, what was, a lawful citizen's arrest under Section 134 of the Criminal Justice Act 1988 that forbids anyone to commit acts of torture. Mugabe has been accused by Amnesty International of appalling acts of censorship, suppression of strikes, peaceful protests and detention without trial. For defending the human rights of others, Peter Tatchell was arrested while Mugabe went shopping in Harrods. The incident brought gay human rights in Africa to the fore. Black lesbians, gays and bisexuals were given the opportunity to raise awareness on Zimbabwean television for the first time and over a hundred reports appeared in the African media. Peter puts into action what sometimes I can't put into words! Unlike John Macleod, Peter does not enjoy the privilege of a regular column in a national newspaper to explain his actions. Neither does he enjoy the support of one either. John Macleod - who has done Jack Shit for gays- ought to be the first to appreciate the endeavours of such a brave man. So too should Graeme Woolaston, eager to pull a few sheets of Wedgwood Basildon Bond to brown-nose the paper that sometimes pays him. "As a contributor to The Herald from an openly gay perspective, on the occasions when it is relevant, can I make it clear to Herald readers that neither Peter Tatchell nor the wholly London-based Outrage! have any mandate whatsoever for their repeated claim to speak for the gay community? On the contrary, most gay men believe that the impact of Tatchell's grossly inflated ego, humourlessness, and total lack of personal charm has significantly held back progress towards greater acceptance of us in public life." You too can express your opinion. No! Don't bother your arse writing to The Herald. Just send a donation to Outrage! PO Box 17816, London. SW14 8WT. The Herald generously threw a whole page open to John Haldane, Professor of Philosophy at St Andrews University to praise Catholicism. "Could it be that the world has gone astray, that Catholicism has held fast to fundamental truths, and that it is now reviled for its steadfastness? What the healthy judges to be right, the fevered and the chilled find to be too hot or too cold." And quite comfortable trashing our lives with his baseless propaganda, he droned: "Not only are basic Catholic ethical positions defensible they are gaining allies among former critics. In the United States and to some extent in Britain there is an emerging appreciation of Catholic moral opposition to sterilisation, abortion, euthanasia, pornography, and promiscuity. Many feminists and other radicals have moved to a more 'conservative' position on sexuality, and there is a growing Gays and Lesbians for Life movement." I eagerly await a whole page on the promotion of gay sex in The Herald. Well... I'm waiting? With the promotion of 'political correctness' by the right wing, the 'militant gay activist' should be making a comeback very soon. Certainly the Scottish Sun was quaking with fear when "army chiefs banned Military Police from patrolling outside Edinburgh Castle..." after gay group Direct Action taped a military policeman suggesting gays should be shot. The crackdown was ordered because top brass "feared militant gay activists" would launch a revenge attack on the Redcaps. An insider told the Scottish Sun: "Somehow the gays also found out where the officer was living... Now he has received personal threats and his family are under army protection." Poor love! Another Military Policeman added: "They are terrified that the MP patrols and the gays might clash, and spark off a war." Move over Chechnya! But while Direct Action had to initiate a "honeytrap" to catch the homophobia, the Scottish Sun just had to send one of its reporters. "We are being made to look like big girls' blouses," the MP gushed. "The bosses want to be seen to be very politically correct over the gays. So this lot who have promised to cause trouble can get away with it." A married woman had to write to Old Mother (Joan) Burnie in the Daily Record to tell her about the gay erotica she found on her husband's PC. Her husband had told her "it was just a laugh and it was good fun to get the gay boys excited by pretending to be as queer as them." She wondered if he might be gay. Errrr? Old Mother Burnie swung into action. "It's perfectly possible he isn't and that his explanation, sick though it may be, is absolutely correct." Yeah...! And the Daily Record's a good read! It is hard to believe that anyone as reactionary as Old Mother Burnie has the credibility to advise anyone as an agony aunt, but the Daily Record are so convinced, they even gave her additional space to attack "a bunch of amoral queers" at the Stonewall Equality Show. "...What on earth is (Posh Spice) doing cosying up to that pathetic old dancing queen Elton John and his kept man? She's a mother isn't she? So you might have thought she would have paused before she posed with a man who thinks it's a gas to present images little short of paedophilia on stage." The Edinburgh matron - thrown out of the Brownies for dirty fingernails - was not amused at a troupe of dancers in Boy Scout's uniforms, stripping down to their underpants on stage. "...Filth," she sniffed. The gay cause had been put back 20 years by Elton's "two-fingered salute to decency." Then she criticised "others" for not attacking this "obscene behaviour" because "it's not PC to criticise homosexuals for anything..." Sorry! That was something I must've missed! garryotton@bigfoot.com For a comprehensive guide of media homophobia in Scotland read the SCOTTISH MEDIA MONITOR website! http://www.bigfoot.com/~scotmedia (c) Garry Otton 1999 ------------------------------------------------------------------- THE NICE BIT ============ Got an E-mail the other day from some friends in Seattle who were at the controversial World Trade Organisation (WTO) conference recently. They belong to a United States group calling themselves 'Queers Against Capitalism'; part of a network of international anarchists that organises direct action over the World Wide Web. They come from a great tradition of bisexuals, lesbians and gays campaigning on the left from LGB Unison Trade Union groups to 'Puffs against the Poll Tax' Stacie, a bisexual woman from 'Queers Against Capitalism' briefly explained what relevance the campaign around the WTO has for all of us. Bisexuals, gay women and men are often regarded as more financially prosperous than straight people in today's Western societies. The Pink Pound is a clever marketing tool used by ad men to sell to the expanding gay market. However, in rich as well as poorer countries, bisexuals, lesbians and gays suffer greatly from poverty and homelessness. A significant minority of those living on the streets of Europe and the United States are gay, for they have been turned away from their family homes because of their sexuality. Gays and straights on the street often turn to drugs or alcohol or even prostitution as a means of escape from their plight. Imagine the situation then if you are gay and poor in the Third (and usually much more homophobic) World. The WTO philosophy is one of free trade. Free trade, they say, benefits countries and by definition, benefits its citizens. But in Africa it has meant that corporations have bought land owned by former peasants and then made the former peasants unemployed. In China, since joining the WTO, massive job cuts have been announced so companies can 'compete'. In Russia, since the end of the Cold War, and the relentless march of free trade, the country has been practically controlled by the new Russian Mafia. And in prosperous Scotland, England, and the rest of 'free' Europe and America there are more homeless people than ever. All bisexuals, lesbians and gays should support those protests and demonstrations against globalisation and capitalism. The massive Third World debt that our governments are refusing to write-off effects everyone in the Third World, not just the heterosexuals. If you wish to support gay rights then you must support those who are gay and in poverty at the hands of free capital. Those that are poor at home and abroad. Queers Against Capitalism isn't just about equality. We are a global network that looks around the world and asks, "Surely things could be organised better for everyone?" Christmas time is at least partly about thinking for others, and I thank Stacie, Bret, Joe, Sally, Stamp and all the others at Queers Against Capitalism for reminding us of that. If you want more information about any of the issues raised, or have any comments to make then E-mail me at the below address and I will pass them on. In the meantime have a great time over the holiday and a peaceful New Year. May all your resolutions come true! Love, Martin Walker mgwuk@hotmail.com ---------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE: Eating Disorder - a way of life? ========================================= I am writing to you with my story concerning an illness I have had most of my life. It is an eating disorder, or some call it bulimia. This illness has dogged me most of my life, and now seems out of control. I have lost the control to stop myself from over-eating and am faced with total disablement through morbid obesity or death from heart failure. It is like a time bomb that is waiting to go off... It started not long after I was sexually abused as a young boy at a school for handicapped children. I found that food was a comfort to me, a sort of consolation, and the cravings grew stronger each time. The need for food to help me through the day became an obsession and took over my life. No food, no quality of life... or so it seemed. The guilt was overwhelming, so I would eat again to stop feeling low or depressed, then the quilt would start again, and so it went on, and still does to this day. For most of my adult life I saw myself as a victim. Conditioned by institutional life, having been hospitalised and schooled from the age of 3 years until the age of 13. I had no decisions over how my life was handled, and even at the age of 13 when I left the residential school, my parents kept me at home to look after my baby brother and keep house. I knew no different. I expected no different. I used to be a laxative addict. I knew, like most bulimics, that laxatives do not really get rid of the food the way we think they do-they just cause more problems in the gut and bowels. Yet they are every bit as addictive as the food we are eating in vast quantities. I took up to 100 laxatives in any one night, and once they had taken effect, the pain would be horrendous in the guts, that I would have to crawl to the loo. This could go on for nearly 3 hours every morning. When I felt that my stomach had calmed down I would starve myself all day, convince myself that I was thinner, then come bedtime I would binge eat until the small hours of the morning... This went on until my GP discovered that I had a severe case of irritable bowel syndrome, probably caused by the laxatives, so I managed to stop taking them. It wasn't easy, but because the pain in my guts was so bad I made myself stop. As a gay man, I reflect on the almost 4 years of sexual abuse and humiliation I endured at the residential school and realise that the eating started so that I would put on weight and be unattractive to the abusers in the hope that they would leave me alone. This, of course, was nonsense, but as a child all manner of thoughts come into your head. Today, at the age of 47, I am just as bad at having a successful relationship as I ever was. I allow myself to be used, letting my boyfriend have sex with other men in my house, on my bed, with the thought that if I let him do this, he will like me more. Pathetic, I know! But when you've been a disappointment to your peers, when you feel that all you want is a little loving, then I believe it is easy to see why I do these things. I know deep down that I have to try harder to respect myself more, because if you don't respect yourself, then no-one else will either. How can I love someone who'd rather have sex with another man in my bedroom? How can I blame him, when I allow it to happen? When does the time come and I say to myself... this has to stop. I have to live my life for me, to help me, to enable me to grow stronger in my belief in myself, to have more confidence, to love myself! Most of this year I have spent in and out of hospital in the hope that I would be eligible for surgery to have my stomach stapled. A newer procedure was applied first by the surgeon. It was called the balloon method. This is where he inserts a balloon into the stomach, inflates it with 17 litres of blue water and you have a full-up feeling and are unable to eat large quantities of food. I was very unlucky, as my body rejected the balloon. I became dehydrated through constant vomiting. I was then informed by the surgeon that I was totally unsuitable for any kind of surgery (stomach stapling) as I had too much surgery previously for other conditions. This has brought me back to square one. Where do I go from here? I am frightened to try again, to go and see another psychologist or psychiatrist as I have seen them off and on since the age of 15. Yet, I know that I have to try, as my quality of life is very poor, my mobility poor, and the physical pain extremely hard to cope with. Life has to be worth saving, even mine... --------------------------------------------------------------------------- FEATURE: An Unholy Alliance =========================== Feorag NicBhride finds some strange people sharing a duvet. On the evening of Thursday December 2nd, Edinburgh witnessed a dramatic farce. The Scottish Campaign Against Pornography had organised a "Pornfire", as part of an otherwise worthy campaign against violence against women. This was promoted on a poster, complete with City of Edinburgh Council logo, which also announced the 'launch' of the Off The Shelf campaign by Scottish Women Against Pornography. This prompted an open letter from a number of groups and individuals suggesting that this was nothing other than a book-burning, In an attempt to deny this, Councillor Lesley Hinds, convenor of the Women's Committee, told the Edinburgh Evening News: "Scottish Women Against Pornography bought magazines to see what they were like. "They were quite shocked about what they could buy. They discussed what to do with the magazines and thought 'we don't want to keep them'. There will be a small brazier and they are going to burn these magazines, so there is no book-burning at all". She then went on to accuse author Iain Banks, one of the signatories to the letter, of supporting child pornography! (Johnston 1999, p5, col. 5) On the day, the plan to burn the magazines was abandoned and pieces of paper with headlines from girlie magazines and swear words printed on them were burned instead. The anti-porn campaigners tried to pretend that this was their intention all along. Mike Holmes, one of the counter-demonstrators reported: "They stated that they'd taken no Council cash but appeared to concede that the Council had funded promotion of their "Pornfire". They also stated that they had never had any intention of burning pornography, something that's certainly at odds with Councillor Hinds' statement. They claimed that if we'd only contacted them directly they could have told us this... I asked why, since they claimed to have had no intention to burn pornography, they'd called the event a "Pornfire" instead of the more usual word, but this produced only apparent exasperation." (Holmes 1999, lines 97-109) In a prime example of missing the point completely, they thought that the counter-demonstrators were calling them witches because they had brought along a witch-guy carrying a placard quoting Heinrich Heine : "Where they first burn books, they will burn people in the end." Attempts to reassure them that they were not being compared to followers of a contemporary sex-positive nature religion fell on deaf ears- they were too busy interrupting. They persisted with this line insisting to the Evening News that no attempt had been made to contact them directly (The only number on the poster was that of the Council's Equality Unit, who had been contacted for more information), and that the anti-censorship campaigners had given out misinformation about them (Puttick 1999, p3, col.3). They did not complain about Cllr. Hinds for some reason. Scottish Women Against Pornography1# has some very interesting views on women. The women at the demo tried to argue that the women in the publications were in no position to have consented to what they were doing. Having so denied that women are able to make up their own minds about what they want to do, they then asserted that this was even truer for women from ethnic minorities. One of them asked Mike Holmes "What about Asian Babes#? Did they consent?"2 (Holmes 1999. This particular comment was also overheard by this writer). The latest Scottish Women's Action Network newsletter3# (Winter 1999) is a special "Pornography as Violence Against Women" issue and is given over entirely to SWAP. They make their agenda perfectly clear- they want pornography to be defined as something which harms women, using race relations legislation as a model, and allow people "who could prove they were victims of pornography-related harm to take action against pornography manufacturers and distributors. This would ensure tighter controls of the distribution, public display4#, and availability of pornography throughout Scotland" (SWAN, p2). This sounds rather like the "model civil rights ordinance" against pornography put to the legislature in Minneapolis by feminist lawyer Catherine MacKinnon and theorist Andrea Dworkin. Although passed, after a loaded hearing, this law was soon struck down as unconstitutional. The acceptance of such a definition of pornography has badly damaged the civil rights and status of Canadian women especially lesbians (see box out). So why do Scottish Women Against Pornography think Scotland needs this? Their reasoning is vague at best. We are told: "The images themselves are very disturbing. The display of pornography is a pervasive form of sexual harassment. Many women find the display of pornography threatening. Young girls and women grow up surrounded by pornographic images which have a dramatic effect on how they see themselves. We learn to see ourselves as sexual objects, never in control or possession of our own bodies." (SWAN p2-3). Throughout, the distinction between top-shelf publications and illegal child pornography is muddied, and one statement at least harks back to the ritual abuse myth: "Women and children are actively abused during the production of pornographic material" (loc. cit.). Much of it is downright dubious "39% of women report being distressed by their partner asking them to act out scenes from pornography" (loc. cit., emphasis mine). This last statement is accompanied with the only reference in the entire magazine-a vague one to New Scientist which mentions only the publication and the month. As it's a weekly publication this isn't much help, especially as they don't mention page numbers or the title of the article, or the author! Throughout the newsletter, you get the impression that sex is something women don't like, and wouldn't do out of choice. No woman is an exhibitionist, nor are they ever interested in money. The phrase "women and children' is indivisible. Most importantly, women need to be told these things, because we are not capable of working them out for ourselves. A particularly ludicrous claim is that "every serial murderer has used porn to fuel his fantasies as have countless rapists and child abusers" (loc. cit.). In one sentence, these so-called feminists have given rapists an excuse to blame their actions on something other than themselves. They later claim that the porn industry is worth billions, so presumably it's read by a lot of people who are not murderers, rapists or child abusers. Nor do they point out the huge number of such offenders who try to blame God for their deficiencies! Maybe this has something to do with their allies. To further their cause, the "feminist" anti-porn campaigners have forged alliances with religious groups who wish to reduce women's rights. The original Off The Shelf campaign, launched in November 1989, involved not only Clare Short, and the women's groups but the Townswomen's Guild, the Church Army and fundamentalist groups such as the Community Standards Associations and CARE. Community Standards Associations aimed to "promote and explain the positive value of traditional Christian Standards and warn of the consequences of permissive values and practices threatening to take over our culture". To this end, they orchestrated letter-writing campaigns against girlie magazines, sex shops and sex education material, especially anything gay-oriented. They're best known for their actions against films such as the Life of Brian and Caligula, getting them banned in some areas of the UK. CARE stands for "Christian Action Research and Education". This organisation has its origins in a 1971 "Rally Against Permissiveness" in Trafalgar Square. Initially called the "National Festival of Light", it pioneered the use of tactics later used to promote the Satanic Abuse Myth. The group provided resources to oppose pornography and abortion. Local groups of fundamentalists would then distribute the resulting newsletters and pamphlets among the local medical professionals, teachers and social workers. They originally had their own anti-porn campaign, "Picking Up the Pieces", but enthusiastically swapped this for "Off The Shelf". This association is, not surprisingly, somewhat embarrassing to the 'feminist' groups and has often been denied. Catherine Itzen claimed the allegations were simply to discredit her campaign and in her 1992 book Pornography: Women, Violence, and Civil Liberties insisted "no such alliances exist, or have ever been made, either in the USA or the UK". Presumably the joint CAP/CARE 1990 campaign against sex shops in Bristol was a figment of the participants' imaginations and the photographs of Clare Short at a CARE meeting must have been forged by her detractors. The Christians themselves are less ashamed of the association. CARE's Nigel Williams wrote, in 1991, "CARE works very successfully at a national level with groups and members of Parliament who hold very different views on other issues which are important to us". He then explains that these groups would rather keep the relationship secret. Just to make it clear, a list of campaigning groups in the same book includes CAP, and he refers throughout to the anti-pornography campaign, as if it was a united effort. Further confirmation comes from a feminist magazine: "To me, if something is so obvious that people coming from opposite political perspectives can agree on it that would make it particularly strong" (Barbara Rogers quoted by Barbara Norden "Pornography: the Debate Goes On" Everywoman December 1990-January 1991. Cited in Thompson 1994, 231) This is not the first time campaigners for women's rights have linked up with religious extremists to the detriment of women. The early women's rights activists were particularly active in "social purity" movements which sought to deny access to sex education and birth control lest it lead to extra-marital sex. Thompson (1994, 17-21) goes into considerable detail of this sordid episode which reinforced the Victorian stereotypes of womanhood today's anti-porn women seem so keen to uphold. Canadian experience suggests that, even with a so-called feminist law in place, the sexists and homophobes in government, the police and the judiciary will make sure that women and gay men's access to sexual information and their own writing on sex are the only things censored. BOX-OUT: The 'Feminist' Model at work in Canada The situation in Canada, hailed by MacKinnon as a feminist success story, has been nothing of the sort. According to Avedon Carol: " In 1983, the Metropolitan Toronto Task Force on Violence Against Women had asked one of North America's leading feminists, Thelma MacCormack, who had formed the first women's studies programme in existence, to overview the research on pornography for them and attempt to locate a link between pornography and violence. She undertook the study and found no such link; when she reported, her work was suppressed and a new researcher was hired - this time a moral rightist who was happy to give them the answer they wanted. But then Catherine MacKinnon came to Canada to present her view that pornography was degrading to women, in the 1992 Butler case. Largely by exploiting the homophobia of the conservative men in the courts - showing them male homosexual erotic materials - anti-porn women were able to convince the judges that pornography degraded women. (Carol, n.d.)" Even though Canadian law protects materials of artistic or serious intent (no such provision exists in the Dworkin/MacKinnon model), Canada's lesbian, gay and feminist communities soon found themselves besieged. In Ontario, the police have decided that sexual material must include a story line and romance if it is not to be regarded as degrading to women! One Judge, F. C. Hayes, decided that all homosexual material was in itself degrading and dehumanising. When one bookshop brought an harassment case against the government, the raids were extended to include university and radical bookstores in general. One shop found itself subject to raids under this law after it started selling transcripts of a telephone conversation embarrassing to the Canadian government. In an ironic twist, Dworkin's own "Woman Hating" and "Pornography: Men Possessing Women" were seized because they "illegally eroticized pain and bondage". Books by Kathy Acker, Ambrose Bierce, Anne Rice and Oscar Wilde have fallen victim to the law, as have serious works calling for a tougher child abuse laws. The way the law has been applied has attracted comment from many women. Feminist writer Ellen Flanders notes, in her "Ideas-Feminism and Censorship" that "Butler is just about morality. It's morality in the guise of protecting women and children. And who needs the protection of the male patriarchy anyway, of the state?" But what about all the allegedly violent, misogynistic material made for heterosexual men? The authorities have yet to show any interest. (see Strossen 1995, 229-244 for a much more thorough summary) Endnotes 1 The poster referred to "Scottish Campaign Against Pornography" but the Evening News, Councillor Hinds the Scottish Women's Action Newsletter all refer exclusively to "Scottish Women Against Pornography. Perhaps SCAP is SWAP plus Jamie McGrigor, a Tory list MSP for the Highlands and Islands who supported them at the demonstration. 2 "Asian Babes" is a British publication featuring British women. 3 I would like to assure SWAP that my copy is not the copy handed out to one of the male counter-demonstrators on condition he didn't show it to anyone else or copy it. He has kept that promise and my copy comes from elsewhere. 4 Except presumably, when they want to publicly display it to burn it. References and Further Reading Carol, Avedon. 1994. Nudes, Prudes and Attitudes. Pornography and Censorship. Cheltenham, New Clarion Press (Issues on Social Policy Series). Carol, Avedon. n.d. The Harm of Porn: Just Another Excuse to Censor. Essay on the Feminists Against Censorship web site http://www. fiawol.demon.co.uk/FAC/harm.htm. Holmes, Mike. 1999. A Bonfire of Inanities. "Pornfire" Report - Edinburgh, 2nd December 1999. Posted to ed.general, uk.politics.censorship and uk.current-events.censorship 3 Dec 1999 18:06:53 GMT. Johnston, Ian. 1999. "Book-burning sparks city rage", Edinburgh Evening News, Thursday December 2 1999, p5. Puttick, Helen. 1999. "Dirty protest ends in a farce", Edinburgh Evening News, Friday December 3 1999, p3. Strossen, Nadine. 1995. Defending Pornography. Free Speech, Sex and the Fight for Women's Rights. London, Abacus. Thompson, Bill. 1994. Soft Core. Moral Crusades Against Pornography in Britain and America. London. Cassell. The ad-hoc group which protested about the book-burning has its own web site: http://www.cluefactory.org.uk/freespeech/ This article was originally published in the Winter 1999 edition of the Pagan Prattle, a cynical neopagan freesheet with a decidedly queer bent. Copies should have found their way into the Wyrd Shop, 154 Canongate, Edinburgh, and 23 Enigma on Glasgow's High Street by the time you read this. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SCENE REPORTS ============= Dun Eideann/Edinburgh A Cool Yule to all readers from Martin, the Edinburgh Scene's worst nightmare! First things first. You must check out Hot Stuff, AKA the New French Connection. Open until Three from 18th December through to 3rd January 2000, It's a fresh lick of paint for the popular venue. Very much a 70's Disco bar - if that's your (hand)bag check out the line-up. On Wednesdays Divine Titty Galore (she's a Karaoke Madam apparently) is your host. Thursdays sees DJ Venus -the Gay Goddess playing 70's tunes on the decks. On Friday there's more abuse and karaoke with Sheila Blige (is it me or in Sandy getting her nails in everywhere?). Saturday sees Happy Hour from Eight until Nine and then on Sunday its Dance Anthems a-go-go - designed, it says here, to get you going "before your Sunday Clubbing at Night" So where to go clubbing on that now tooled up for Sunday night? Queer Sunday@ Eden is a must on Sunday 19th December. From ten until three the dress code is strictly night-ware with prizes for the best looking pyjamas on a boy and on a girl. Eden is a top club with lots of space and definitely recommended. And what's this? "As She Sees It - Life through the eyes of Drag Diva Sheila Blige" downstairs at twelve thirty. I refer the honourable reader to the comment I made a paragraph ago. Also on Sundays is Tackno at Club Mercado, the place that DJ Trendy Wendy does her unique thang. It ought to be compulsory to mention her in every single scene review, I am one of her many followers. In-fact there was talk of a fan club, but I reckon Wendy is far too shy. Mind you, you can worship with Wendy on Saturday 18th December at the old Mansfield Pace Church AKA Cafe Graffiti. Be there from ten thirty until three and enjoy special guests Sister Susie and Nancy Novice (sounds erm, kinky) Must say hi to Alan Lambie who dances and PRs for ICONS at Mercado. Thanks for the E-mail, Alan. ICONS happens on the first Sunday of each month and the last one on December 5th was apparently a real stormer, although I couldn't make it as I was away from Edinburgh gallivanting at the time. You'll be reading more about ICONS here in 2000. Loads is happening over Christmas and Y2K, but the one-nighters are all straight on December 31st. To see 2000 in 'homo-style' stick to those places that are gay twenty-four seven. Planet Out, CC Blooms, the Fly Bar, the Newtown, the Stag and Turret, the Blue Moon, Nexus, and Hot Stuff will all doubtless be as busy as hell. A busy December too for the (under new management) Townhouse Health Club. For a tenner you get sunbeds, video lounge, steam room, Jacuzzi, sauna cabins and complimentary drinks! Call 0131-556 6116 and let them talk you into a visit. The longer established No.18 Sauna is almost always busy too, mind you. But the consensus seems to be that Edinburgh can easily cope with two venues of this kind. Anyway, have a party at Christmas and a peaceful 2000! Love, Martin Walker mgwuk@hotmail.com --- Glaschu/Glasgow Thanks to all of you who mailed me asking how I am. A lot of you seem to still be under the impression I'm on my death-bed, but the events of last month were all a false alarm. Probably in better condition than I was when I was 18 when I smoked 40 a day, drank like a fish, ate carnivore crap and never took any exercise. Suppose I'd better also be nice to Toerag for the new typeface as a lot of you have said you prefer it and the myopic can actually read my column. Why not just give me 2 pages? (Why don't you just learn to be concise?- Ed.) Have you decided whose pockets you're going to be lining over Hogmanay? Had loads of you moaning about the UKP 20 entry price at both Benetts and The Poo. Don't you people understand the extra costs involved in running licensed premises at this time of year? 1200 tickets at UKP 10 over the odds is only an extra 12 thousand quid to pay for the bar staff and the extra entertainment that will undoubtedly be laid on! No doubt the Benetts and Poo staff are looking forward to bulging wage packets for the evening! Stop moaning-pay up, shut up and dig deep! I'm alright Jack, I've already bought my UKP 10 ticket for the bash down in the GGLC, and happy to do so in the knowledge that UKP 5 goes straight to GGLC funds, and we get a buffet as well! Should be a great night, with a Ceilidh (any excuse for me to wear my kilt), disco by Stu, and a PA from the Reverend KY Jelly. The tickets are going fast, so if you want an affordable Hogmanay piss-up you'd better get one soon. Drinks prices will be as usual - no hiking up the price just 'cos it's New Year. Tickets are also going fast for the Christmas Eve Party - only UKP 5! Had loads of you asking me what's happening on Mondays and Tuesdays with Penelope's closed. Spoke to Greg, who tells me that Penelope's won't re-open till March next year as the damage was worse than first thought. However, there are two new club nights at Planet Peach on Queen Street, both from 11pm till 3am. The Monday do is called PANTS, and there'll be a different name for the Tuesday bash when it starts on 28th Dec. Absolutely the right size for Monday and Tuesday nights, dark and cruisy, and it's got a nice chill out zone away from the dance floor where you can talk to your trade for the night. D.J is Shawn, who tells me that there'll be a few drinks promos too. The music suited the crop-headed disco twinkies happily doing all the STEPS silly dances last time I was down! Definitely a good weekday club night, so pick up a flyer for UKP 2 entry in the pubs. Had to laugh at the bouncers- obviously they realise that 99% of you pansies fit into the Caterpillar boots, white T-shirt, combat trousers and number 1 crop mould, so I got the usual "Do you know what sort of night it is?" when I first turned up! Centurion Health Club weren't too happy about the comments I wrote 2 issues ago, and asked my Small Bald Ginger Editor and myself to visit their premises to pass judgement. The main complaint was always that the place was too cold, but new heating has now been installed, so you shouldn't have any moans about the temperature now. I think Gordon and Alex were a bit surprised that you are all very quick to complain to ME about something when you really should have addressed your complaints to them in the first place (this applies equally to all venues in Glasgow) The place has certainly changed since I was last in, and now boasts private cabins and a darkroom. The cafe which used to be through the back is now by reception, and the general decor has been upgraded. One of Glasgow city centre's straight discos might become a full time 7 days a week LGB venue. I suspect that many of the straight discos are worried about the impact of the new Destiny Nightclub and are looking at other options. Must make it clear that this is only a possibility and I'll give more details if anything comes of it. I had loads of you coming up to say hello during the GGLC open day. Thanks for all the nice comments about the mag - nice to know you all love it so much!! Never knew I was so FAMOUS - you all obviously recognise me easily enough!! The open day was attended by Elaine C Smith, a very funny lady who cut the ribbon, blew out the candles and promptly set off the smoke alarms! The Cafe-Bar was busy all afternoon, with all tables taken and many of the sports and social groups had their own stalls, so hopefully you all had a chance to find out more about the ones you're interested in. They put MY stall opposite the toilets - trying to imply something about me, eh? I had a moan at Sadie's last month regarding the large number of complaints I'd had recently about them. Three months ago they were a popular venue attracting no adverse criticism. Now they're attracting even fewer votes than DELS!!. Get your shit together guys-we're getting deservedly pissed off with the crap service, and tatty decor. At least the place has been painted but the fridges are still fucked after many weeks. I can't believe how far and fast this place has gone down the pan!. Get the place sorted out, or just kiss it all goodbye - the scene awaits your response. (I think we can safely add Sadies to the list of places I'm currently barred from!!) Now the Pub and Club Awards as voted on by you lot. Had a few comments from some of you about the forthcoming Boyz awards, and whether the voting forms will be removed in certain venues. I wonder why. Also had a few of you asking why the editor of Boyz never mentions his long-distance lover by name, only saying that he lives hundreds of miles from London and is a well built guy - Now who could that be? Best Pub was The Waterloo, worst was Sadie's - no votes at all. Best Club Night was Trade, and Best Nightclub was Benetts. Jo, Alison, Betty and the rest of the crew down at the Waterloo won Best Service, with Sadie's coming last at no votes at all. Keep those votes coming - they're the kick up the arse that certain venues need! While I'm on the subject, I'd better point out that although the Court Bar is a small venue, it consistently attracts a very respectable number of votes for Best Pub and Best Service. I can also recommend the music - who says the 70s was the decade with no taste? All good stuff - keep it up! Austin's has got another set of doors installed to cut down the noise, so hopefully they will soon be able to re-start the entertainment which you are all missing so badly. Had LOADS of you saying how much you miss the good old days up in Hope Street with Betty B, Jason, Chris and Robert and May Miller doing their stuff.. Glasgow is crying out for a good LGB cabaret bar, so here's hoping Austin's can re-invent itself down in Miller Street. I hear that the Townhouse Health Club in Edinburgh has been eagerly awaiting my first visit. Haven't forgotten guys, will be through shortly to see what all the Glasgow scene are so excited about. Robin in Clone Zone tells me that the return to Virginia Street is going to be even more delayed, and now looks like being September next year. For those of you who've not been in to the GGLC unit recently, it's been extended to provide a bigger selection of toys and stuff. The GGLC Cafe will be open on 1st Jan from 8pm, and entry is free if you're feeling a bit poor after paying the rip-off prices from the previous night in certain other places! Walter (Auntie Wilma) is D.J. All the GGLC Karaoke MCs will also be in the Cafe/Bar on 30th Dec - Francine, Ricky and Betty B together - should be a laugh with the 3 of them screaming their tits off and fighting over the microphone!! If you've got any mental health problems, get in touch with PINK PSYCHE on 0141-400 7203 - I hardly need add that this is a confidential service. Found a great website for lovers of long-haired guys http://www.homestead.com/longhairedmen/index.html - obviously I'm in my element, although I don't suppose you crop-headed boring shits will like it! May Harold should soon be joining the Tuesday Club down at The GGLC along with Sarah Douglas. And for those of you who like a bit of Country and Western, Sarah's mum also does an occasional stint which goes down well with all the "Yee - Haa" fans. Finally, what do you think our chances are of more LGBT equality and the repeal of Section 28 in the New Year? Don't hold your breath for any progress from Tony Blair and the family values party. Still, I suppose they've got other priorities in a week which saw Linda Mulvihill kill herself and her 2 kids, 13 year old James Sutton becoming a father of twins, Women's Aid revealing that 1 in 4 women suffer domestic violence, a father ending up in court for assaulting his 14 year old son who refused to hand over the money from his paper round, a 5 year old girl being taken in to care after her drug addict father was arrested, the discovery of a 3 year old dealing drugs while her parents supervised, 4 pupils being shot in America by a 13 year old - "He comes from a really good family", Bolton footballer Dean Holdsworth being placed on probation for assaulting his wife, an unnamed 14 year old girl who killed her new-born child, and Duncan West inflicting 96 fatal injuries on his girlfriend with a knife, hammer and pruning shears. Family values - don't you just LOVE them? Love, Goldilocks E-mail: - webmistress@gay-glasgow.co.uk Webs(h)ite:- http://www.gay-glasgow.co.uk/ --- Dun-deagh/Dundee One of the most successful fashion shows ever to be held in Dundee was organised by Body Positive Tayside. In recognition of World Aids Day, the event at the Maryatt Hall featured fashion with some spectacular dance routines. A considerable number of gay men featured as models (what's new?). A Glasgow student on placement to BP Tayside co-ordinated the event and in her closing speech she apologised that the show was not of the same standard as seen in Milan. Yeah, we all thought Dundee was better! Full marks to all who took part. No marks to the city's gay venues which didn't and less than full marks to Brannigans for making the thirsty audience wait for a drink at the after show party. Also feeling a little thirsty is one young man previously referred to as Nathan and more recently Spike in this column. Apparently he threatened a barmaid of Charlie's with a glass and having done this to the boss at the other place. has been barred from both premises. Nathan has been seen more often in the city cruising areas and will be, until Charlie gets frisky again! Panto season continues at Liberty with the chief dame undoubtedly being Clive James' bit on the side Margarita Pracatan. Some of the less streetwise audience thought it was a drag queen. her show certainly did not drag as she launched in to 'favourites' such as Fame, La Vida Loca and Lionel Ritche's Hello. Some of the songs were only recognisable after two verses as she doesn't worry about getting the words or, indeed, the tunes correct. The night was billed as a personal audience with Margarita and the audience was invited to ask her questions through the Masturbator of Ceremonies. Ms. Pracatan finished off her show with New York New York, where she now lives. Presented with a bouquet, she held a champagne reception in the green room, signed autographs and met some of the audience. An amazing lady who appeared to enjoy her vocation and was pleased to announce she had received an award on Clive James' next show for singing badly - they clearly haven't heard Jack McKay! Failing to get the crowd on her side was TV star Rhona Cameron. The poor girl was heckled from the start by a big heffer fae Kirriemuir and a wanker who once holidayed in New Zealand. She should have coped but didn't. Was it that she was distracted by the appearance of Sue (of Mel and Sue fame) who was, we later learnt, in the club in disguise. The disguise did not fool Security Lass Sarah who was most moist! Bar XS is two years old shortly and the birthday party invite seems to have been lost in the post. No doubt the night will attract those who normally drink in the other venue as we Dundonians are always willing to attend when there is the chance of something for nothing. Congratulations on your birthday and dealing with new competition since Devas was taken over. Speaking of Devas, we hear c0mplaints that the chosen few are not having to pay for their mixers in the spirits. Apparently if your face fits you pay a different price. Does the proprietor know? Well he does now! Liberty is open till 3.30 most Saturdays now, and till 4.30 am on Christmas Eve and Hogmanay. Chris tells me they have some tickets left for Christmas Eve at UKP 10, which gives free entry on Christmas Day night as well. Hogmanay promises to be special with a guest spot by Radio Tay's Mickey Gavin at their Glitz and Glitter ball. The UKP 20 ticket price might be reasonable seeing as it also includes free entry to the club on the first Friday on January and an invite to the 5th birthday bash. It can't be five years since we stopped going to sleazy Oscars with its sleepy DJ and the sicky carpet. Charlie's offering free entry every night but don't seem to be open on Christmas Day or New Year's Day - phone to check. Here's hoping next year brings you everything you wish for, especially some less-tight denims for Chris at Liberty! Liquid Silk aka Santa Claws. --- Moireibh/Moray Merry Christmas folks! Not a very original beginning but topical none the less. I have just come off the phone from several people who really should be 'in the know' but unfortunately it still looks like this column is going to be pretty skinny. I'll just have to pad it out with talk of how I almost literally bumped my car into (the gorgeous) Ali McCoist whilst driving through Glasgow today. It wasn't my fault, however, as cute as he may be he really shouldn't have been on his mobile while driving his bright yellow VW. He was very charming when he realised that he had almost cut me up and gave me a friendly wave. I'd have got him to autograph me if I had had time to run along the road during rush hour. Not learning a lesson from his narrow scrape, however, (clearly not his first as he had a big crack in his windscreen) he still buggered off through a red light! OK enough padding, back to the job in hand. (Oh, please). Well the Moray Christmas do was held last night (the 8th) in the Park House Hotel in Elgin. A modest turn out enjoyed plentiful food, plentiful drink and several versions of a steak sauce (Chef's special?). The annual frolics of a raffle and sweepstake were thrown in for good measure. The music was supplied courtesy of Paul and DJ David, who was thought to be mixing the music in his own unique way until it was discovered that the CD deck was actually faulty! Still much dancing was had including a very successful version of 'musical statues' which was won by Carol-Anne, much to the annoyance of Charlie who always seems to win something at these events. A special mention also goes to Fran from Giles Cafe Bar who also showed her particular skills on the dance floor. Talking of Carol-Anne, I am tipped off from a reliable (!) source that this young lady was up for a threesome...with our Donald and Charlie! Now that challenge would have kept her perplexed 'for the next thousand years. Onto other news, as I mentioned in last months column 'Health Promotions' had a stand set up for World Aids Day in their offices in Elgin in which the public can get more information on the subject and speak to people who can educate and advise. All very helpful especially in this 'little town'. That old trollop Sister Bobby and her posse-Novice Brother Bimbo del Doppio Senso, Sister Athletica de la Bain and Sister Ovina Fornicata (who, incidentally, should be re-named Jesus after rising once again from the dead) graced the Aberdeen event 'When Tribes Walked' a couple of weekends ago. I'm not actually sure if John Hein should be thanked or locked up for transporting that lot up from Edinburgh to terrorise the Granite City, but they did raise a donation for Milestone House, an HIV and Aids hospice in Edinburgh, so forgiveness must be granted. Definite thanks are given to Alan Morrison whose brainchild the 'Tribes' event was and it is just a pity that more of the Community weren't there to enjoy it. Well that's almost it for this month, but don't forget that Moray LGB Switchboard is there on Thursdays and Fridays and quick thanks go to Bobby for getting ScotsGay magazine distributed around here and giving me another job of delivering the Inverness batch up to Reachout Highland! As if I don't have enough to do... like going wild at Steps in Glasgow for example. I make no apologies for loving this group, especially Lee (the dark haired one) and we gave them a run for their money with the dancing! Certainly not a 'Tragedy' and definitely not 'Better Best Forgotten'! Right that's definitely it now, I'm off to dream about getting banged by Ali McCoist... take care, season's greetings, have a fab 'n' memorable Hogmanay and make the most of every minute! Dr Kenniff ----------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTERS ======= PO Box 91, INVERNESS IV2 7GJ. E-mail: High_Les@bigfoot.com Dear ScotsGay, TIFFETTE As reported earlier this year, Highland Lesbian Group and Reach Out Highland were attempting to work together in a closer relationship. In mid September this relationship was permanently curtailed by the lesbian group for a number of reasons - one being an informal and inappropriate approach to the group during a group meeting at Reach Out Highland's premises by a man attempting to join the lesbian group, and the subsequent failure of Reach Out Highland to understand the lesbian group's position on this. Reach Out Highland also failed to open up the premises for lesbian meetings on numerous occasions, and despite apologies and assurances from them this continued to happen. Today (Dec 1) we received an envelope from Reach Out Highland containing no note of apology or explanation, but two letters from isolated women in the Highlands who had tried to contact the lesbian group through a Reach Out Highland address - the letters were both postmarked June and one of them had also been opened in error by someone. A five month delay in forwarding of letters like this is totally unacceptable. We would like to make it clear that we have always had our own address and that this is the address which should be used by women wishing to contact the group - PO Box 91, INVERNESS IV2 7GJ. The Reach Out Highland address or addresses used by other groups there, are not secure for women wishing to contact our group. Highland Lesbian Group --- Name and address supplied Dear ScotsGay, DUNDEE Investigation is undergoing regarding an incident within "Liberty", but this has not involved "made up" "complaints against the venue and its owner" in any way shape or form, neither is it based on my being "refused a job". I cannot comment on the incident at this time, however I can comment that I have not "sent" anything "off to Tayside Polis" with regard to the "venue" or "its owner" now or in the past - Please either retract this statement or apologise, as Liquid Silk has been given false information from a misinformed source. Yours, "woman who was refused a job at Liberty" --- AN OPEN LETTER TO THE PINK PAPER FROM ZIMBABWE The article "Gays attacked in Zimbabwe after Outrage! stunt" (Pink Paper, 12 November) dangerously misrepresents the situation in Zimbabwe. There was a single incident involving attacks on two gay men, not "a number of gay men". It was isolated and not part of "a series of attacks", as the Pink Paper claims. The statement that "there were other reports of attacks on gay men by the police across Zimbabwe" is a total fabrication. Furthermore, nobody was "sexually assaulted". The "damage" to the lesbian and gay community in this country stems directly from President Mugabe's anti-gay rhetoric. The blame for anti-gay violence must rest squarely on the shoulders of Mugabe, not on the independent actions of foreign groups such as Outrage! Human rights defenders tire of being blamed for violence which they have not committed. The Outrage! citizen's arrest has succesully highlighted the human rights abuses of the Mugabe regime. The President's cage was seriously rattled and he is still smarting with indignation. His subsequent rantings that it was a plot orchestrated by "Gay Gangster" Blair and MI5 have been met with scorn and ridicule. The Outrage! protest has led to a number of positive outcomes. Zimbabwe Television (ZTV) is inviting representatives from GALZ to appear as panelists on a discussion programme. This is a first, and a major opportunity for us to be heard. The invitation comes in direct response to the Outrage! citizen's arrest of Mugabe. All the newspapers here, even the state-controlled media, are now falling over themselves to print our stories. We are being heard for the first time. In total, since Sunday 31st October, GALZ has collected over 100 newspaper articles on the subject of lesbian and gay issues and the Outrage! protest in London. Outrage! has strengthened out credibility within the general human rights movement in Zimbabwe by mentioning the torture of journalists and the genocide in Matabeleland. Publicity is our best weapon. The recent limelight comes directly in the wake of the Outrage! citizen's arrest of the President and, for that, we thank Peter Tatchell and his Outrage! crew. Yours sincerely Keith Goddard Programmes manager, GALZ. The Pink Paper has refused to print this letter in full. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ SCOTSGAY VOICE FOR 1-2-1 To reply to ScotsGay Voice Ads, phone 09068 556613 (calls charged at 60p per minute) and use the number at the end of the ad. You can leave your own ad FREE on FREEphone 0800 138 4121. Edinburgh Spaniard 40 year old Spanish Bisexual from Edinburgh is seeking 18-22 year old for holidays, flat-sharing, sports etc.. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2747. TV in Glasgow? Robert. 40 years old, 6' tall, well-built guy from Glasgow. Seeking attractive TV for sexy fun. All calls answered. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2748. Football & CP Football and corporal punishment anyone? Clean, healthy and hygienic Glasgow guy has a fantastic collection of football socks. Also enjoys being punished. Experienced or not - give him a ring! Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2751. A Rìle In The Tay? Attractive, tall, sexy, athletic 35 year old male is seeking convincing TVs or smooth-skinned guys for role-play fun and games and lot more. Lives Fife. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2669. Thirty-something Seeks Younger Late 30s guy is seeking younger guys - slim, boyish and smooth - for discreet fun. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2672. Tania - Where Are You? 34 year old professional guy from Falkirk area. Wants Tania from Edinburgh, or any other TVs who can accommodate, to contact him ASAP. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2678. Traditional In Edinburgh Richard. 47 year old guy from central Edinburgh. Looking for others between 25 and 55 years who enjoy either giving or receiving traditional spanking and CP fun. All limits respected. Discretion guaranteed. Can accommodate or travel within reason. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2691. Cop This... Ian. 27yrs Edinburgh Store Detective. Seeking friends of a similar age. He's 6' tall, clean-shaven with short dark hair and is an ex-policeman. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2697. Friendly Or VERY Friendly... John. 42 year old bisexual TV. Looking for singles and couple with whom to have some fun. Can be friendly or VERY friendly! Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2705. Lonely In Peterhead 48 year old from Peterhead seeking someone for company and hopefully a relationship. It sounds from his message like he keeps (feathered) birds! Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2724. Genuine In Glasgow 31 year old straight-acting, good-natured and attractive. Seeking honest and sincere guy for a genuine relationship. Glasgow area. Genuine calls only, please. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2741. Man Seeks Boys (18+) Naughty boys (18-35yrs) - who like being told what to do - required. This 39 year old man enjoys role-play etc. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2743. Glasgow Boots Steve into Army gear, Doc Martins etc. Seeking similar for 1-2-1, Glasgow area. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2571. Undies Davy. 6' tall bisexual, forty-something into both male and female underwear. Seeking Gay/Bi/TS's for no strings fun times. All calls answered. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2586. Any Age Craig. 43 years old. Edinburgh/East Lothian guy into spanking, sports shorts and underwear. Seeking either older or younger... Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2593. Glasgow X-Dresser Erica. Tall, dark-haired submissive cross-dresser from Glasgow. Seeking mature, slim, dominant individuals for some fun and friendship. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2606. Full Of Eastern Promise? Glasgow guy - tall, slim, dark-haired, early 30's. Seeking Oriental guy. Likes Clubbing, cinema and travel. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2613. Strings Optional... David. 47 years old, 5'10" with short hair. Available for bondage, spanking and discipline - prefers to take a dominant role. No strings attached - unless that's what you like... Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2623. Fit, Friendly, Forties Foodie Fit, friendly attractive, early forties. Likes food, drink, music and sport. Seeking 25-45 year old for friendship and maybe more. Lives Lanarkshire. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2628. Over His Knee Ken from Edinburgh area - can accommodate and travel. Is a young at heart 53 year old fatherly figure. Seeking a younger guy for over-the-knee fun. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2638. Come Again? Repetitive submissive TV from Glasgow requires a firm hand. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2642. Skinny-arsed Toyboy? Tall skinny-arsed tattooed guy needs an uninhibited older guy for toys and CP in the Moray area. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2645. Cuddles in Aberdeen Aberdeen male, 37 years old, big build, cuddly and good-looking has lots of love to give. Likes cinema, theatre, music and nights in and out. Seeking 25-40 year old with GSOH & personality. Phone 09068 556613 -Number 2391. Loving, Caring Disciplinarian 50 year old, young at heart guy is looking for a younger person to love and care for in a disciplined way of life. Enjoys ten-pin bowling, chess, home life, eating out and in and motoring. If you're genuine -please leave a message. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2411. Verbose "I need a good, long, hard, hard spanking. Call me". Phone 09068556613 - Number 2418. Sporty Spanker/ee Required Good-looking 30 year old. Seeking good-looking, sporty guys who are into giving/receiving spanking. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2423. Tennis With Altitude? Peter, 22 year old, 6'3", likes hill-walking, tennis and eating out. Seeking similar and straight-acting from NE Scotland. Phone 09068556613 - Number 2503. U + I 4 S&M + CP In Gw 44 year old Glasgow dominant guy - likes most S&M and CP scenarios. Seeking submissive guys, 21+, who would like to be dealt with by a strict but understanding Master. He will instill obedience and a wish to serve. Dress optional. Is non-scene, totally discreet and expects the same in return. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2517. 23 Year Old In Central Scotland 23 year old, tall, slim with dark hair. Lives in Edinburgh but works in Perth. Likes dance music, pubbing and clubbing. Seeking someone of a similar age and interests in Central Scotland area. Phone 09068 556613- Number 2534. Eclectic Bill? Bill from Glasgow. Slim and submissive - seeking a dominant partner. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2556. THWACK.............. Then Hugs & Kisses... Angus, 36 year old floppy-haired music student from Glasgow - looks 25.Seeking cute young guy 18-25 years old to look after and discipline when necessary. Lots of hugs and kisses when well-behaved. Phone 09068 556613- Number 2279. He's Been A VERY Naughty Boy! Jimmy, 26 year old, 5'8", short brown hair and blue eyes. Is a VERY naughty boy. Seeking an older man, preferably in his 40's or 50+ who likes to administer spanking and other forms of CP. Phone 09068 556613 -Number 2326. Genuine In Glasgow Newly moved to Glasgow. 5'8" tall, 10st 3lbs, brown hair and eyes. Likes loyal and trustworthy men 25-45 years old, stocky or chunky build who are carrying no baggage or hidden agendas. Likes movies, eating in and out. Hopefully this will lead to a 1-2-1 relationship. Phone 09068556613 - Number 2329. All Present For Correction Edinburgh. "All present for correction". You: 50+ well-built with a very strict outlook. Me: 33 years old, bad boy in need of spanking and caning. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2337. "To Love, Honour And Discipline..." Early 50's guy from near Edinburgh is seeking a young person to love and care for who needs a firm hand for mild discipline etc. Phone 09068556613 - Number 2361. "Climb Every Hill" Neil. Young-looking 50 year old from Edinburgh (who works in Glasgow).Seeking friends in the Glasgow-Edinburgh corridor. Likes hill-walking and the outdoors, theatre, sport and videos. Seeking a guy for friendship and fun. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2378. Inverness - Back In Circulation... Kenneth. A well-preserved, handsome, 6' tall, well-read and intelligent guy from near Inverness is interested in meeting men again.... Phone09068 556613 - Number 2247. Inexperienced From Motherwell Pat, 28 years old inexperienced Motherwell gay guy seeking others for friendship and who will take him out for his first visit to a gay bar. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1738. Funny From Motherwell Chas from Motherwell, 27, 5'8" dyed blond hair and blue eyes. Seeking mates to go out with. Has a GSOH and likes a laugh. Phone 09068 556613 -Number 2109. Older And Larger? John. 30 year old bi-guy, slim with red hair. Looking for older, larger guy to leave him a message. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 2031. Nephews Required Uncle Andy. 48 year old, 5'7", looking for Daddy's boys 18-35 years old for no-strings fun and optional discipline. Can travel and accommodate. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1918. Falkirk Beginner Mike, 34 years old, passive, inexperienced professional from Falkirk. Looking for Richard from Edinburgh or anyone else aged 38+ for discrete spanking, role-playing encounters. TVs welcome. Phone 09068 556613 -Number 1905. Falkirk Bi Seeks Similar 45 year old married bisexual professional male from Falkirk area. Seeking another, in a similar situation, for friendship and problem-sharing. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1862. Very Naughty - But Nice.... Edinburgh 32 year old, 5'11" seeking 50+ assertive disciplinarian to take the lead when he's been naughty - which happens quite a lot! Phone09068 556613 - Number 1811. Bad Boy Needs Discipline 32 year old Edinburgh bad boy wants 50+ gentlemen who are strict disciplinarians with interest in CP. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1602. Leather Teacher Sought Trevor, 29 year old bi-curious. Looking for leather controller to teach him how to use "various items" that he has purchased. Phone 09068 556613- Number 1552. Attractive, Convincing TV Wanted Ricky, 42 years old, 6' tall and slim - looking for an attractive, convincing TV. Call 09068 556613 - Number 1518. New From Motherwell Lonely, recently come-out guy from Motherwell. Seeking guys for friendship. Is 5'8" with dyed blonde hair, blue eyes, medium build and GSOH. Likes nights out. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1459. Naive Bombshell? 27 year old, dyed blond hair, slim. Wants 25-45 year old to show him what to do. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1299. Aberdeen Fun-lover Aberdeen Bi 34 year old, fit and attractive, looking for fun-loving, fit25-55 year old with GSOH. Interests include crossdressing in private. Discretion expected and assured. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1062. Younger Seeks Older Inexperienced 28 year old working-class Lanarkshire guy, 5'8", looking for older experienced guys for friendship. Likes TV, Cinema, Swimming and Reading. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 1041. Fraserburgh Versatile and fair-haired, Classical Music, Books and Video-lover looking for similar. Phone 09068 556613 - Number 9628. Dundee Early retired guy, mid 50's, 5'8", 11st, slim build, clean shaven, passive, SA, SL. WLTM active guy of any age for fun, friendship and possible relationship. Phone: 09068 556613 - Number 8982. Theo 33, 5'8", chubby, well endowed, short brown hair, looking for an older man who likes good fun. Can travel and accommodate. Phone: 09068 556613-Number 8755. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- 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 your 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, 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 ***Women Just Landed! 22 year old femme lesbian just back in the UK seeks new pals in Edinburgh/Glasgow areas for fun and good times. Possible relationship with that special someone. Box SG31006. ***Men Very Sexy Masculine Male Hi, I'm looking to share a free weekend with another sexy male. You must be good looking and below 40 with a well endowed disposition. I'm 6ft with angular features, attractive, slim and reasonably muscular. You must love to club - contact me let's have fun. Tayside or close by. Box SG31007. Masculine Gay Guy I'm a 32 year old, 5'10" - straight acting/looking masculine guy from Glasgow. Good body, work out regularly - you won't be disappointed. Seeking similar - for good times ages between 30-50. Can accommodate/travel. Box SG31008. Christmas Fairy Wanted 40 year old Edinburgh guy would like a young Christmas Fairy to put on top of his pole over the festive season. Box SG31009. 20 Year Old Guy Young guy seeking similar in Edinburgh, for friendship, and hopefully more. Any younger guys welcome. Box SG31010. Electronics Guy Needs That Vital Spark!! Hi, 25 year old recently out first-time college student wishes to meet similar guy under 25 from Dunfermline/Fife/Central area for friendship and fun. Well built, tall, dark hair, lovely blue eyes and smile (apparently!!), charismatic, romantic, and intelligent. Looking for someone with dark hair and brown eyes (but not essential), a casual neat appearance would be great as would a good personality. Hope to hear from a guy who can share with me the good things about being gay, please write or E-mail me on allister555@fcmail. com and I shall reply promptly to you. I've no interest in S&M type fun, nor drama queens or time-wasters. Box SG31011. Daddy Seeks son or nephew. I am a 50 year old Glasgow dad and would like to meet genuine slim, non-smoking son, 16-28, who understands the benefits of an older guy. Pic Please. Box SG31012. You A Young Under 25 Top? Interested in meeting a genuine older bottom who knows what he wants and has no qualms about it? Box SG31013. Edinburgh Smooth oriental, slim, affectionate, sensible, seeks friends and companions for long winter nights and into the millennium. Bearded, hairy men a plus but not essential! Photo helps. ALAWP. Prefer men 35+. Box SG31014. Edinburgh Man Seeks Younger Gentle 40 year old seeks cuddly young friend for mutual fun. Non scene. Non smoker. Box SG31015. Want Fun? Gay Edinburgh guy (39) 5'6" tall, 9st 7lbs, cropped hair, needs company (and a bit more) from a younger, slim, good-looking guy. I want to experiment so any offers? Box SG31016. West Coast Teacher Is looking for naughty boys under 30 who are in need of corrective OTK treatment. Looks unimportant but waist size under 30in a bonus. Box SG31018. Under 21? Smooth chested and slightly overweight? Then this 45 year old hairy guy would really like to hear from you! Box SG31019. Glasgow Area Bear Type Wants to meet slim bear chaser, you should be smooth under 29, with no hang-ups and know what you want. Box SG31020. Wanted: Glasgow Muscular Toyboy I'm fit, fifty and five-eight. You are younger, smooth, muscular and around my height. Come pose for me, wrestle with me and have fun. ALA, but phone numbers ignored! Box SG31021. Dundee - Tayside - Fife Are you 18-25ish, maybe shy or inexperienced, feel more comfortable with someone more mature? Sincere, discreet 'uncle' type, 40's, medium build/looks, WLTM you and share uncomplicated fun times. Box SG31022. Edinburgh - Fife 40 year old guy, 5'7", slim with brown hair, enjoys most music, films, eating and drinking, also has underwear interest, sincere, SA and NSc. ALA. Promise. Box SG31023. Student Requires Teacher Hi there! I'm 28, 6'4" and good looking, I think. I'm seeking a first time relationship, you aged 45 and above to show me the ropes also, if interested, introduce me to BDSM, however this is not essential. You would ideally be non scene and straight acting. Box SG31024. Glasgow Romeo Young lad, 24, blond, 6ft, toned body, very fit, SA, SL, GSOH. Loves clubbing, pubs, dancing and great times. Seeks guys 18-26 for sexy fun and friendship. You can't lose! ALA. Box SG31025. Cute In Galashiels Hello! I'm 17, and live in the dreadful Galashiels! I go to Earlston High School, and I am looking for other gay friends in Scotland. If you want to get in contact, E-mail me on: alasdair@mad.scientist.com. I'm doing CSYS: General Maths, Pure Maths, Mechanics and Physics, I have light brown hair, am 5'7", thin and have pics! Box SG31026. Military Enthusiast 32 year old SA Glasgow guy with military interests seeks serving or ex-forces personnel of any age for fun and friendship. Can travel and accommodate. ALA and your photo gets mine. Box SG31027. Biker Tall, slim, GL, SA, long-haired, assertive, leather clad, biking, Heavy Metal lover looking for totally 1-2-1 with sorted, sane, sensible, submissive, young good looking guy preferably 18-25 with long hair, and non smoker, but not essential! If you're looking for a sincere decent boyfriend and prepared to do whatever it takes to keep him - get in touch! Genuine replies only - no idiots, drunks, smack-heads or tossers just looking for a bit on the side - meet enough of them every day! Send pic for immediate reply! Box SG31028. Tayside 40 Year Old Looking For Fun Andy, Tayside, 40, fit, medium/well built, SA/SL, friendly and sociable, looking for genuine guys 25 to 45 for fun, friendship and more. Can travel and accommodate. Box SG31029. Leither Hi guys! I'm looking for a slim guy under 30 who can help me enjoy life. I'm a mature student (37) and enjoy having a good time given the chance. 5'10" tall, light brown hair, blue/green eyes, clean shaven, SL/SA. Box SG31030. All Tied Up Any guys interested in tying each other up for spanking and /or tickling sessions! No heavy sex, just guys who like to be tied up, ready to receive a heavy hand or belt. I am a 40's guy, average height and build. Edinburgh /Glasgow areas. Box SG31031. Genuine Guy Wanted Hi, are you like me and fed up with timewasters? If you are then read on...I'm a young 39 year old from Lanarkshire, 5'11", dark hair/eyes and looking for good fun possibly leading to 1-2-1. WLTM guys 29-36 approx. Genuine guys only need apply. Box SG31032. All I Want For Xmas Is... Cute (bespectacled?) genuine fun BND who's interested in sharing arts events, panto's, celtic music, fitness, veggie meals, surprises! with loving, youthful, 40 year old who's humourous, fit, hairy, slim, semi-scene. ALAWP. Chat (massage) over wine? Box SG31033. New Love For A New Beginning Who is looking for serious friendship for the new millennium? I am a caring, chubby, 46 year old. Please write. Anyone is welcome. I come from Falkirk. Box SG31034. Wanted: One Very Handsome Curious Lover Age up to 40 - for very private affair - no kinks, no games. A bit mad, intelligent, daft, Scotland North. Oh yes: The Arts and things. Box SG31035. Are You Male? Got Legs And Bits? You could be a soldier, a sailor or a navvy, sparky, unemployed, rich or poor, plumber, odd job man, farmer, MALE, late 20's - early 40's in the Highlands?? You'll do! Box SG31036. Wanted: Indians - Asians Contacts, information - Asian guys in Scotland. Box SG31037. Paisley Area Offbeat, intelligent, 44 year old, 5'11", slim, into sci-fi, music, gay vids, walking the dog, WLTM sympathetic (Skinny?) younger guy in need of a cuddle. Can accommodate. Box SG31038. Deserted At Xmas? Edinburgh: small, hairy, Santa Claus type bear offers to share his large double bed at Xmas with lonely young guy. ALAWP. Phone or E-mail helps. Box SG31039. Edinburgh - Fife - Glasgow Are you an intelligent gay guy with few hang-ups but a zest for living and fun who would like to be my friend - maybe more? I'm 37, professional, slim, romantic, tactile, sensitive and GSOH. ALA. Box SG31040. Big Bellied Adventure Slim, tall, cropped, 37, safe, sane and ticklish, seeks well proportioned big, bulky, confident, happy man for ample bellied fun. Cropped men in possession of swagger and poise welcome. Box SG31041. Three's Company: Glasgow - Anywhere Two genuine, friendly guys (both 36), not bad looks, seek similar guy(s) under 40 for no strings fun and hopefully friendship. Discretion assured. CT/A. Box SG31042. Fife - Edinburgh - Lothian Genuine 30 year old, looks younger, fit GSOH, seeks similar guys for fun and friendship, maybe more. Photo ensures reply. Can accommodate or travel. Box SG31043. Edinburgh NSc, 26, 6', VGL, SA/SL, dark, horny, fun, needs lover 20-40, solid, sorted, sexy, active, WE, hairy a plus, for heat and passion, nothing short of wicked. ALA. Box SG31044. Sincere Genuine Friends 31, slim, sincere guy seeks man who is looking for genuine friendship leading to possible 1-2-1 in Glasgow, Edinburgh and surrounding area up to age 50. ALA. Box SG31045. Glasgow - West Coast Slim, 27, VGL professional male, seeks slim young guy for socialising, conversation, company and shagging up to and on 2000, maybe beyond? Your photo gets mine. Box SG31046. Glasgow Handsome, 33, SA/L, dark hair, 5'10"/11", fit, NSm, seeks similar, manly guy about 25-40 who may enjoy hill walking or other sports and preferably NSc. Glasgow, Edinburgh, Scotland. Photo? Thanks. Box SG31047. Edinburgh Mature male, 50's, slim, fit, will physically pamper smooth 18-30 bi or gay, any nationality, who would like to relax. Regret cannot accommodate or travel far. ALA. NSc. Box SG31048. Your Wish Is My Command 38 year old Fife guy - up for anything - seeks slim/skinny guys/couples for no strings fun. Your place or mine. I'm S/L, S/A, non scene and very versatile. ALA. Box SG31049. Seeking Strict 50+ Slim, hairless, naughty schoolboy, 29, seeks daddy/headmaster 50+. I am polite, reliable, enjoy short trousers, spanking, nappies. Discretion assured. Occasional meetings, no strings. East Scotland or anywhere. Box SG31050. Edinburgh - Glasgow Straight acting male, 31, tall, fit, strong and well built, WLTM similarly straight acting well built men, preferably very hairy and stocky, chubbies welcome. No slim pretty boys, please! Photo ensures reply. Box SG31052. True Romance Peaceful soul, 34, nice looks, likes ice cream, stormy weather, hugs and happy people, seeks honest masculine guy for togetherness and fun. Genuine and easy going. Fife, Edinburgh, 26-40. Box SG31053. Any Hirsute Guys Out There? Edinburgh guy, 39, average height, build, weight and looks with brown eyes, hair and goatee WLTM SA, SL, NSm very hairy slim-muscular masculine male 25-45 for fun times - maybe more. Box SG31054. Central Or Remote Uncle/nephew 48/18, both open minded and versatile, seek third young guy, under 33, for friendship, oriental, Asian or white, should be passive or versatile, Shyness a bonus. ALA. Box SG31055. Mutual DIY - Oral - Discreet? Glasgow male, 39, attractive, straight acting, non scene, well endowed, slim/medium build, 5'7", WLTM N/S, S/A, guy 28-42 for mutual DIY/oral fun/friendship. Can be discreet. Can't accommodate. Box SG31056. Edinburgh Skinhead 34, zero crop into skin gear, DM's, braces, Fred Perry, combats, rubber, etc, want to meet guys into gob, w/s and used gear for hot wet fun. Phone number for quick reply. Box SG31057. Submissive Weightlifter 38, 15 stones, some experience, seeks strict master for retraining. Photo please. Central Scotland, anywhere. Box SG31058. Young Guy Wanted I'm 42, and into lots of anorakish interests like railways, Ham radio, communications, telephone collecting, 78's. Are there any young (under 26) guys around who share similar interests and like older guys? Box SG31059. Fun and friendship? I'm 32, 5'8", 10.5 st, good body, clean-shaven, VWE, seeking slim man (18-30). Shy guys welcome! I can accommodate (Central Glasgow. E-mail: stresa@compuserve.com or write: Box SG31061. Edinburgh - Lothians Fit 49 year old man enjoys cinema, theatre, the outdoors, seeks similar males, 30-50 for friendship. Bald and/or bearded men a bonus. Regret I can't accommodate. ALA. Box SG31062. Glasgow - West Coast Slim, 27, VGL, professional male, seeks slim young guy, passive and under-endowed preferred, for noisy nights out, steamy nights in sort of thing. Genuine replies only, please. Box SG31063. Stirling 40something guy with flat near to the University offers off campus fun to young undergraduates who are looking for total discretion. Box SG31064. Glasgow Guy WE looking for similar for uncomplicated 'O' level fun. Box SG31065. Edinburgh 45 year old, WE, hairy, Asian guy seeks afternoon fun. Age/race not important. Versatile. Cannot travel or accommodate. Central Edinburgh only. Total discretion assured. Box SG31066. Edinburgh - Central Scotland Small, extremely hairy bear seeks young smooth cub for cuddles and maybe more. Your cave or mine. Box SG31067. Non Scene Young Guy Wanted Are you totally non scene? More at home with your straight friends but still needing a bit of discreet gay company when it matters most? Why not get in touch with this understanding guy (40) for a bit of fun and friendship. Write fully. Photo (and/or E-mail) helps but not essential. Non smoker preferred. Box SG31068. A Bear Isn't Just For Xmas! You may get stuck with him until Hogmanay! Seasonall bear hugs offered to cubs in the Edinburgh area. Woof! Box SG31069. ***Bisexual Edinburgh - Glasgow - Anywhere Considerate first time safe experience offered to young, smooth, bi or bi-curious guy by older, experienced, versatile and considerate man. Can accommodate or will travel. Daytime, evening or overnight. Photo appreciated but not essential. Total discretion assured. Box SG31005. Daytime Fun Offered to bi or bi-curious student types looking to experiment with older guy (in late forties) in seclusion of self contained flat. I have both gay and straight porn. Box SG31017. Bi Male Seeks Couple In Glasgow Bi male, 40's, 6', seeks m/f couple, bi or bi-curious male, to explore possibilities and fantasies. I am clean, discreet, caring but can be dom. Sorry, can't accommodate. ALA. Any age. Box SG31051. ***Straight Stirling - Edinburgh Straight guy, 30, hard working and happy with life. WLTM straight or bi female, must have a sense of humour! ALAWP. Box SG31002. ***Friends Abroad Miami Beach - USA Mature, educated Latin man, 51, tall, European, ISO special friend. No drugs, no piercings, no tattoos. Like to travel, history, geography. You must be 35+. Photo appreciated. Write: Juan, 1455 West Avenue, #901, Miami Beach, Florida 33138, USA. Ukraine Hi, me call Secriy. I live on Ukraine in City Kharkov. To me is casual in hands your magazine it simply remarkable has got. After I have read it one time was not separated at all from it. As you already have understood I gay. At us very difficulty to find. To itself of the friend. Therefore as at us it is a shame. Me even beat for that I gay. And I have decided to try happiness and to write the announcement in your magazine. There can be someone I will respond also I shall find to myself the friend. And if you can that please print mine announcement. To me 18 years. I student. I love sports, to listen to good music, nature, your magazine and all world. PS I want much to not be happy and to be divided by it with the friend each minute. Box SG31001. USA I visited the UK in last week of October and first week of November '99. I was in London, and was supposed to visit Ireland, (Northern & Republic) (hope that does not offend anyone) and visited Scotland, Newcastle, York, and Manchester. I met some nice local guys and had a great time. If you would be interested in meeting this Texan "Yank" from West Hollywood California, please get in touch so we can set up a meeting time and place if you might be coming to America. I'll show you the places to go and things to do in my area, clubs, restaurants, and other venues (gay and non-gay) you would want to see and do. Thank you very much for your time and effort, I look forward to meeting you personally. Jess Kalinowsky, West Hollywood, CA 90069, USA. WWW:http://home.earthlink.net/~friendstravl/E-mail: friendstravl@earthlink.net USA I am looking for a young (18-22) flat mate. RENT FREE! to share my 2 bedroom apartment (flat) in Philadelphia, Pa USA. Your own bedroom. No strings!! Check out my page. WWW: http://www.angelfire.com/pa3/joeyspace or E-mail: jem317@worldnet.att.net ***Looking For Bisexual 'Nerdy' Type You answered my ad. You: bearded, bi, Christian. We met Bookshop in George St. I had cold. Get in touch please - I lost your address. Me: also bearded. Box SG31060. ***Accommodation Required Inverness 20 miles radius Inverness. Mature guy, 2 dogs, needs accommodation. Long term. Anything considered. Prefer rural. Box SG31003 or phone Farr (01808) 521489. ***Jobs Offered Cash For Your Body Photogenic guys can earn UKP 75 cash - or UKP 100 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 Phone: 020-7373 1107. Models Wanted Previously published photographer needs good looking guys (18-25) who want to earn UKP 20 per hour for publication work. For details please phone Stuart on 0141-636 6556 (No withheld numbers please) or E-mail budgie@shaws.u-net.com ***Services CAFFMOS Contacts and friendships for men over sixty. The organisation for the more mature gentleman and his admirers. Write to: CAFFMOS, PO Box 2273, Hove. BN3 2GF. Or phone Hove (01273) 220995 for information. Contact Mag Contact Mag for adults: over 900 photos. Approval copy from: Matchmaker (K38), Chorley, PR7 4BS. Or ring 01257 483335 (24 hours). Free TV/TS News A Tranny not for profit newsletter. Views, news, venues and free personal adverts. A5 sae: BM Box 2534, London. WC1N 3XX. 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. Interior Design Interior design can be affordable. Beautiful curtains, stunning rooms created to order. Huge selection of fabrics available, rooms created to your specifications. Business enquiries welcome. Phone: Douglas on FREEPHONE 0800 980 2275. International Pen Friends Would you like to correspond with gay men all over the world? It is possible through INTERGAY, an international gay pen club. For info, write to: INTERGAY, Voorstraat 12-A, 4033 AD, Lienden, The Netherlands. Internet Porn Fed up clicking through endless sites looking for all the best porn, only to find yet another dead link or rip-off site?. Don't waste any more time and money - get my list of all the best FREE hardcore sites. No rubbish! No scams! No rip-offs! All sites TOTALLY free, and no credit card required. For my comprehensive listing of the web's best HARDCORE porno, send cheque/PO for UKP 9.95. Money back if not totally satisfied!! Box SG31004. Make The Most Of Your Garden This Year Personal touch landscape design and planting services - serving the entire central belt. Let me deliver a personal design solution to your garden from design to completion. All tasks considered and estimated for, first consultation offers free advice and no obligation. Phone 07970 421153. Worldwide Penfriends Regular lists. Make friends, exchange holidays, improve your languages. For general and music lovers' lists send UKP 3: "The Penpal List", c/o 221B Merton Road, South-fields, London. SW18 5EE. ***Back Rubs Back Rub Plus For the new millennium, prices reduced!! Mention this advert for discounts. Unhurried service from well built guys. Call Mike or Chick. Phone 0141-889 1764. Edinburgh Therapeutic massage/touch therapy for men and women. UKP 20 per session. John. 0131-467 7312. Please note, this is NOT a sexual service! Edinburgh - Glasgow - New Lad Good-looking, WE, fit and horny lad. Friendly, discreet and uninhibited versatile fun/games, escort, professional massage services. Enjoy yourself with Jason 07974 525758. Out calls. Evening and weekends. Massage For Men Great relaxing sensual pampering by qualified genuinely caring masseur. 1 hour full body session UKP 15 - includes soothing candles, music, warm towels, shower, refreshments. Exceptionally good value. Jim. Phone 0131-556 7199. Public School Rugby Type Escort Well educated, discreet, bi-guy, 5'10", dark, muscular, offers a personal escort service, alone or with partner to genuine callers. Southern Scotland and Borders. Aromatherapy massage and games upon request. Phone: Chris on 0700 682970. ***Where to Stay Don't Pay Inflated Taxi Fares This Hogmanay, if you are in Glasgow City Centre for the celebrations, why not make the most of it and stay in town? Double room available: 31st, 1st, 2nd. City Centre location. UKP 15pppn inc Continental Breakfast. Call Steve on 0141-564 3741 or E-mail: bananabendingco@planetout.com Gay Friendly Guest House - Edinburgh Run by gays with a mixed clientele. We are situated 1 1/2 miles from Princes Street and most tourist attractions. We have a full Scottish and continental breakfast menu. All rooms have a refreshment tray and cable TV. We have en- suite and basic rooms available to suit both budgets. A warm welcome awaits you at the Alexander. For more information, phone Glenn or Alex on 0131-624 4028. Fax: 0131-477 1246. Or E-mail alexander@guest68.freeserve.co.uk North East Scotland Farmhouse Retreat-Bed & Breakfast Gay, non-scene, rustic, remote, private, warm relaxed atmosphere. Enjoy that extra special break you really need. Treat yourself. Discretion assured service. Details and other information: phone 01261 851154. Sutherland On A9 to Wick, B&B. Roadside. 60 miles from Inverness. Double or single. Phone: Helmsdale (01431) 821570. Tayside B&B Gay friendly B&B, riverside setting, Strathtay, 30 miles North of Perth. Double or single. STB Four Stars. Own trout fishing available. Phone Richard on 01887 820944. The Maltings Bed & Breakfast Small guest flat double room. Friendly Service. Homely atmosphere. Midway between Edinburgh, Dundee and Aberdeen. Phone: Peter on 01674 674148 or mobile 0831 438999. USA One Bedroom Condo, Los Angeles, California available for vacation rental. Located in West Hollywood, Walking distance to clubs, restaurants, bars, gym. Fully furnished, all new and updated, linens, etc. $650 per week. If interested phone Michael at 00 1 714-381-5855, or write to Michael Winston, 8577 Rugby Drive #202, West Hollywood, CA 90069, or E-mail LagunaGuy9@aol.com ----------------------------------------------------------------------- VENUES ====== ABERDEEN ABERDEEN WOMEN'S CENTRE Shoe Lane, off Queen Street. Tel: (01224) 625010. Fax: 01224 625777. Tue-Thu 10am-2pm. Where the women hang out. Lesbian group meets Wed 8-10pm. THE CITY BAR 25 Netherkirkgate. Tel: (01224) 619941. 11am-Midnight. Friendly city centre venue in side street just a few yards from the main road. CLUB 2000 62 Shiprow. Tel: (01224) 596999. 9pm-2am. Friendly, small and intimate pub/club. Entry charge Fri/Sat only. Free before 11pm and ukp2 after with no re-entry fee. [__________________________________________________] AYR WEE WINDAES 9 Newmarket Street. Tel: (01292) 267360. Mon-Sat 11am-12.30am. Sun 12.30pm-Midnight. Although mainly straight during the day, the manager hopes to increase the growing number of lesbian and gay customers that frequent the bar. [__________________________________________________] DUNDEE BAR XS St Andrew's Lane (behind Liberty Nightclub). Tel: (01382) 200660. Mon-Sat 8pm-Midnight. Sun 8-11pm. Cafe/bar for lgb clientele under the same successful management as Liberty to which it has its own entrance. CHARLIE'S BAR 75 Seagate. Tel: (01382) 226840. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight. Sun 12.30-11pm. Dundee's longest established gay bar. Much improved. LIBERTY NIGHTCLUB 124 Seagate. Tel: (01382) 200660. Wed-Sun 11pm-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 ATOMIX 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-558 8174. Sat-Wed Noon-7pm. Thu-Fri Noon-8pm. Xmas Hours: 1st-23rd Dec 11am-9pm. A different world of gay shopping - gifts and toys for gay boyz and girlz. Exciting new fashion ranges and made to measure service. Catalogue update released 14/11/99. E-mail: atomix@tinyonline.co.uk BLACK BO'S 57/61 Blackfriars Street. Tel: 0131-557 6136. Fri-Sat Noon-2pm. Daily 6-10pm. Superb little vegetarian restaurant. Friendly staff. Mixed clientele. Excellent value lunch menu. BLUE MOON 1 Barony Street/36 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-556 2788 (Bar) or 0131-557 0911 (Office). Mon-Fri 11am-11.30pm, Sat-Sun 9-12.30am. Food served until 10pm. Popular lesbigay cafe/bar complex. BOBBIE'S BOOKSHOP 220 Morrison Street. Tel: 0131-538 7069. Mon-Sat 10am-5.30pm. Mixed bookshop selling a selection of UK and imported gay magazines. C32 CAFE 32c Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-557 2012. 10am-11pm. Stylish new gay friendly licensed cafe with extensive menu including vegetarian selection. 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! CATWALK CAFE 2a Picardy Place. Tel: 0131-478 7770. Mon-Sat 11am-1am. Sun Noon-1am. Busy, stylish and gay friendly. WWW: http://www.catwalk1.co.uk/ C.C. BLOOM'S 23 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-556 9331. Mon-Sat 6pm-3am, Sun 4pm-3am. Karaoke on Thu and Sun. Male strippers Sun at 4.30pm. Disco every night from 10.30pm. CITY CAFE 19 Blair Street. Tel: 0131-220 0125. 11am-1am. Not as outrageously mixed as it used to be, but still seriously conventional. CLAREMONT BAR & RESTAURANT 133/135 East Claremont Street. Tel: 0131-556 5662. FAX: 0131-558 3539. Bar: Mon-Sat 11am-1am, Sun 12.30pm-1am. Restaurant: Mon-Wed 11.30am-2.30pm and 6pm-10pm, Thu-Sat 11.30am-10pm, Sun 12.30pm-10pm. Gay owned, gay friendly and renowned for courtesy, comfort and good food. Last Sat of month: a male only night called Kruz aimed at leather, denim, rubber, skinhead, uniform and bears run in conjunction with the MSC Scotland Monthly Meeting. E-mail: robin@scifipub99.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.scifipub99.freeserve.co.uk/ CLOUDS 16 Forth Street. Tel: 0131-550 3808 FAX: 0131-550 3807. A gay-owned, Edinburgh based Letting Agency offering a comprehensive & competitive service for Landlords/Owners for long-term & short term property management. E-mail: cloudsacc@aol.com CYBERIA 88 Hanover Street. Tel: 0131-220 4403. 10am-10pm. Friendly mixed cybercafe with friendly mixed staff. Where the wired queers hang out. E-mail: edinburgh@cybersurf.co.uk WWW: http://www.cybersurf.co.uk/ DIVINE DIVA'S The Venue (Top Floor), 15 Calton Road. Tel: 0131-556 8997. Every fourth Fri - 9.30pm-3am. Future dates: Fri 24th Dec, 21st Jan. Women only one nighter with all proceeds going to Edinburgh Switchboard. On Xmas Eve, invited male guests are allowed in too! DUST Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 07901 600242 (DJ Dave). Thu 11pm-3am. A mix of Goth, Rock, Industrial, Metal and Punk DJ's. ukp2. Drinks promos. All sexualities. EDINBURGH GAY ESCORTS 19a Albany Street. Tel: 0131-558 1011. Fax: 07079 002683. Provides gay and lesbian escorts throughout Scotland. Tours of Edinburgh and surroundings. Member of the International Gay and Lesbian Travel Association. E-mail: enquiries@edinburghgayescorts.co.uk WWW: http://www.edinburghgayescorts.co.uk EDINBURGH LESBIAN GAY AND BISEXUAL CENTRE 58a and 60 Broughton Street. Houses Atomix, Nexus Cafe-Bar, OUTRIGHT Scotland, Pride Scotland and Massage for Health. Also 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 ORIGINAL licenced SEX shop where you'll be made welcome by the very bearish Vince (who's straight), Paddy (who isn't), Steve (who isn't either!) or Maya (who is not an ancient civilisation!!!). Toys galore, video rental too! Glamour shop upstairs stocks larger sizes. FILTH: A CLUB WITH NO MORALS Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 0131-467 2551. Every 4th Sat. Next dates: 1st Jan, 29th Jan. 10.30pm-3am. Alan Joy's new project FILTH is an extension of his club MINGIN'. The emphasis will still be on dark, sexy, trance music but there will be a strict dress code at the door. Sexy clubwear, leather pants or even plain underpants (optional). If people start getting a wee bit frisky and disappear into dark corners with someone they shouldn't, does it matter? No bystanders or spectators allowed. Dress up or go somewhere else! Entry ukp5. FLY BAR 2 North St Andrews Street. Tel/FAX: 0131-556 9016. Mon-Sat 11am-1am, Sun 11am-11pm. Newly established gay bar, open until 1am most evenings, popular with women. Offers up and coming new DJ talent at the decks at weekends and a variety of other weekday events. Look out for monthly Women Only events in the bar. Warm friendly atmosphere. Food served Noon-3pm daily. E-mail: flybar@ic24.net HOT STUFF 89 Rose Street Lane North. Tel: 0131-225 7651. Noon-1am. Previously Frenchies, this vibrant gay 70's disco theme bar in the heart of Rose Street is run by Shiela Blige. HOLYROOD TAVERN 9a Holyrood Road. Tel: 0131-556 5044. Noon-12.45am. Edinburgh's best kept secret. Real ale in a gay friendly atmosphere. Replaces The Cauldron. "If you must go on the scene, why not have some beer first?" Diverse Drinkers meet there on the first Monday of the month from 8pm - WWW: http://www.antipope.org/feorag/drinkers/ IGNITION @ THE MISSION Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 07901 600242. Every 4th Fri. Next date: 17th Dec. 11pm-3am. Two floors of clubs. A major ROCK NIGHT on the first floor with Billy Ritchie. OVERLOAD - Nu Metal, alternative - on the 2nd floor. Drinks promotions. JOY Wilkie House, Cowgate. JOY Info Line: 0131-467 2551. 10.30pm-3am. Every 4th Sat. Next dates: 8th Jan, 5th Feb. Joy, Scotland's most upfront gay club! ukp7 members/ukp10 non-members (reduced entry of ukp6/ukp9 before 11pm. E-mail: joy.scotland@virgin.net WWW: http://freespace.virgin.net/alanjoy.dj/joyhome.htm KERO-SCENE Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Lines: 0131-667 1167 & 0836 262597. Wed. 11pm-3am. Alternative pansexual night club: Goth, Industrial, Metal, Extreme. DJ's Leaf, Wally, Icky, Dug. ukp1 entry. E-mail: Pickle_000@hotmail.com WWW: http://connect.to./nightnews/ MASSAGE FOR HEALTH 58a/60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-669 8039, 0131-478 1090 or 07970 921209. By appointment only. Therapeutic massage from qualified practitioners Anne and John. Concessions available. MINGIN' Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 0131-467 2551. 10.30pm-3am. Every 4th Sat. Next dates: 18th Dec, 15th Jan, 12th Feb. Alan Joy's club Mingin' features Alan Joy himself on the decks plus Brian Dempster. ukp5 entry. E-mail: its.mingin@virgin.net WWW: http://freespace.virgin.net/alanjoy.dj/mingin.htm THE MISSION Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 07901 600242. 11pm-3am. Every second Sat. Next date: 11th Dec. Alternative music nightclub. Three floors of clubs, Rock, Gothic and Indie/dance, at Burn, Earth-Inferno and Mission Control. Happy Hour, Music Promos, Live Acts. (The Mission is the largest alternative club in Scotland with an average attendance of 600 plus.) Three Floors of Clubs for different people at the new MISSION alternative music nightclub. The original Rock, Gothic and Indie/dance clubs. (Burn, Earth-Inferno and Mission Control.) ukp4/5. Happy Hour. All sexualities. The Mission is the largest alternative club in Scotland with an average attendance of 600 plus. NEW TOWN BAR 26B Dublin Street. Tel: 0131-538 7775. Mon-Sat Noon-1am. Sun 12.30pm-1am. Especially popular with Bears, but has wide clientele. Intense, the downstairs Disco is open Thu-Sun 10pm-1am. NEXUS CAFE-BAR 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-478 7069. 11am-11pm. Great food and drink at reasonable prices. Quiz night every Tue. Live music 3rd Mon of month. Internet access available. E-mail: nexus1cb@aol.com No EIGHTEEN 18 Albert Place. Tel: 0131-553 3222. Mon-Sat Noon-10pm, Sun 2-10pm. Long established sauna club for gay gentlemen! OOT: OUT ON TUESDAY Stand Comedy Club, York Place. Tel: 0131-558 7373. Second Tue of each month. Next date: 11th Jan. 9-11pm. Monthly gay comedy club in established comedy venue. Hot food. E-mail: tommy@thestand.freeserve.co.uk OUT OF THE BLUE 1 Barony Street. (Downstairs at the Blue Moon Cafe). Tel: 0131-478 7048. Sun-Wed Noon-7pm, Thu-Sat Noon-8pm. Gay and lesbian store selling books, mags, videos, toys, wearing apparel, etc. PLANET OUT 6 Baxter's Place. Tel: 0131-524 0061. Mon-Fri 4pm-1am, Sat-Sun 12.30pm-1am. Food served: Fri 4pm-9pm, Sat-Sun 12.30pm-8pm. Popular and busy gay bar with friendly staff. QUEER SUNDAY @ EDEN Picardy Place. Tel: 0131-478 7435. Sun 10pm-3am. Weekly Gay Club in the centre of the Broughton Street Triangle. Two drinks for the price of one before Midnight. SHEBANG Wilkie House, Cowgate. Tel: 0131-557 4656. Next dates: Sat 18th Dec, 15th Jan. 11pm-3am. Mixed club with an all-woman DJ line up. WWW: http://www.webflyers.co.uk/shebang/ THE STAG & TURRET 1-7 Montrose Terrace. Tel: 0131-478 7231. 11am-1am. Friendly gay local just round the corner from the Solas Centre. SOLAS CAFE 2/4 Abbeymount. Tel: 0131-661 0982. Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 11am-4pm, Wed 5-9pm. Attached to Solas National HIV Information Centre. Good home cooking (everything cooked on the premises). Vegetarians and carnivores catered for. TACKNO Club Mercado, 36-39 Market Street. Tel: 0131-226 4224. Last Sun of each month 11pm-4am. DJ Trendy Wendy. Mixed and crowded club night. TASTE Wilkie House, Cowgate. Tel: 0131-557 4656. Sun 11pm-3am. Edinburgh's only weekly House dance club (recently moved from The Honeycomb) with DJs Fisher and Price, Martin Valentine and Stuart Barrie. Mixed. WWW: http://www.webflyers.co.uk/taste/ THEATRE ROYAL BAR 24 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-557 2142. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight. Basically straight, this Real Ale Bar (formerly a Gas Board Showroom) in the middle of Edinburgh's Gay Triangle attracts a fair number of queers for an off-scene pint before heading for nearby fleshpots. TOWNHOUSE SAUNA AND GYM 53 East Claremont Street. Tel: 0131-556 6116. Noon-11pm. Scotland's largest, feauturing steam room, 20 person sauna, large Jacuzzi, new Kruze Video Zone, licensed bar and cafe, free weights gym, massage by appointment. Admission ukp8 (Concessions ukp5), Annual Membership ukp2. Proudly gay owned and operated. WWW: http://www.townhouse-sauna.co.uk/ TRANS-MISSION Studio 24, 24 Calton Road. Info Line: 07901 600242. 11pm-3am. Next date: 18th Dec. Still in business despite managerial tiffette. BDSM mixed fetish night. Entry ukp6 (ukp5 Mission members or with flyer). Strict Dress Code - no fetish dress = no entry. 2 floors with private dungeons. Guest masters and mistresses. Mission DJ's. Alternative and pansexual. WEB 13 13 Bread Street. Tel: 0131-229 8883. 9am-10pm. Informal mixed cybercafe with homely and approachable staff. The largest cybercafe in Scotland with 21 terminals and 2 iMacs. New rates: 20 mins ukp1, 40 mins ukp2, 60 mins ukp3. The cheapest in Scotland, maybe even Cyberspace! E-mail: queries@web13.co.uk WWW: http://www.web13.co.uk/ THE WHARF Unit 23, Princes Mall, Waverley Bridge. Tel: 0131-558 8088. Sun-Wed 11am-11pm, Thu 10am-Midnight, Fri-Sat 10am-1am. Nice and convenient for railway station. Mixed. Friendly. Popular with women. [__________________________________________________] FALKIRK DROOKIT DUCK 16 Grahams Road. Tel: (01324) 613644. Mon-Wed 11am-3pm and 6-11.30pm. Thu 11am-3pm and 5pm-Midnight. Fri-Sat 11am-12.30am. Sun Noon-Midnight. Straight bar used by a few discrete local gays. Near to Grahamston station. [__________________________________________________] GALASHIELS GREEN'S DINER 4 Green Street. Tel: (01896) 757667. Tue 10am-5pm, Wed-Sat 10am-10pm. Relaxed Eurocafe style every opening day from 10am-5pm, Full Restaurant Service from 5pm (Booking essential 10 days in advance for weekends). Mixed. E-mail: Greensdiner@hotmail.com [__________________________________________________] GLASGOW AUSTINS 61b Miller Street. Tel: 0141-221 0444. Noon-Midnight. Food: Noon-7pm. Smart plush new bar. Upmarket. Overseen by Sandra and her friendly crew. BENNETS DISCO 80-90, Glassford Street. Tel: 0141-552 5761. Tue-Sun 11pm-3am. Beautifully appointed busy club on two floors. Frequent PAs. Tuesdays are straight. WWW: http://www.bennets.co.uk/ CCA Centre for Contemporary Arts @ McLellan Galleries, 270 Sauchiehall Street. Tel: 0141-332 0522. Lgbt-friendly arts complex temporarily located in the McLellan Galleries whilst their old building is being completely rebuilt to their requirements. CAFFE LATTE 58 Virginia Street. Tel: 0141-553 2553. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight, Sun Noon-Midnight. European style diner. Relaxed atmosphere. Wide selection of pastas, pizzas and sandwiches. CENTURION 19 Dixon Street. Tel: 0141-248 4485. Fax: 0141-400 1080. Sun-Fri 11am-11pm, Sat 11am-7am (All Nighter). Facilities now include 2 saunas, steamroom, jacuzzi, gymnasium, fully equipped cafe, large rest area, luxury private rest rooms (just recently opened), television lounge, smoking and non-smoking lounges, free hot food, Loyalty Scheme for regular clients. E-mail: centuriglw@aol.com CLONE ZONE 11 Dixon Street. Tel: 0141-248 2593. 11am-10pm. Clothes, videos, magazines, toys. In increasingly less temporary accommodation at the GGLC due to a building mishap at their Virginia Street premises to which they hope to return one day. E-mail: admin@clonezone.co.uk WWW: http://www.czone.demon.co.uk/ COURT BAR 69 Hutcheson Street. Tel: 0141-552 2463. Mon-Sat 8am-Midnight, Sun 12.30pm-Midnight. Intimate bar beside former Sheriff Court. Straight until mid-evening. DELMONICA'S BAR 68 Virginia Street. Tel: 0141-552 4803. Daily Noon-Midnight. Large pub - popular with the younger crowd. Nice if your face fits. FRUITFLY The Arches, Midland Street. Tel: 0141-221 9736. Next dates: Sat 18th Dec, 19th Feb. 11pm-4am. Mixed club run by Taste from Edinburgh. WWW: http://www.webflyers.co.uk/fruitfly/ GLC CAFE/BAR GGLC, 11 Dixon Street. Tel: 0141-400 1008. Daily 11am-Midnight. Full breakfast always available. Home cooking. Friendly and busy! GLASGOW GAY & LESBIAN CENTRE (GGLC) 11 Dixon Street, St Enoch. Tel/FAX: 0141-221 7203. Reception: 0141-400 7203. Daily 10am-Midnight. Welcomes lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and transexuals. Services include: Cafe Bar, Clone Zone shop, Info Box, Health Info, Interest Groups, Free Newspapers, Diary of Events, Reading Room, Garden of Reflection, Function space for hire and innovative Art Gallery. Increasingly busy and popular! Fully wheelchair accessible venue. E-mail: gglc1@dircon.co.uk WWW: http://www.gglc.org.uk/ also see their Art Gallery: http://www.gglc.org.uk/index2.html INTERNET CAFE 569 Sauchiehall Street. Tel: 0141-564 1052. Mon-Fri 9am-11pm, Sat 10am-11pm, Sun 11am-11pm. Friendly staff, mixed clientele, full Internet access from ukp2.50 per half hour. Food served all day. E-mail: tim@linkcafe.co.uk WWW: http://www.linkcafe.co.uk/ THE LANE 60 Robertson Street Lane (off Argyle Street). Tel: 0141-221 1802. Mon-Fri 1-10pm, Sat-Sun Noon-10pm. "Exotic Gay Men's Club" with sauna and private cabins. Not as busy as it used to be. LOVE BOUTIQUE Alaska, Bath Street Lane. Tel: 0141-248 1777. 10.30pm-3am. 2nd Sat of month. Busy mixed club popular with the younger crowd. PANTS Planet Peach, Queen Street. Tel: 0141-226 8990. Mon 11pm-3am. New one nighter with DJ Shawn. Will extend to Tue from 28th Dec. Various drinks promos. Entry ukp3 (ukp2 with flyer). THE POLO LOUNGE 84 Wilson Street. Tel: 0141-553 1221. Mon-Thu Noon-1am, Fri-Sun Noon-3am. Upmarket bar with low seating and hopelessly out of date web site. WWW: http://www.pololounge.co.uk/ SADIE FROST'S 8-10 West George Street. Tel: 0141-332 8005. Noon-Midnight. Bar meals Noon-7pm. Recently re-painted, but the fridges still leave a lot to be desired. Women only on 1st Fri in Blue Room with Karen Dunbar. Quiz on Wed. Karaoke with Karen on Thur. Disco with Grant Duff on Fri and Sat. Karaoke on Sun with Georgie Boy. SILKS AND SECRETS 308 Argyle Street. Tel: 0141-572 1017. Mon-Sat 10am-5.45pm. Sun Noon-5pm. Clothes and toys catering for gay, transvestite and fetish tastes. Friendly understanding staff. Larger sizes stocked. TRADE The Arches, Midland Street. Tel: 0141-221 9736. 1st Sat of month. 11pm-4.30am. The most famous club night in the UK with a host of big name DJs. Entry ukp11 in advance, ukp13 on door. TRON THEATRE CAFE BAR Chisholm Street. Tel: 0141-552 8587. Noon-Midnight. Friendly theatre bar. Mixed. E-mail: info@tron.co.uk WWW: http://www.tron.co.uk/ UNSCENE 13th Note Cafe, 50-60 King Street. Tel: 0141-553 1638. 1st and 3rd Wed of month. Doors open 8.30pm. Relaxed mixed club. Indie/whatever music policy. Guaranteed HiNRG-free zone. WWW: http://www.13thnote.com/ VICTORIA BAR 157-159 Bridgegait. Tel: 0141-552 6040. Daily 11am-Midnight. Basically straight, but justly popular with Glasgow's many Real Ale queens and dykes. VIOLATE PO Box 808, Glasgow. G71 7YN. Violate Club Line: 0909 46 44 112 (60p per min at all times). BDSM and general pervery. Operates in Glasgow and Edinburgh. Glasgow dates: Cafe Stella. Sat 29th Jan - Burns Night Bash. Yup, fetish Burns night, has to be seen. Edinburgh dates: Cafe Royal, Sat 8th Jan. 8pm - 1pm (normal admission price). E-mail: info@violate.co.uk WWW: http://www.violate.co.uk/ THE WATERLOO 306 Argyle Street. Tel: 0141-229 5891. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight. Sun 12.30pm-Midnight. Semper idem! Popular, crowded, down to earth gay drinking shop. Scotland's oldest gay bar - what more can we say? Busy, busy, busy! Awarded the Betty Hutton seal of approval. [__________________________________________________] INVERNESS NICO'S BAR/BISTRO Glen Mhor Hotel, Ness Bank. Tel: (01463) 234308. Wed and Fri 9-11pm. Smart relaxed bar popular with some local gays especially on Wednesday and Friday nights (9.15pm onwards). Mixed clientele. STATION HOTEL Station Square, Academy Street. Tel: (01463) 231926. Wed and Fri 9-11pm. Inverness's main gay-friendly establishment. Smart hotel bar. Increasingly popular with Inverness gays who are tired of putting up with the antics of a certain homophobic establishment owner. [__________________________________________________] STIRLING BARNTON BISTRO 3 1/2 Barnton Street. Tel: (01786) 461698. Mon-Thu 10.30am-Midnight, Fri-Sat 10.30am-1am, Sun Noon-Midnight. (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. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- International News from Rex Wockner =================================== Transexual elected to New Zealand Parliament New Zealanders elected the world's first openly transsexual member of parliament on November 27th. Georgina Beyer, 42, will represent the nation's conservative Wairarapa region in the southeastern corner of North Island for the Labour party. She beat her nearest opponent, a Conservative, by a vote of 12,693 to 10,189. A nationally known actor and former prostitute, stripper and drag queen, Beyer is also mayor of Carterton, a town of 7,000 people. She changed her gender in 1984. "Of course, I'm feeling quite humbled by this event," Beyer said in an interview with Wockner News. "I think it speaks volumes to minorities in the world that you can overcome adversity and achieve and be successful so that you can be a positive contributor to society." Beyer said no one made an issue of her transsexualism during the campaign except the media. "They always seize upon it as a novelty and it usually ends up working in my favor when they do that because the angle that they try to take, it doesn't discredit me but it certainly tries to push it out there as an issue as to why people would not vote for me," she said. "I have always maintained that the gender question is not the issue. It is the ability of the person to be able to do the job. With the experiences I've had in my life -- but also in my local government career -- I believed that I was the person that was going to be the best for the constituency." Beyer says she'll work on gay and lesbian issues with New Zealand's two openly gay members of Parliament -- Tim Barnett and Chris Carter. "I will certainly be involved with that," Beyer said. "It would be unthinkable that I wouldn't have some involvement with those issues. It won't necessarily be my primary interest. I represent an electorate now so that has to be my priority, but of course I'll be working with any human rights issues that we need to deal with. "I also serve as a board member of the New Zealand AIDS Foundation and have worked with the gay/lesbian/transgender community in the past -- and I have also portrayed [gay] characters on television and done it successfully -- so I'm definitely part of that community and I'm proud of who and what I am, so there's no problems there," she said. PHOTO: New Zealand's Georgina Beyer, the world's first transsexual member of parliament. Photo courtesy of Rainbow Labour SOUTH AFRICA WELCOMES GAY LOVERS South Africa's Constitutional Court extended the spousal immigration provisions of the Aliens Control Act to same-sex couples on December 2nd. Gays and lesbians are now permitted to bring a foreign lover to live with them. The ruling upheld a decision by the regional Cape High Court that had been appealed by the Department of Home Affairs. The Constitutional Court said: "Gays and lesbians in same-sex life partnerships are as capable as heterosexual couples of expressing and sharing love in its manifold forms. They are capable of constituting a family including affection... [T]he Aliens Control Act, by omitting to confer on persons, who are partners in permanent same-sex life partnerships, the benefits it extends to spouses, unfairly discriminates, on the grounds of their sexual orientation and marital status, against partners in such same-sex partnerships." The National Coalition for Gay and Lesbian Equality commented: "The Department of Home Affairs has persistently acted in a cruel and unjustifiable manner against lesbian and gay people. The sad history of this case is that lesbian and gay couples have been harassed, detained and threatened with deportation for the past two years. This is typical of the high-handed and bureaucratic bullying of all immigrants and refugees. This decision is the first step in holding the department accountable to all people for its actions." CZECH REPUBLIC REJECTS PARTNERS BILL The Czech Republic's lower house of parliament has rejected a gay registered-partnership measure. It would have granted gay couples the rights of matrimony except for adoption rights. The vote was 91 to 69. Another, similar bill is expected to be introduced soon as pro- gay legislators continue their efforts. BRAZILLIAN GROUP MURDERS GAYS The Brazilian anti-gay group Acorda Coracao (Wake Up, Dear) has murdered its sixth victim, the EFE news agency has reported. The killers operate in the Rio de Janeiro neighborhood of Nova Iguacu and reportedly shout "Wake up, dear" before killing their prey. Gay organizations are warning gays to travel in groups of at least three people after dark, and police have increased patrols around gay bars and discotheques. TORONTO SCHOOL BOARD EMBRACES GAYS The Toronto District School Board is helping sponsor a poster campaign that tells students it's OK to be gay. The posters will appear in subway stations and at all schools with students in 7th grade or above. Board Chairman Gail Nyberg told the Toronto Sun, "We have an obligation to address the needs of all our students." Meanwhile, the board's December 8th meeting was disrupted by anti-gay Muslims protesting the district's proposed anti-homophobia policy. "What [gays] do is not normal," said protester Idrahin El-Sayed, president of the Toronto District Muslim Education Assembly. "We don't want it pushed on our kids and we won't stand for it to be in our schools." The protesters eventually calmed down and left. GAY SAMURAI MOVIE PREMIERES Famed Japanese director Nagisa Oshima has returned from a 13-year hiatus with a gay-themed samurai movie, Gohatto. "The samurai in this movie were a group of men who were intently involved in the business of killing," Oshima said. "I think that in this extremely intense situation, for love to live among the members, whether it is homosexual love or not, seems to be entirely natural." WINNIPEG GAY BATHHOUSE DESTROYED The King and Alexander Steam Baths in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada, was destroyed by fire on December 8th. The 3.30am blaze also destroyed other businesses in the historic building. Five near-nude patrons were rescued from the rooftop by police. Police said the fire was set by bathhouse customer who they charged with arson and disregarding human life. "Our information was, he was a client at the time of the fire," homicide detective Tom Anderson told the Winnipeg Sun. "The motive isn't something we'd talk about." UKRAINE GAY GROUP REGISTERED After months of bureaucratic delays, the Ukrainian gay group Our World was officially registered on November 30th, the first gay group to achieve such status. A group spokesman thanked Amnesty International for helping flood the Department of Justice with letters supporting the registration. IRELAND BANS DISCRIMINATION Ireland's new Employment Equality Act bans direct and indirect job discrimination based on sexual orientation, the International Lesbian and Gay Association has reported. The law also prohibits unwelcome, offensive, humiliating or intimidating actions. Religious institutions are exempt from the act in instances where it conflicts with their teachings. ISRAELI HEALTH MINISTER BLASTS GAYS Israeli Health Minister Shlomo Benizri has said that gays are sick deviants. "These people have a mental problem, they are deviant. Instead of giving them legitimacy, we need to treat them," he told Reuters. "It is a sickness. They say they are like normal people. Psychologists have to encourage them and help them." Speaking to the Ma'ariv newspaper, Benizri added: "I am ready to fund the creation of special closed sections for them in psychiatric hospitals. They are suffering from a genetic defect and the health ministry can come to their help." Gay leader Michal Eden responded: "The Minister of Health is dark, a racist... If he holds such views, he should immediately resign." In general, Israel is fairly gay-friendly, at least in the legal arena. Gay sex was decriminalized in 1988, job bias was banned in 1992, and the military gay ban was dropped in 1993. IN BRIEF *Forty lesbians have formed Sri Lanka's first lesbian organization in Colombo. It is called Companions. * China's first TV condom ad aired on Central Television's Channel 1, Xinhua reported Nov. 29th. But on Dec. 2nd, the ad was banned for violating a law that prohibits ads for sexual products. * The government tourist bureau of Tasmania has funded production of a gay visitors guide. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOTTISH MEDIA MONITOR SPECIAL ============================== In this special edition of the SCOTTISH MEDIA MONITOR, Garry Otton turns back the pages to see how the press reported sex exactly 100 years ago! Now the media have a name for the love that dare not speak its name. A handle. And they're not afraid to use it. Recently, reactionary columnists in almost every Scottish newspaper registered their disgust at the repeal of one of the world's last few laws to single out gays. Gerald Warner, former speechwriter to the Scottish Secretary, Michael Forsyth, called it: "Moral corruption." And at a time when innocent gays' homes are being targeted in a wave of moral panic over pëdophiles, the Scottish News of the World was begging its readers to ring them if there was "a perv" living in their town. What's changed in one hundred years? Let's go back and see. Queen Victoria's reign is almost over and the Marquis of Salisbury leads a Conservative government. The press is printing special war editions as 'Tommy' fights the Boers. In Glasgow, pubs are open from 10 a.m. until 5 p.m., It's pantomime season and men are getting into tights at the Royal Princess's Theatre for Sinbad the Sailor. Aladdin is on at the Grand while A Runaway Girl is being performed at the Metropole. The curtains are up for the Soldiers of the Queen at the Lyceum in Govan, and Dick Whittington and his Cat are treading the boards in Paisley. Hengler's Circus is drawing crowds at the Scottish Zoo and Sam Hagues' Minstrels are doing four performances a day at the Waterloo Rooms. You can go and see Macleod's waxworks, the military spectacular, Briton or Boer, or read what I have to say in the Scottish Media Monitor. So how is our sexuality portrayed in the Scottish media, celebrating the arrival of 1900? Oscar Wilde's novella, The Picture of Dorian Gray - itself a wilful rebuke of Victorian manhood - has already been printed in 1890. The Scots Observer wrote: "If he can write for none but outlawed noblemen and perverted telegraph boys, the sooner he takes to tailoring (or some other decent trade) the better for his own reputation and the publics morals." We are lost in the copy. Difficult to find, even in police reports that concentrate on crimes everyone understands: theft, physical assaults and drunkenness. Unlike today, virtually no criminal activity relating to sexuality is ever reported. Nevertheless, lesbians, gays, bisexuals and people of transgender are still here. Gay men are hiding behind aspirations of what it means to be a 'real' man. One observer perfectly describes this ideal. "Not a bad-looking fellow as a rule, well-knit, nicely set up and of manly appearance." There are plenty of opportunities for sexual encounters in public baths or sharing beds in overcrowded lodgings. There are no personal advertisements, but I did spot this, printed on 25 August 1900: "Artist window dresser wants windows to dress' every kind; evenings- offers to 5717, Daily Record office." We are also lost in the regular reports of men arrested for desertion. Refusing to fight in a cruel and bloody war. Then there are the "delicate" boys: gays whose health and sensitivity have both survived high child mortality. But we are also amongst the frequent reports of suicide... Purchased for 1/2d, Glasgow's Evening Times, flatters the local constabulary, a major source of news. "Captain Monro HM Inspector of Constabulary for Scotland is well satisfied with the result of his inspection of the Glasgow Police, whom he regards as a fine body of men. This may be taken to imply that he will be able to report to the Secretary of Scotland that he found the force in a state of thorough efficiency. ...Not only the effectiveness, but also the manners, of the men have improved. ...Sufficient almost to convince a rogue that he had fallen into the hands of a loving friend." Tell that to this poor man. "At the Southern Police Court- Baillie Sinclair on the bench- Thomas Slattery was convicted of creating a breach of the peace by attempting to jump from Albert Bridge into the river Clyde. He was sentenced to 21 days imprisonment." In Germany, the gay Uranian movement has already been established, its visibility turning us into easy targets. Then there is the Daily Record - a broadsheet describing itself as "full of reading suitable for every member of the family circle" - already flexing its reactionary muscle. The paper allowed Mrs Alec Tweedie to tell readers of "a seaside resort without a Jew... Although the Israelites are not legally forbidden, they are morally kept back by custom from setting foot on a certain little island... It cries with all its strength 'Jews prohibited!' Borkum is the name of this courageous little island." The Daily Record - boasting "the largest sale in Scotland" - permitted Tweedie to describe in tones of blatant racism, how the locals "finish the day with this great anti-Jewish song. The 'Borkum Lied...' A wonderful performance. The audience all join in, most of them stand up; they wave their hats, sticks or handkerchiefs. ...A good sprinkling of clergymen and Catholic priests, join vociferously in the refrain." In 1999, Cardinal Winning, the head of the Catholic Church in Scotland would tell Scotland On Sunday that in the employment of teachers, sports coaches, soldiers and foster carers, discrimination was "not unjust." Tweedie went shopping: "Anti-Jewish postcards may be bought in every shop in Borkum; they represent the front door of an hotel, where the landlord is shrugging his shoulders with sarcastic regret that he has no room left for the party of Jewish travellers struggling, baggage in hand, up the hotel steps... Pictures of an anti-Semitic nature are to be found in the shops. An excellent one was a drawing in which faces where designed out of Jewish names- for instance, Moses written in a round and flowery hand would be transformed into a wonderful Israelite type... It was not actually cruel, the spirit was of fun and derision than of anger; but it was most unkind, for the fun carried a bitter dart, doubtless, to poor Jewry's heart." The Daily Record might look forward to the Jewish holocaust, just thirty-five years away. A century later, in its sister paper, the Sunday Mail's Gary Keown would be pointing at the so-called 'political correctness' of his time saying: "Sadly, it means some guy with a faultless CV could lose out on a job to a less talented individual, just because the boss is under pressure to have more blacks..." His insults to both women and gays are legendary, described in his column as "slappers" and "pansies." The Daily Record still boasts how its "loyalty to the people of Scotland and the cause of fairness and accuracy has never been in doubt..." And crows how it has "fought for the jobless, the deprived, the under-privileged and all those who have no voice." Marriage is heavily promoted and violence is rife. Almost 500 men are arrested each week in Glasgow, and half of those were on drink related charges. The Daily Record reported how Alexander Preston, a miner from Calder "was found guilty of pouring a kettleful of boiling water all over his wife's body, and afterwards pouring whisky on the scalds, and throwing a bread-knife and two pails at his daughter." He was jailed for 12 months. "Archibald Maclean, labourer, 61 Maclean Street was charged with having assaulted Mrs Maclellan by kicking her, and striking her with his fists, and further with brandishing an open knife. He was fined two guineas, or suffer 30 days imprisonment..." A fine of UKP 3 3s was imposed on "James Storrie, a riveter for having on the Saturday night assaulted a labourer, living in his own neighbourhood, with a poker." By way of comparison, Glasgow's Evening Times revealed how "Hugh Gornay painter, pleaded guilty at Port Glasgow Police Court of using obscene language in Church Street on Saturday night, and Baillie Leitch imposed the full penalty- 40 or 20 days in jail." But if a hundred years on, gays are largely dealt with in the press by homophobic commentators, here, women are placated by the soothing tones of Gwendoline. Addressing the wives of wealthy merchants' in her column "Mems. For Madam," in Glasgow's Evening Times, she spoils lady readers with her recipe for marrow-bones on toast and bestows her "toilet hints" like "excellent tooth and mouth wash." (The main ingredients for this are eau de cologne and French rose water)! Fashion is Gwendoline's forte: Her advice carrys some weight with the ladies. "Still is the glace silk blouse or shirt an object of importance in the toilette..." And: "For deep mournings a great deal of crepe is to be worn." In 'Woman's Realm,' a similar column in the Daily Record, Janet reveals a "toilet trade secret" that answers every lady's burning question: "How to keep beautiful over the holidays." Janet has her standards. "It makes me shudder to see women bite thread or silk with her teeth." She faces difficult questions of sexuality head on, asking: "Should servants be allowed followers?" Arriving at the wholly liberal opinion that it's only fair they should, instead of confronting domestic staff with such pertinent questions as: "Now what did I tell you about having followers?" She suggested, perhaps, that the lady of the house could permit her domestic servants to invite a member of the opposite sex round for tea. Only once a fortnight, mind! The Daily Record's liberal advice to "Mothers who wreck children's lives" was cloaked behind the fanciful notion of 'courting.' "When son John goes a-courting, or some young man surprises you by paying attention to the little girl you have always thought of as 'Little Fannie,' pause awhile before you decide on opposing their desires and thwarting their hopes." And if this latter-day Joan Burnie isn't kept busy offering matronly advice "to fat people," Janet offers her readers such pearls of wisdom as her "nine reasons for spinsterhood." Because he might not be an orphan. Because he might like tidies. Because he might be fond of using 'pet' names. Because he might part his hair in the middle of his head. Because he might demand an itemised account of household expenditures. Because dinner would have to be taken with the same person each day. Because marriage would necessitate daily letter writing when either he or she might be away. Because all the good men seem to be married already. Because he has not proposed. The Daily Record revealed the: "Girls who have the best chance of marrying... Actresses stand the best chance of marriage, domestic servants come a good second, and the typewriters are well up in the list. Governesses are almost the last in the ranks..." The reason "why some girls remain unmarried" was a deserving case for Janet's pen. First she offered some condolences to those spinsters who were prevented from marrying because others were dependent on their earnings - brothers and sisters perhaps - before cheerily observing that "there is much to admire in the life of an unselfish old maid." But the pressure was not just on women to marry. The Daily Telegraph suggested to men that marriage was a cure for baldness! The question arose in the Glasgow Herald as to who lived the longest: Single or married men? "Dr. Carper, of Berlin, has calculated that the mortality among bachelors, from the age of thirty to forty-five years is 27 per cent, whilst among married men of the same age it is only 18 per cent." In Glasgow's Evening Times, a college lecturer advised readers in his column: "'A Young Man's Fancies'...I have no sympathy for a women who goes about shrieking for her rights- whatever they may be: but for the woman who busies herself, quietly and steadily, to obtain her minds' desire." It was in the face of such complacency that women suffragettes turned to violence and wrested some semblance of social and political emancipation from the hands of conservative men and women. It is a struggle that has to continue. But in 1995, the Daily Record's Joan Burnie told ScotsGay magazine how she found International Woman's Day "patronising, appalling and awful." The Daily Record had some enlightened information to impart on that great British tradition of homosexual rìle-play: "Fags and fagmasters" The writer advised that "the system of fagging plays such an important part in teaching a young boy to know 'where he are...' A boy of ordinary brains, who goes to Eton at fourteen, will be a fag for about his first year and half, and have a fag his last year and a half. As to the position in the school which makes a boy able to fag others, or to be fagged himself, the top eight or nine divisions in the school can fag the 'lower boys,' who are in the bottom twelve divisions or so... When the list of fagmasters and fags has been arranged, the fags have to come and ATTEND TO THEIR MASTERS' wants at breakfast and tea, and make themselves generally useful." I bet they did! Amongst other things, we are told, they have to "cook sausage." (One way of putting it, I suppose)! "At luncheon, or dinner one should rather say, the whole house meet together so that no mess-fagging goes on; but the fagmaster's bath must be emptied and his room tidied up after football, and the same duties may have to be performed for anyone else who has a right to demand it. Besides this there is some general fagging, which they are liable to perform for anyone who is in the position to fag there." An insight into the thinking behind the Daily Record's view of accepting Scout leaders who are openly gay can be gleaned from the dusty copies of its own paper. Present day columnist, Tom Brown scoffs at such tolerance and scorns the "new, pink badges in political correctness," He recalls: "...We Boys' Brigaders goose-stepped to our drill hall, We always regarded the rival youth army as 'cissies...' none of that nonsense for your decidedly butch Boys' Brigade members. Our uniform was... spit-and-polish boots, a belt and sparkling buckle... In Kirkcaldy we were so manly we refused to wear the pansy little pillbox hat. Nothing nancy-boy there. And DEFINITELY no hanky-panky in the well-drilled ranks - or out of them." In 1900, Lord Meath was chairman of the Lads' Brigade Association. His militaristic endeavours are reported in the Daily Record: "In furtherance of a scheme for the promotion of a more general teaching of military drill, to lads of a certain age, he has been in correspondence with the War Office with the view of enlisting the assistance of the authorities." The Daily Record in a piece on blacks, or kaffirs, and their apparent weakness for lying has exhibited similar 'manly' behaviour. "A whole race with no knowledge of truthfulness. ...The native mind is totally unable to form a conception of what we understand by truthfulness... Suppose you catch a 'boy' admitting a misdemeanour. Ask him what he has been doing and he'll look up in your face, a picture of innocence, and reply, 'Ikona, baas'- a plump denial. ...You proceed to administer reproof- with the foot. What does he do? ...If he is used to it, he retires precipitately with a satisfied smile, not necessarily because he got the thrashing, but because he no longer has it to look forward to." And in the face of the sexual and social construction of the dominant male, this is also where homosexuals hide: In sexual pathology and crime. In a court report headed "Different Ideas of Decency," what might have been a display of tolerance turns out to be a clear rebuke. "'Call the witness, David Jones,' ordered the lawyer. 'David Jones!' Shouted the constable. A little man, wearing a huge white apron that reached to the ground before and behind, like a woman's skirt, shuffled into the court and the witness-box. The magistrate eyed the apron with evident disfavour, and said: - 'Why do you wear such an article of dress in this place? Don't you know that persons coming to a court of law are expected to appear properly and decently dressed?' 'That's just it, my lord," stammered the witness: 'You see, sir, my pants ain't as good as they ought to be, and, in fact, your Worship, there's holes in 'em, and I had to wear this apron for the sake of decency.'" There is little evidence Kelvingrove Park is heavily used as a cruising area for gay men, but in a piece headed: "'Muldoons' in Kelvingrove Park" Glasgow's Evening Times advised of "another revelation of the innate rowdyism of a large section of the citizens of Glasgow. A gang of the youths who are known locally as 'muldoons' climbed over the railway above the pond, and, uptearing the turf, pelted each other as well as unlucky cabmen and pedestrians, with the sods." The papers are filled with advertisements for quack medicines and palmists like Madame Hart, Mrs Kelly and Mrs Clara Smyth. And this one from Regent House in Sauchiehall Street, appearing in Glasgow's Evening Times: "Beautiful, dainty lingerie. ...Now showing a charming display of new, elegant night-dresses, chemises, knickers, combinations and Camisoles... Choice variety of knickers in Cambric and Longcloth with deep frills of needlework, others soft frills of lace, at 2s 11d. One ad that might have been well known to those of a "delicate" disposition was one proclaiming the benefits of "Dr Williams' Pink Pills for Pale People." Not everything is, as it seems, of course. The headline in the Daily Record of "A reverend gentlemen offering to toss" was sadly no more than the "reverend gentlemen" winning some goods in a toss of coins. A "Dundee man's outeness" turned out to be a theft of a waterproof coat and the story headed "Hawick policeman abused," was an unfortunate incident where a constable was severely kicked in the legs. "Dangerous doings on the south side" was not about men wandering around Queen's Park, but someone pulling a signal arm off a signal post. And how amusing to find the report from Govan Police Court of four boys aged between 12 and 14 who stole, amongst other things "six dolls and a pound of tobacco." The pressure of religion is never far from the surface. "Ought Christians go to the theatre?" asked The Puritan and repeated by the Daily Record. Mr Samuel Smith writes: "It is too true that the stage today is a large extent a teacher of vice. I expect it is lower than it has been since the evil days of Charles II..." Rev. Dr. R E-mail: Horton writes: "To point out the character of such a play as 'The Gay Lord Quex' will not have the effect of deterring, but rather of alluring. The theatre lives by playing on those dangerous chords." The Rev. Dr Monro Gibson considers it his duty not to go to the theatre. And Rev. Dr. John Smith of Edinburgh writes: "You refer, and justly, to the highly dubious situation of many plays: why should clean livers immerse themselves, and still more their children, in these polluted atmospheres..." of "nauseous morality." And I suspect that is where we would all have been! garryotton@bigfoot.com SCOTTISH MEDIA MONITOR: http://www.bigfoot.com/~scotmedia (c) Garry Otton 1999 ----------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS ======= Films Malcolm Epstein Probably most of us like to feel stories on a cinema screen are based on reality. That is why we have to know two main movies of the month are based on fantasy which you will either view as an interesting novelty or a right load of rubbish. Sleepy Hollow (15) is America in 1799 where a policeman from New York is sent to a country community to investigate a series of murders by a headless horseman whose speciality is chopping heads from bodies and galloping off with them. Johnny Depp's appeal has always eluded met but here director Tim Burton has given him a verbal authority with a British accent that impresses. As Burton directed Batman and Batman Returns he knows how to create atmosphere which Sleepy Hollow has in abundance. Dogma (15) would have us believe two fallen angels, Ben Affleck and Matt Damon, are on earth looking like the rest of us and have to perform certain tasks to be readmitted to heaven. Ben is one of the hottest new leading men in films right now having been a cover story on a recent Vanity Fair and Playboy magazine thought be was important enough to devote several pages to him in their December issue in their question and answer series. Dogma has some clever casting, like British Alan Rickman as a celestial organiser dominating his minions, and comedian Chris Rock who drops from the sky stating he is the 13th apostle. You have to be prepared for the ridiculous to appreciate this one. Marcel Proust (1871-1922) has become one of the most revered gay French writers of the past and it would be interesting to know about his association with Oscar Wilde when they met in Paris in 1891. He is reputed to have written his novels in bed and, one of the most successful Time Regained (18) has been filmed with an opulent cast and settings. It is an engrossing time trip on life amongst the wealthy. So much detail is packed into it that concentration is needed to take your eyes away from the breathtaking costumes long enough to study the subtitles to realise a good looking young fortune hunter, Vincent Perez, terminates his affair with a wealthy baron, John Malkovich, to be kept by Pascal Gregory whose riches are needed as be to married and also keeps a mistress. Catherine Deneuve is one of the many imposing ladies who swan around in magnificent Edwardian gowns. If viewing the sex lives of Parisian society appeals you could find this a fascinating curiosity. Blue Streak (12) is a comedy thriller you must consider that has Martin Lawrence as a burglar slightly out of his depth. Running over rooftops from the police carrying a UKP 20 million diamond he drops into a building under construction and hides the swag in an air duct just before he is caught. On release from prison two years later be returns to the building to find it is the new headquarters of the Los Angeles police. He imitates a police inspector with hilarious results. I loved every one of its 94 minutes. If you want incredible suspense following the horror of a serial killer you must track down The Bone Collector (15) that has Denzil Washington as a top inspector who is bed ridden after a spinal injury. His expertise to so highly valued that his nurse has quite a problem controlling the pressure put on him by a police force at their wits end to catch one of the most astute murderers of all time. If you enjoy being terrified you will love every second. Summer Of Sam (18) is another serial killer story without the same expertise although producer, writer, director Spike Lee almost puts the right ingredients together. The New York summer of 1977 was the hottest ever and an electricity breakdown plunges everything into darkness. Shops are looted and murders follow. The lovely Mira Sorvino is the light relief in all this. Stephen Dillane is one of the most charismatic young actors in Britain who had rave reviews on the London stage playing Hamlet, but he hasn't had Hugh Grant's luck to get cast in a hit movie. The Darkest Light (12) won't help his chances either. He plays a Yorkshire farmer whose cattle are dying of foot and mouth disease and his son has leukemia. In March he is a puzzled Irish police inspector in a worth seeing Kevin Spacey movie Ordinary Decent Criminal. But it appears to be a part taken to pay the rent. If only we had an organised British film industry Mr Dillane would be an international name by now. Bringing Out The Dead (18) has Nicolas Cage an a paramedic on New York ambulances listless from overwork and continually asking to be fired. Drug addicts and mental cases smashing car windscreens with baseball bats are his daily diet, For reasons I didn't understand director Martin Scorcese keeps returning to an elderly patient in a coma whom we repeatedly see given shock treatment to the chest to revive him. Mr Scorcese is far more successful than I am so I imagine he knows there is a public for this kind of thing. Current Releases We are back to fantasy with Legend Of 1900 (15) in which an engineer aboard an ocean liner finds a new born baby in a box and brings him up in the engine room. Learning to play the piano be becomes a virtuoso at entertaining the passengers. Tim Roth has an intensity that makes you believe you could be watching one of the greatest pianists in the world and the music of Ennio Morricone is memorable. But somehow seeing a film about someone who never leaves the ship he has spent his life on seems to be only the first two thirds of a movie. Happy Texas (15) must have looked amusing in script form. Two escaped prisoners steal a van and realise from studying photos they find in it that the owners are two gay guys. They decide to impersonate them while stopping in a small town and the local chief of police makes a pass at one of them. Straights pretending to be gay only proves here that American humour doesn't travel well. Its main interest is British Jeremy Northam with a cowboy accent. Arnold Schwarzenegger is in the middle of action again in End of Days (18) that has more than its share of gunfire and explosions. But they have run out of interesting villains and his scriptwriters would have us believe he is now fighting the devil in the form of Gabriel Byrne. Bullets have no effect on him and after throwing him out of a skyscraper window he is smiling politely in the next scene. Ideal for the under 25s. Hold Back The Night (15) has a young couple on the run from their families and the police making their way to the Scottish Highlands. They thumb a lift from Sheila Hancock playing an elderly lesbian dying of cancer. The girl, Christine Tremarco's temperamental behaviour is explained as the result of child sex abuse. The guy, newcomer Stuart Sinclair, is attractive enough to study through their many traumas. It won an award at the Cannes Film Festival. Books Scott J. Reid Scott Capurro, Fowl Play Headline Book Publishing UKP 9.99 So, Scott's putting it about that his dark, but amusing, debut novel is definitely not autobiographical. Mmm. If you were fortunate enough to catch the San Franciscan queen of bitchiness at this year's Fringe, you'll already be familiar with one or two of the venomous one-liners and character assassinations contained within the book, although the actual plot-that of Tom, the closeted, recently-dumped stand-up who's out for revenge-owes more to last year's hit show, cunningly entitled, without giving too much away, "Brain Souffle". I've got to admit I enjoyed "Fowl Play" stage-style much more. Scott is a real, how can I put it delicately, in-yer-face sort of comedian. In the space of sixty minutes we discover he hates bisexuals and Germans, he hates Channel Four execs and, most of all, he thoroughly detests anything the least bit Canadian. All of which brings a new meaning to the word cynical. And, to Scott's credit, little of the engrossing quality and directness of his stage persona is lost through the process of pen meeting paper. But, though frequently hilarious, there's a certain spark missing as the pages unfold. Of course, you can't help picturing Scott, not Tom, up there performing the material: reciting the lengthy anecdotes. And that's why I can't buy into this 100 percent fiction bit, especially as it's a first-time book. There just has to be something of Scott's own life experiences within the 280 pages. Not that it really makes too much difference (whether you've seen him perform live or not). This is a fairly worthy literary outing from the fresh-faced 36-year-old ("that's 80 in fag years!"). Aimed firmly at the mainstream paperback market-I found a stack on sale near the front door of Waterstone's shortly after the launch-there are, nonetheless, plenty of homo references to throw the uninitiated, and besides, what other novel have you read who's first piece of dialogue is the word "yellow"! Theatre Laura McGrath King of the Fields by Stuart Patterson. Traverse Theatre, Edinburgh. Stuart Patterson certainly knows how to spread his creative wings over the Scottish theatre scene. With not only this production at the Traverse, but a stunning production of Peter Pan at the Lyceum a few doors down he has captured the minds and imagination of a wide and varied audience. This production features a quality cast of favourites such as Blythe Duff who plays the heartbroken Jean, with Willy Cole providing some of the more light-hearted moments of the production. The 'fallen' soldier, Matt, played by Liam Brennan, returns home following many years of absence to find his father has died. In addition his brother has built up a successful business and has acquired a beautiful city girl for a wife who is, however, unhappy at her rural isolation. While the plot and through line of action seem to waver slightly, the themes of deviancy and of the outcast along with that of betrayal and greed in a small community setting are conveyed with commendable honesty and charm. Most of the characters' unhappiness resides in a craving for acceptance or longing for something better than they have in their present situation. The brothers' struggle for economic and romantic predominance provides the animus for a fine piece of theatre. It could be argued that one of the most pivotal lines in the play rests in Rab's declaration that he feels unworthy of his position as a wealthy businessman since he 'needs to think to write' his own name. His attitude is common of the 'self-made man' who feels uneasy about the change to his social position that ownership of ones own business entails. This play, with its inevitable tragedy, moments of glamour and hope, poetic voices, and painful revelations concerning the way people undermine themselves and are undermined in society, is a breath of fresh air in Scottish Drama. Although set in 1935 in rural Scotland, the themes contained are as relevant today as they ever were. This revised edition of the original 1986 production, originally entitled Mr Government, is truly worth a visit to the theatre. It is moving Scottish drama that captivates as well as entertains. Peter Pan by J. M Barrie, adapted by Stuart Patterson. The Royal Lyceum Theatre, Edinburgh. Until Jan 8th 2000. You know it's Christmas when the Lyceum start promoting their Christmas show. This year Stuart Patterson waves his writing wand over the panto season and brings us a thought provoking and enchanting version of J.M Barrie's Peter Pan. Complete with 'lost boys', magical adventures and wishes that always come true, The Lyceum and Stuart Patterson have excelled this year in creating a production that is more play than panto. The energetic and fun Peter Pan glides onto the ever-changing stage to whisk the young brother and sister off to view adventures beyond their wildest dreams. Indeed, the set is beautifully enchanting to say the least, an attribute which complements the performances that provide a fun and lively atmosphere for the audience. It's probably best to omit an Oedipal interpretation, however it must be highlighted that this production conveys the predominant themes through the innovative lighting that exists, changing the background set from a starlit night to a forest of wolves. While some may argue that this production is not pure panto, it is undoubtedly a fluid and visually stunning production. The enigmatic laser fairy they call Tinkerbell serves as a welcome attribute to this very modem adaptation. In terms of the actors' performances, Stuart Wilkinson, who plays Peter Pan gives a convincing and heart-warming portrayal of the boy who never grew up. While alongside him Caroline Devlin shines as Wendy the girl whom the lost boys require to act as their mother. The duo create a memorable production with the infamous Captain Hook, played by Robin Sneller, providing the tension and fear necessary in their journey to Never Never land. With all the stunning visual effects and fine performances that this show has to offer, it's clear that Patterson's Peter Pan will satisfy an audience of varied ages desire for a winter fairy tale. ------------------------------------------------------------------------ The Granny Spice Digest ======================= Happy Noel - and a Bug free 2000... Got your pressies? I've been having problems with my Software as well as my apparel this year and if I can get a certain larger than life person off that Waterloo stage one night I might be able to make a comeback for Y2K! I hear that some Gay venues will be charging exorbitant prices for entry - that will certainly cut out a large chunk of the pink pound that has no job, or, perhaps are living in debt already through student loans! Can no gay entrepreneur ever think of anything but ripping off their brothers and sisters-must it always come down to money? I personally, never get caught up in the whole thing and think that it has become a parody of US lifestyle which merely exacerbates the deep divide between those who have and those who don't-as well as putting pressure on people to put themselves into debt. Especially gays who feel caught up in groups of "friends" some with quite good jobs or contacts, who "give" in order to "receive"-ugh! Humbug! I hate the whole damn thing - I'll settle for a sherry and nice shag please! I wish I had a UKP 10 note for every gay man I know who's gone home for Xmas only to feel doubly depressed after the dinner and the pressie opening, and wants to break away from it all! Oh fuck Father Xmas - or, have 2 sherries too many at the office party and shag the boss or, let him shag you! Well there you are, since I have decided not to be the good fairy (I leave that honour to our esteemed editor - if anyone can get him up a tree!) I had my first visit to the Goldilocks website and was suitably impressed - exceedingly well done Madame! She'd have to tutor me privately since this whole Internet thing spins my head around, and I'm attracting more viruses than I can cope with on my poor little steam-driven computer. The creature is falling apart, a bit like me (according to a certain Edinburgh odd couple), and since it will probably die on me on December 31,I'd better get the little black book out. Unfortunately, I won't be able to make the lovely Edinburgh Lezzie evening with Heather, who, creates more than the weather, with the swish of her leather - if she doesn't get the copy on time! (down boys that's extra!) however have a good time and hope you girls can manage to scandalize the clerics and good buggers of Edinburgh! Although I don't think I'd fancy lap dancing with any of that lot! I will be spending that time in the Company of Lady Grace of Leadhills hopefully roasting more than chestnuts on the fire. The park scene is much quieter than it was and that the rent and queer bashing is back where it always was - namely if you must troll behind John Lewis or Nicolson Square - do so with utmost caution - and remember there is a cure for such addictions, its called socialising and getting down to your local gay centre and supporting it The number of nice people I know who have placed at risk EVERYTHING for a dodgy encounter - I can't bear to think about - why risk that when you can have all you want at No 18 or the Lane! - in safety and cleaner if that's your bag! You know mine - its black and plastic but I've looked out an adorable outfit for Newcastle which we'll be visiting over the holiday season - so look out Newcastle for the lovely Shona & Beti - a sight for sore eyes! For those of you going away remember to take an ample supply of condoms - they cost money everywhere except Scotland - just think how grateful those men will be when you turn up on the beach with your tray shouting "condoms, lube, - FREE - and so am I!" you'll be very popular! For the year 2000 - I wish you all good health - including the punter who shagged me this week using the tin of Lavender furniture wax and wore (out) 3 rubbers -- but then that's another story and all will be revealed in the year 2000 edition ! He certainly put a New Year shine on my fanny! Luv, and safe fucks, Beti -------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTINGS ======== ScotsGay Listings are FREE! 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, PO Box 666, Edinburgh EH7 5YW, Fax them to: 0131-539 2999 or E-mail them to listings@scotsgay.co.uk. Our most up to date listings can always be found on our web site at http://www.scotsgay.co.uk/current/list.html National Organisations OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND: 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. Write: The Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, PO Box 23253, Edinburgh. EH1 3XD. E-mail: alecd@dircon.co.uk Membership is UKP 15 waged, UKP 9 low-waged (under UKP 10,000 pa) and UKP 5 unwaged. Life membership is UKP 150. Please make out your cheque/Postal Order to OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND and send to The Membership Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, PO Box 23253, Edinburgh. EH1 3XD. EQUALITY NETWORK: Working for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender equality in Scotland. Write: c/o 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1SA. Phone: 07020 933 952. Fax: 07020 933 954. F :equality@diversity.org.uk WWW: http://www. diversity.org.uk/equality/ We hold weekly meetings, regular forums and an annual conference; contact us for more details. Join the campaign network! 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. Phone:/Fax: 0141-552 8345. Open Tue-Fri 1-6pm and Sat 2-5pm. E-mail: gwl@globalnet.co.uk WWW: http://www.womens-library.org.uk/laic.htm PRIDE SCOTLAND: Pride Scotland organises the annual lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender Pride march and festival in Scotland. Phone: 0131-556 8822 or 0141-400 2640. Write: c/o 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA or 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. E-mail:info@pridescotland.org WWW: http://www.pridescotland.org/ Next year, the festival will occur in Glasgow, but 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). E-mail: nesgg@drink.demon.co.uk Icebreakers is a social group which meets on last Mon of each month. Details from Grampian Switchboard. AYRSHIRE: Ayrshire Social & Sexuality Support Group. Meets 3rd Wed of each month at 7pm in Irvine. Details of venue from David Bingham on 0141-332 3838 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or Strathclyde Switchboard. E-mail: davidb@phacewest.enterprise-plc.com BORDERS: Borders Gay Switchboard operates every Thu evening 7.30-10pm for confidential information, advice and counselling. Phone: Galashiels (01896) 756611. Write: : Borders Gay Switchboard, PO Box 13305, Hawick, Borders. TD9 9YG. CAITHNESS GAY AND LESBIAN CONNECTION: A friendly informal group which meets regularly. Write: Box 689, Journal Office, 42 Union Street, Wick, Caithness. KW1 5ED. E-mail: Jimscot@aol.com DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY: Regular social meetings - usually every second Wed. Phone: Dumfries (01387) 261818 Thursday 7.30-9.30pm Write: Dumfries and Galloway Lesbian and Gay Group, PO Box 1299, Dumfries. DG1 2PD. DUNDEE: Dundee Queerier is a monthly newsletter for people in the Dundee, Angus and Perth & Kinross areas. Contact via Dundee Switchboard. E-mail: queerier@dundeelgb.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.dundeelgb.freeserve.co.uk/queerier.htm Tay Friend, holds regular social meetings for gay men. Write: Tay Friend, PO Box 182, Dundee. DD1 9UP. Or phone Dundee Switchboard. EDINBURGH: Icebreakers is an alternative to the scene and takes place 8-9.15pm on the 2nd and 4th Wed of each month in CC Blooms. First-timers are invited to arrive at 7.30pm. Phone Lothian Switchboard for details. ELGIN: Pride of Moray Firth LGB Social Group meets informally every 2nd & 4th Wed of the month from 8pm in the Upstairs Bar at Giles Cafe/Bar, 10 Batchen Street, Elgin and every 3rd Wed of the month from 8pm in the Georgian Suite, Park House Hotel, South Street, Elgin. All welcome. Contact for full details of this and other social events in the area. Write: PoMFSG, PO Box 5866, Forres. IV36 1WG. Phone: _ Moray LGB Switch-board. E-mail: PofMF@aol.com FIFE FRIEND: Small voluntary phoneline offering support, advice and information to lesbians and gay men within Fife. Fri: 7.30-10pm. Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688. Write: PO Box 19, Kirkcaldy, Fife. KY1 3JF. Runs a monthly disco and has weekly pub nights. GLASGOW: Glasgow Gay & Lesbian Centre Board - manages GGLC Limited (Charitable Company). Board meetings are held regularly, the Centre Administrator (10am-1pm Mon-Fri), has full details of meeting dates, held in the Centre, first 15 minutes are open to people wishing to attend. Membership criteria for GGLC, is available to all interested people, Annual General meeting of Members, last Sat in May, childcare, and BSL interpreter can be organised, but please give advance notice. Membership is closed in the last month. Write: Glasgow Gay & Lesbian Centre, 11 Dixon Street, St Enoch, Glasgow, G1 4AL. Phone:/Fax: 0141-221 7203. E-mail: gglc1@dircon.co.uk WWW: http:// www.gglc.org.uk/ also see their Art Gallery: http://www.gglc.org.uk/ index2.html Icebreakers Group for lesbians, gays and bisexuals new to the scene. 8-9.30pm on 3rd Tue in each month at Sadie Frost's, 8-10 West George Street. 12.30-3pm on 1st Sun in each month at GGLC, 11 Dixon Street. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard. Out On Sunday is a group for lgbt individuals who want to meet up to organise their own social events and agenda. Informal and fun. Last Sun of each month in the GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. Phone: 0141-221 7203. Section 28 Action Group - Glasgow has been organised by the West of Scotland Lesbian and Gay Forum to ensure that our communities are kept up to date on the campaign to repeal Section 28 of the Local Government Act. Meets every Wed in the GGLC at 5.30pm. Write: Patrick Harvie, West of Scotland Lesbian and Gay Forum, GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. Phone: Patrick Harvie on 0141-332 3838. E-mail: : lgforum@hotmail.com INVERNESS: Highland Gay Men's Group meets on the 4th Wed of each month at 34 Waterloo Place. Phone: : Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Wed, Fri 9.30am-4.30pm, Thu 9.30am-7pm). Write: PO Box 67, Inverness. IV1 2XX. LANARKSHIRE: Lanarkshire Gay Men's Group is a group which meets every Wed from 8pm at Beckford Business Centre, Beckford Street, Hamilton. Social and educational events. Write: : LGMC, c/o 22 Dunlin, East Kilbride, Glasgow. G74 4RU. Phone: : 07967 140629. E-mail: lgmg@bigfoot.com WWW: http://www.bigfoot.com/~lgmg/ STIRLING: Stirling Gay Men's Group meets monthly (generally 3rd Fri) in private houses. Write: PO Box 28, Stirling. FK9 5YW. WEST LOTHIAN: Go West is a gay men's group which meets every Thu evening in Livingston. Phone: Bathgate (01506) 631010. Thu-Fri 9am-4.30pm. Women's Groups ABERDEEN LESBIAN GROUP: Meets every Wed 8-10pm in the Women's Centre, Shoe Lane. Phone: Babs Greenwood on Aberdeen (01224) 625010. E-mail: ab.womenscentre@dial.pipex.com DUNDEE: We Bissums - a regular newsletter for Dundee women. Write: c/o Young Women's Project, 28 South Tay Street, Dundee. DD1 1PD. Phone: Dundee (01382) 224956. E-mail: LMat1053@aol.com EDINBURGH: AD Group: For lesbians 40+. Monthly meeting and frequent social events. For details, Phone: Edinburgh Lesbian Line or E-mail: 40plus@drink.demon.co.uk Edinburgh Bisexual Group meets 8-9.30pm every Thu in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. All welcome. See below for full listing. Lothian Lesbian Line 0131-557 0751, Mon and Thu 7.30-10pm. For information, advice and counselling in confidence. Write: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU. Lesbian Mothers Network (Scotland): Phone: : Sue Robertson 0131-556 3899/4563. Fax: 0131-557 9650. Write: One Parent Families Scotland, 13 Gayfield Square, Edinburgh. EH1 3NX. E-mail: opfs@gn.apc.org WWW: http://www.gn.apc.org/opfs/ GLASGOW: Glasgow Women's Library, 4th/5th Floors, 109 Trongate, G1 5HD. Phone: : 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 E-mail: gwl@globalnet.co.uk WWW: http://www.womens-library.org.uk/ Lesbian Mothers Discussion Group: Meets every second Mon from 6-8pm. Support group, social events, informal chat. Creche and fares help available. Phone Vicky on 0141-333 1450. Lesbian Writing Group: Held in Glasgow Womens' Library, 2nd and 4th Tue of each month 6.30-8.30pm. All welcome, especially novice writers. More info from Glasgow Womens' Library on 0141-552 8345. L.I.C. - Lesbian Inclusion Co-ordination: Social group co-ordinating a range of activities and involvement for lesbians at the Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre. Meets at 7pm on last Tue of every month at 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. Details 0141-221 7203, WWW: http://www.gglc.org.uk/ or E-mail: AliJarvis@unify.freeserve.co.uk OLGA - Older Women's Group: Meets monthly. Phone: Jenny on 0141-810 1468, Alex on Dalmellington (01294) 558171 or Lorna on Lochwinnoch (01505) 842352. Racketeers: Women's badminton. Mixed abilities. Thu 6.30-8.30pm at the Coburn Centre, near Southern General Hospital. Self Defence and Personal Safety: Personal safety and self defence courses for women are offered by Wise Women, 120 Sydney Street, Glasgow. G31 1JF. Phone: : 0141-550 7557. Women's Five-a-side Football: Indoor football. Mixed ability, new members/visitors welcome. Phone: Dunja on 0141-576 1345 for new time and venue details. E-mail: dab97215@aol.com INVERNESS: Highland Lesbian Group is a friendly lesbian social group that gets together on the first Mon of each month at the Station Hotel in Inverness from 7.30pm onwards. Also offers support and information. Write: PO Box 91, Inverness. IV2 7GJ. LESBIAN INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 8, Todmorden, Lancashire. OL14 5TZ. Please enclose an sae. Phone:/Fax: Todmorden (01706) 817235. LILLIDOTS: Lesbian Feminist Walking Group. Contact via Dundee Switchboard, Lothian Lesbian Line, Grampian Switchboard or Strathclyde Switchboard. Bisexuals EDINBURGH BISEXUAL GROUP: Meets every Thu 8-9.30pm 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 Phoneline on 0131-557 3620. E-mail: hi@ebg.org.uk WWW: http://www.ebg.org.uk/ Atheists/Humanists EDINBURGH FREETHINKERS: An informal network of militant atheists (with one militant humanist agnostic atheist). Write: PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. E-mail: god@antipope.org WWW: http://www.antipope.org/freethinkers/ GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (GALHA): A group for atheist/agnostic 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. E-mail: : GALHA@bigfoot.com WWW: http://visitweb.com/galha/ Bears BEARS' CLUB UK: For hairy, moustached and bearded men and their admirers. Aberdeen: Meets 1st Fri of each month. Aberdeen: Phone: Bruce on Aberdeen (01224) 317552. E-mail: aberdeenbears@drink.demon.co.uk Glasgow: Meets 2nd Sat of each month in the Court Bar from 8.30pm. Glasgow: Phone: 0141-883 9055. E-mail: glasgowbears@drink.demon.co.uk National: BCUK, PO Box 89, Hoylake DO, Wirral. L48 4LD. Bereavement LESBIAN & GAY BEREAVEMENT PROJECT: Provides support and information to bereaved lesbians and gay men or anyone bereaved by the death of a lesbian or gay man. Phone: 020-8455 8894 7-10.30pm. Fax: 020-8200 1345. Write: Lesbian & Gay Bereavement Project, Vaughan M Williams Centre, Colindale Hospital, London. NW9 5HG. E-mail: lgpb@aol.com WWW: http://members.aol.com/lgbp/ Bikers GAY BIKERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: A UK-wide club for women and men. Active Scottish section. Write: GBMCC, PO Box 33, Long Eaton, Nottingham. NG10 2BF. E-mail: info@gaybikers.demon.co.uk WWW: http://www.gaybikers.demon.co.uk/ Christians A COMMON BOND: An international support group for all gay, lesbian, bisexual, transgender people whose lives have been affected by the teachings of the Watchtower Organisation, commonly known as Jehovah's Witnesses. Open to all - whether active/ inactive, disfellowshipped or disassociated Witnesses, or friends and family of such. E-mail: ACBUK@excite.com WWW: http://hello.to/ACBUK EVANGELICAL: Lesbian, gay or bisexual? From an Evangelical tradition? So are we. Phone: Ewan on Polmont (01324) 715542. Write: Evangelical Fellowship, 123 Byron Road, Chelmsford, Essex. CM2 6HJ. HOLY TRINITY METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH: An inclusive church of the lesbigay and trangendered community open to all irrespective of sexuality. Services: Every Sun at 6pm in the Quaker Meeting House, Victoria Terrace, Edinburgh. Relationship blessings conducted by arrangement. Phone: 0131-664 8827. Write: Holy Trinity MCC, PO Box 12433, Edinburgh. EH1 3FU. E-mail: mcc.edinburgh@cheerful.com WWW: http://www.mccedinburgh.org.uk/ L&GCM: Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Write: PO Box 19522, Falkirk. FK2 0WD. 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: Ruth/BM, 3 Hallsfield, Cricklade, Swindon, Wilts. SN6 6LR. QUEST: Organisation for lesbian and gay Catholics. Monthly meetings are held in different regional groups throughout Britain. Scottish meetings held in Glasgow. Phone: Quest Linkline 020-7792 0234 Fri 7-10pm (answerphone at other times). Write: Quest, BM Box 2585, LONDON WC1N 3XX. (For Quest Glasgow write to: Quest, PO Box 280, Glasgow G11 7JP.) E-mail: quest@dircon.co.uk SCOTLAND 2000: Lesbian and Gay Christians forging dialogue with the Churches. Write: LGCM/Scotland 2000, Oxford House, Derbyshire Street, London. E2 6HG. Phone:/FAX: 020-7739 1249. E-mail: LGCM@aol.com WWW: http://members.aol.com/lgcm Cultural CELTIC MUSIC GAY GROUP: Mixed LGB group. Scottish/Irish music/culture fans (Wolfstone, Runrig, Wolfe Tones, Athenry, Aire Og, Christy Moore, etc). Watch and swap videos/cassettes. Write: CMGG, BM Box 7970, LONDON. WC1N 3XX. 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: ibetts@erols.com for any and all information, or Write: l 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. GAY ABBA FAN CLUB: For anyone wanting to meet with other guys with a Scandinavian fixation, watch/swap videos, memorabilia or just jam with other Svenskas. Phone: : 0141-943 1428. GAY CALEDONIAN CLUB (KILTIES): Meets 1st and 3rd Wed of the month in Glasgow. Phone: Bill on 0141-772 8322. GLASGAY!: Lesbian and gay arts festival which last took place in October 1999. Contact for more information or to be added to mailing list for the next Glasgay! Write: Glasgay!, Room 320A, 74 Victoria Crescent Road, Glasgow. G12 9JL. Phone: 0141-334 7126. Fax: 0141-334 7140. E-mail: glasgay@drink.demon.co.uk W: http://www.glasgay.co.uk/ 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. Cyberspace DIGITAL DIVERSITY: Cyberqueerdom Central. E-mail: info@diversity.org.uk WWW: http://www.diversity.org.uk/ GAY-INVERCLYDE: An E-mail community for meeting new LGB friends within the Inverclyde area. To join direct please visit WWW: http://www.onelist.com/community/Gay-Inverclyde or for more info visit WWW: http://www.boyscotland.org.uk. You can contact John direct by E-mail: john@boyscotland.org.uk or phone 07970 342 862. LAMBDA BOARD - EDINBURGH: The UK's oldest lesbigay 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). MEN IN KILTS NEWSGROUP: Web Newsgroup for gay kilt wearers from Scotland and abroad designed to promote kilt wearing and the love of the kilt and guys in them. To subscribe -F men-in-kilts-subscribe@eGroups.com Deaf LADDIES & LASSIES CLUB: New Scottish Deaf Gay & Lesbian Club. Write: The Laddies & Lassies Club, PO Box 7005, Glasgow. G44 4XH. E-mail: LLSDGALC@aol.com Drink Problems If you are a lesbian or gay man with a drink problem and want help and advice, Phone: _Tom on 0141-770 6599, 7 days a week anytime. Tom refers to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), but does preparatory work. AA MONDAY NIGHT GROUP: For anyone worried about a drink problem. Meets at 8pm every Mon at Phace West, 49 Bath Street, Glasgow. LIBRA: Help for women concerned about their drinking. Free 1-2-1 counselling. 0131-661 0111. Health Matters AXIS: HIV Information and resource service. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. 5 South Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy, Fife. (Behind Sheriff Court). KY1 1YA. Phone: : Kirkcaldy (01592) 265666. Fax: Kirkcaldy (01592) 643866. BODY POSITIVE (FIFE): Providing support for those HIV+ and with AIDS in the Kingdom. 5 South Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy, Fife. KY1 1YA. (Behind Sheriff Court). Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 597756. 9am-5pm Mon-Fri. BODY POSITIVE (GRAMPIAN): A self help group offering support and assistance for individuals with HIV/AIDS in the Grampian area. Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 404408 (Telephone Answering Machine). Write: PO Box 83, Aberdeen. AB9 1AA. BODY POSITIVE (STRATHCLYDE): Providing support for those living with HIV and AIDS in the West of Scotland. 3 Park Quadrant, Glasgow. G3 6BS. Mon-Thurs 11am-8pm and Friday 11am-5pm (Administration 9am-5pm Mon-Fri). Phone: : 0141-332 5010. Fax: 0141-332 4285. E-mail: bpstrathclyde@enterprise.net WWW: http://homepages.enterprise.net/bpstrathclyde/ BODY POSITIVE (TAYSIDE): Self help for HIV+ people. 11 Princes Street, Dundee. DD4 6BY. Phone: Dundee (01382) 461555. Fax: Dundee (01382) 461424. Drop In Centre: Mon (Women Only) 11am-2pm, Tue 10.30am-7.30pm, Wed-Thu 10.30am-3.30pm, Fri 11am-2pm, Sun Noon-5pm. E-mail: admin@bptayside.sol.co.uk WWW: http://www.sol.co.uk/b/bptayside/ CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH: Temporarily at 8 Woodside Crescent, Glasgow. G3 7UL. No disabled access and Library currently closed. Open Mon 10am-4pm, Tue, Wed 10am-9pm. Phone: 0141-211 6700. Fax: 0141-211 6702. Minicom: 0141-211 6701. E-mail: : cfwh@dial.pipex.com CRUSAID SCOTLAND: The national HIV and AIDS fundraising charity who also run the Individual Hardship Fund for HIV+ people on low incomes. (For Hardship Fund applications or queries, Phone: _Phace West on 0141-332 3838). Volunteers welcome for help in the office and with events - please contact Steve Piercy if you can help: 24a Ainslie Place, Edinburgh. EH3 6AJ. Phone: 0131-225 8918. Fax: 0131-220 4033. E-mail: : info@scotland.crusaid.org.uk WWW: http://www.crusaid.org.uk/ DOT (DUNDEE OUTREACH TEAM): Sexual health and relevant issues for gay and bisexual men. Free and confidential service. Drop in coffee shop: Sat 1.30-4.30pm. Friendly and informal. Harm Reduction Centre, 55 Constitution Road, Dundee. DD1 1LB. Phone: Dundee (01382) 424531. Fax: Dundee (01382) 424532. FIFE MEN: Information, advice and support on gay and health issues, free condoms, and much more! 5 South Fergus Place, Kirkcaldy. KY1 1YA (Behind Sheriff Court). Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Sat 11am-2pm. Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 265666. Fax: Kirkcaldy (01592) 643866. E-mail: fmen@kirkcaldy9910.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.users. dircon.co.uk/~alecd/ FRIENDSFORLIFE: Provides support and information in Glasgow and surrounding areas to people affected by terminal or long term chronic illness, ie Cancer, AIDS, MS, etc. 5th Floor, 52 St Enoch Square, Glasgow. G1 4DH. Office open 8.45am-5pm Mon-Fri. Phone: 0141-204 2202. Fax: 0141-204 2203. E-mail: ffl@cqm.co.uk GAY MEN'S HEALTH: A voluntary sector project for gay men. Services include individual or group support and counselling, scene work, peer education and training, volunteer projects, 'Cafe Chats', provision of condoms, lube and Safer Sex information. 10a Union Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Phone: : 0131-558 9444. Fax: 0131-558 9060. E-mail: gaymen@globalnet.co.uk WWW: http://www.users.globalnet.co.uk/~gaymen/ GLASGOW BARS AIDS WELFARE FUND: Raises funds for people with HIV/AIDS in the Greater Glasgow area. PO Box 3954, Glasgow. G31 2YF. E-mail: : gbawf@hotmail.com GLASGOW FOOD LINE: Confidential service which provides nutritionally balanced meals and information to HIV+ people and carers in Glasgow. Phone:/Fax: 0141-946 0003. Write: Unit A, Maryhill Workspace Limited, 45 Garrioch Road, Glasgow. G20 8RG. GRAMPIAN AIDS LINE: Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 574000 (Telephone Answering Machine). HEALTHY GAY SCOTLAND: Free condoms and lube available by post (Scotland only) through their website. WWW: http://www.hgscotland.org.uk/ HIV-AIDS CARERS AND FAMILY SUPPORT GROUP: Suite 226, Baltic Chambers, 50 Wellington Street, Glasgow. G2 6HJ. Mon-Fri 10am-4pm. Phone:/Fax: 0141-221 8100. E-mail: secretary@hivfamiliesgroup.freeserve.co.uk LANARKSHIRE HIV, AIDS AND HEPATITIS CENTRE: One stop shop for HIV and Hepatitis health services. Counselling Service, Monklands Hospital, Monks Court Avenue, Airdrie. ML6 0JS. Mon-Fri 9am-5pm. Phone: Airdrie (01236) 747960 or 746142. Fax: Airdrie (01236) 746195. MILESTONE HOUSE: Residential care (primarily respite and paliative care) for people with HIV/AIDS. 113 Oxgangs Road North, Edinburgh. EH14 1EB. Phone:/Fax: 0131-441 6989. PHACE WEST: A locally based and managed agency for people affected by HIV/AIDS serving Glasgow and the West of Scot-land. 49 Bath Street, Glasgow. G2 2DL. Phone: 0141-332 3838 Fax: 0141-332 3755. E-mail: contact@phacewest.enterprise-plc.com WWW: http://homepages.enterprise.net/phacewest/ PHAN: Pagan HIV & AIDS Network offers peer support and a forum, through correspondence, for Pagans living with or affected by HIV/AIDS to discuss issues and topics with other Pagans. Write: PHAN, c/o 22 Rosebank House, 217 Belle Vue Road, Leeds. LS3 1HG. Phone: 0831 464319. POSITIVE ACCOMMODATION TEAM: Social work service for people with HIV/AIDS providing supported living arrangements, intensive community based support and supported accommodation. General advice and information on community care and housing needs also provided. 1st Floor, Granite House, 31 Stockwell Street, Glasgow. G1 4RZ. Mon-Thu 8.45am-4.45pm. Fri 8.45am-3.55pm. Phone: 0141-552 4488. Fax: 0141-552 2760. POSITIVE HELP: Practical help for people who are infected or affected by HIV and AIDS in Edinburgh, their families and carers. 13a Great King Street, Edinburgh. EH3 6QW. Phone: 0131-558 1122. Fax: 0131-558 3636. E-mail: : posihelp@globalnet.co.uk POSITIVE VOICE: Community self-help organisation for people living with or affected by HIV/AIDS. 37-39 Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh. EH7 5DJ. Phone: _ 0131-652 0754. Fax: 0131-661 9100. Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 10am-4.30pm. E-mail: pozvoice@yahoo.com THE RAINBOW FUND: Raising funds for the future care of HIV/AIDS patients in Glasgow. PO Box 9525, Johnstone. PA5 OYB. Phone: _/Fax: 01505 347301. REACH OUT HIGHLAND: 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. 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness. IV1 1NB. Phone: Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Wed, Fri 9.30am-4.30pm, Thu 9.30am-7pm). Fax: Inverness (01463) 711793. E-mail: support@reachout.demon.co.uk WWW: http://www.reachout.demon.co.uk/Reach_Out_Highland.html ROAM OUTREACH PROJECT: Outreach sexual health service for sex workers and men using cruising areas. Spittal Street Centre, 22-24 Spittal Street, Edinburgh. EH3 9DU. Phone: 0131-537 8300 (Weekday afternoons) and ask for David or Andrew. E-mail: roamoutreach@hotmail.com SOLAS NATIONAL HIV/AIDS INFORMATION CENTRE: 2/4 Abbeymount, Edinburgh. EH8 8EJ. Information, advice and cafe. Information centre: Mon, Tue, Thu, Fri 11-4pm, Wed 5-9pm. Phone: 0131-659 5116. E-mail: information@solas.demon.co.uk WWW: http://www.solas.demon.co.uk/ STEVE RETSON PROJECT: Weekly sexual health service for gay men. Tue 5.30-9pm. Department of GU Medicine, Main Outpatient Department, Royal Infirmary, 16 Alexandra Parade, Glasgow. Phone: 0141-211 4753/4. Also at GGLC, 11 Dixon Street Thu 5.30-8.30pm. WAVERLEY CARE TRUST BUDDY SERVICE: Buddy Service offers 1:1 emotional support to individuals living with HIV & AIDS in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Write: Buddy Service Co-ordinator, Solas, 2/4 Abbeymount, Edinburgh. EH8 8EJ. Phone: 0131-478 7927. Fax: 0131-652 1780. E-mail: : buddyservice@solas.demon.co.uk NATIONAL AIDS HELPLINE: Freephone 0800 567123. 24 hour service for confidential advice and information. Minicom: 0800 521361 (24 hours). Other languages: 0800 9172227 6-10pm Mon Bengali, Tue Urdu, Wed Arabic, Thu Gujerati, Fri Hindi, Sat Punjabi, Sun Cantonese. Welsh 11am-11pm on 0800 567123. (All calls to 0800 numbers are free except from some mobile networks). E-mail: info@healthwise.org.uk Leather MSC SCOTLAND: MSC Scotland, PO Box 28, Edinburgh. EH3 5JL. MSC Scotland is a member of the European Federation of Motorcycle Clubs. Meets in the Claremont Bar, Edinburgh on the last Sat of each month from 9pm. Legal GAY AND LESBIAN LEGAL ADVICE: GLAD is a London based advice line run by lesbian and gay lawyers. Phone: 020-7837 5212 (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. Military 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: 020-7652 6464. Wed 7-9pm. Scottish Co-ordinator North: Calum McLean. Phone: Inverness (01463) 236878. E-mail: info@Rank-Outsiders.org.uk WWW: http://www.rank-outsiders.org.uk/info Older Gays CAFFMOS: Contacts And Friendship For Men Over Sixty - for the older gentleman and his admirers! Write: "CAFFMOS", PO Box 2273, Hove. BN3 2GF. Phone: Hove (01273) 220995. E-mail: Caffmos2@aol.com WWW: http://members.aol.com/Caffmos/ PHOENIX: National group for the over forties and friends of any age. Write: (enclose sae): Phoenix, PO Box 103, Wallington, Surrey. SM6 9SJ. OPI(THE NUNS) The Sisters and Brothers of the Order of Perpetual Indulgence 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. OPI CONVENT OF DUNN EIDEANN: Write: : Sister Athletica de la Bain OPI, c/o PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. E-mail: dunneideann@hotmail.com OPI CONVENT OF MORAVIA: A more Northern manifestation of the Sisterate. Write: Sister Bobby OPI, Convent of Moravia, 2-4 Lamb Street, Bishopmill, Elgin. IV30 2DG. Phone: Sister Bobby on Elgin (01343) 542928. Outdoor Clubs CELEBRATE: Celebrate is a community organisation that puts on residential community events for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and people who identify with those groups. Our events are a chance for people to get away from it all for a while, meet other people and explore community, creativity, diversity. Contacts for Celebrate! 2000 in SW Scotland are Sue: Phone: 0113-275 6641, Antony: T Phone: Bognor Regis (01243) 867547 (E-mail: Antony@chuter.screaming.net) or David: Phone: Hindhead (01428) 607554. E-mail: Celebrate@cwcom.net) WWW: http://www.celebrate.cwc.net/ DUNDEE HILLBILLIES: Hillwalking group meets 2nd and 3rd Sun of each month (Mar-Dec). Phone: Kevin on Dundee (01382) 455099. E-mail: hillbillies@drink.demon.co.uk GAY BIRDERS CLUB: A club for gay and lesbian bird-watchers. UK-based with a world-wide membership, and particularly active in Scotland. Write: Deneside, Foulden, Berwickshire. TD15 1UL. E-mail: gay.birders@dial.pipex.com WWW: http://ds.dial.pipex.com/gay.birders/ GAY OUTDOOR CLUB: Holds regular events including walking, skiing, cycling, mountaineering, camping, youth-hostelling, badminton and swimming. Also holds regular socials in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Please send an A5 sae to GOC, PO Box 16124, Glasgow, G12 9YT, or ring one of the Scottish contacts: East: Grant on 0131-556 8705 (F grant@music.ed.ac.uk ), West: Jonathan on 0141-342 4088; North: Michael on Lairg (01549) 421344. (F Keates@eggconnect.net ). WWW: http://bi.org/~goc/ GAY RAMBLING GROUP: Walks on the 2nd Sat of each month. Phone: _Ross on 0141-427 1511. Parents PARENTS' FRIEND: Phone: Wolverhampton (01902) 820497. Hours change weekly, but telephone answering machine will always give current details. Fax: 0113-294 9677. Write: c/o Voluntary Services Council, 2/3 Bell St, Wolverhampton. WV1 3PR. WWW: http://www.parentsfriend.demon.co.uk/ SCOTTISH PARENTS ENQUIRY SERVICE: Support for parents of lesbians gays and bisexuals. Contact via Lothian Switchboard or Write: SPE, PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU. Political AMNESTY INTERNATIONAL GAY, LESBIAN, BISEXUAL AND TRANSGENDER NETWORK: Campaigns for lgbt prisoners of conscience overseas and works within Amnesty UK to change attitudes. Write: AIGLBTN, 11 Jeffrey Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1DR. Phone: Catherine on 0131-555 0534 or David on 0141-554 7159. E-mail: dgilmour@innocent.com DELGA-SCOTLAND: Liberal Democrats for Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual & Transgender Equality. Write: DELGA-Scotland, 4 Clifton Terrace, Edinburgh, EH12 5DR. E-mail: delga.scotland@delga.libdems.org WWW: http://www.scotlibdems.org.uk/ao/delgscot/delgscot.htm THE GAY POLITICAL PARTY: Contact: c/o David Shiloh, 109 (8/2) Bluevale Street, Dennistoun, Glasgow. G31 1HL. LESBIANS & GAY MEN SUPPORTING IRISH POLITICAL PRISONERS/IRISH SOLIDARITY CAMPAIGNS IN SCOTLAND/LONDON: For details of monthly pickets, socials, functions, commemorations, etc, Write: : Paul, BM Box 7970, London. WC1N 3XX. LIBERAL PARTY LESBIAN AND GAY CAMPAIGN: Phone: : Southport (01704) 500115 (day), 0151-259 5935 (Telephone Answering Machine). Write: Liberal Party Lesbian & Gay Campaign, 41 Sutton Street, Liverpool. L13 7EG. E-mail: libgay@libparty.demon.co.uk WWW: http://www.libparty.demon.co.uk/ OUT FOR INDEPENDENCE: The SNP's LGBT Group, has been established to bring together lesbians, bisexuals, gay men and transgender people who support Independence, and to act as a forum within the SNP to discuss LGBT issues. Write: : Out for Independence, 6 North Charlotte Street, Edinburgh. EH2 4JH. E-mail: mail@snplgb.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.snplgb.freeserve.co.uk/ THE PASSION BRIGADE: Mixed sex/sexuality - all ages and races. Anarchism. Details (2 postage stamps please) from BM Box 207, LONDON. WC1N 3XX. SCOTTISH LABOUR CAMPAIGN FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS: Works within the Labour and Trades Union movement to secure equality for lesbians and gay men. Meets quarterly. Write: : c/o GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. TORCHE: Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality. Write: : BM TORCHE, London WC1N 3XX. E-mail: Torche@cableinet.co.uk W: http://www.torche.gb.org/ Prisoners FREE MAGAZINES: Copies of ScotsGay magazine are sent free of charge to prisoners in UK prisons and institutions. Please contact us if you wish to be added to our free mailing list. PRISONERS' LGBT GROUP: For lesbian, gay, bisexual, TV, TS or just curious people who are in prison (or any institution) in need of advice, help or a friendly ear. Run by gay guy in HMP Shotts. Write: : Joseph N Campbell, (LGBL Angel Fire), 142/29 Delta, HMP Shotts, Lanarkshire. ML7 4LE. Rape/Sexual Abuse M-LINE: Phone: _ Dundee (01382) 858085. Daily 7-9pm. MEN AGAINST SEXUAL ABUSE: Phone: _ 0141-550 2048. Tue 7-9pm. RAPE AND ABUSE LINE: For male and female survivors. Women answer the phone: Dingwall (01349) 865316 7-10pm nightly. Men answer the phone: Dingwall (01349) 862686 Mon and Wed 7-10pm. Callers are welcome to phone either line. Write: PO Box 10, Dingwall. IV15 9HE. Real Ale DIVERSE DRINKERS: Edinburgh group for lgbt real ale and cider fans. Meets in The Holyrood Tavern every 1st Mon of each month from 8pm to sample the brewers' art. Phone: : Karen on 0131-557 8790. E-mail: : karen@fisherrow.co.uk WWW: http:// www.antipope.org/feorag/drinkers/ GLASGOW GAY REAL ALE GROUP: Meets first Wed of each month plus regular visits to real ale pubs in the Glasgow area and to real ale festivals. Why not come along and have a beer and a laugh? Phone: : Ken on 0141-427 4764. E-mail: ggrag@dodrums.dircon.co.uk WWW: http://www.dodrums.dircon.co.uk/ggrag/ UK pub listings can be found at WWW: http://www.goldings.demon.co.uk/queerale/ Science Fiction DELANEY'S CHILDREN: Edinburgh: Meets every 1st Sun of each month in Nexus Cafe from 3-4.30pm. Glasgow: Meets every 3rd Sun of each month. Phone: Paul on 0141-339 9176. Skinheads OI SCOTLAND!: A new group, based in Edinburgh, for gay Skins living in, or from, Scotland. Dedicated to the promotion of Boot-worship, discipline, loyalty and camaraderie. Non-racist; Non-sectarian; Non-political. Write: an appropriate letter for further details: PO Box 13487, Edinburgh. EH5 1QN. S/M SM GAYS: Write: SM Gays, BM SM Gays, London. WC1N 3XX. E-mail: smgays@aol.com Sports ABERDEEN GAY MEN'S SWIMMING GROUP: Swim every Wed from 8pm onwards. Phone: David on Aberdeen (01224) 317552. E-mail: agmsg@drink.demon.co.uk EDINBURGH GAY MEN'S RUNNING CLUB: Meets for 3-4 mile casual local run. Phone: Alistair on 0131-556 9995. EDINBURGH GAY MEN'S SWIMMING GROUP: Meets informally Mon at 8pm in the Commonwealth Pool. Phone: Tom 0131-229 5755. E-mail: egmsg@drink.demon.co.uk GAY GOLF CLUB: Phone Frank for details on 0141-576 2373. GLASGOW BADMINTON GROUP: Meets Knightswood Secondary School on Monday nights 7-10pm. Phone: Clive on 0141-779 2321. WWW: http://www.bigfoot.com/~drb61 GLASGOW SWIMMING GROUP: Meets informally 7.30-9pm Mon at Govanhill Baths and Thursdays at North Woodside Pool. Phone: Douglas on 0141-636 1510. E-mail: drb61@bigfoot.com WWW: http://www.bigfoot.com/ ~drb61/ LESBIAN & GAY FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS NETWORK: Write: GFSN Membership Secretary, c/o Central Station, 37 Wharfdale Road, London. N1 9SE. E-mail: blue.moon@ndirect.co.uk WWW: http://www.geocities.com/Colosseum/Slope/3743/ QUEER FISH SWIMMING GROUP: Meets every Fri 5.15pm in the foyer of the Commonwealth Pool, Edinburgh. If you're looking for people to swim with but can't make that time, get in touch anyway. Phone: _Kate on 0131-556 9958. E-mail: : kate@ling.ed.ac.uk WWW: http://www.ling.ed.ac.uk/~kate/queerfish.html 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. Phone: NUS Scotland LGB Officer on 0131-556 6598. Fax: 0131-557 5679. Write: LGB Officer, NUS Scotland, 29 Forth Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3LE. F: nus-scot@dircon.co.uk OPEN UNIVERSITY L&G SOC: Phone: Ian on Wigtown (01988) 403219. E-mail: oulags@openlink.org WWW: http://home.wxs.nl/~mhodson/oulags/ TV/TS ABERDEEN: 3G (Grampian Gender Group). Meets 3rd Sat of each month Noon-5pm. Phone: Gillian on Aberdeen (01224) 633108 6.30-9.30pm Mon-Tue. EDINBURGH: Scottish TV/TS Group meets last Sat of each month. Phone: Agnes on 0131-229 7177 evenings. GLASGOW: Crosslynx meets second Wed of each month (except December) from 7-10pm. Phone: Crosslynx Helpline on 0141-332 3333 Mon 7.30-9.30pm. HIGHLAND T-GROUP: Monthly transgender support group meeting in Inverness. Phone: Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Fri 9.30am-4.30pm). Write: Julia Gordon, c/o Reach Out Highland, 34 Waterloo Place, Inverness. IV1 1NB. E-mail: julia@reachout.demon.co.uk Visual Impairment SCOTSGAY ON DISC: The text from ScotsGay and InsideOUT is available free of charge to visually impaired readers on 3.5" or 5.25" computer disk in IBMPC format. We will be glad to add you to our mailing list if you send your name and address (and disk size required) to us at: SOD, ScotsGay, PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. E-mail: SOD@scotsgay.co.uk Workplace EIS GAY AND LESBIAN NETWORK: Write: c/o 46 Moray Place, Edinburgh. EH3 6BH. Phone: Veronica Rankin (Equality Officer) on 0131-225 6244. E-mail: vrankin@eis.org.uk GLASGOW CITY COUNCIL G&L EMPLOYEES FORUM: Phone: : John Dawson on 0141-959 7457 or Charles Thomson on 0141-287 3744. GMB SCOTLAND EQUAL RIGHTS GROUP: Write: Mary Senior, Regional Equal Rights Officer, GMB Scotland, Fountain House, 1/3 Woodside Crescent, Glasgow. G3 7UJ. Phone: 0141-332 8641. E-mail: mary.senior@gmb.org.uk UNISON GLASGOW CITY LESBIAN & GAY GROUP: Meets monthly on Payday Tuesday in the GGLC at 6pm. Phone: Neil MacInnes on 0778 7506287. E-mail: neil.macinnes@unison-glasgow.demon.co.uk UNISON SCOTLAND L&G COMMITTEE: Write: Neil MacInnes, Secretary, UNISON House, 14 West Campbell Street, Glasgow. G2 6RX. Phone: _ 0141-332 0006 or 0778 7506287. E-mail: neil.macinnes@unison-glasgow.demon.co.uk UNISON WEST NETWORK: For Unison members in the West of Scotland. Meet quarterly. Phone: Neil MacInnes on 0778 7506287. E-mail: neil.macinnes@unison-glasgow.demon.co.uk Youth Groups Bi-G-LES Youth: Strathclyde's Lesbian Gay and Bi-sexual Youth Group: Friendship and support for under 26s. Meets Tue 8pm and Fri 3pm at the GGLC. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard or PHACE West (0141-332 3838). Write: c/o GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow. G1 4AL. E-mail: info@bi-g-les.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.bi-g-les.freeserve.co.uk/ DUNBARTONSHIRE SEXUALITY AND SUPPORT GROUP: A local group that helps young gay men come to terms with their sexuality. Open to men aged 26 and under. Meets 4th Tue of each month. Phone: _Julian Heng on 0141-332 3838 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or Strathclyde Switchboard for details of venue. E-mail: julianh@phacewest.enterprise-plc.com HIGHLAND GAY LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL YOUTH GROUP: Meets 7.30pm 1st Wed of each month at 34 Waterloo Place, Inver-ness. Phone: Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Wed, Fri 9.30am-4.30pm, Thu 9.30am-7pm) and ask for Ronald or Kerr. Social meeting 3rd Friday of each month, same time and place. E-mail: project@reachout.demon.co.uk LANARKSHIRE GAY, LESBIAN AND BISEXUAL YOUTH GROUP: If you are under 26, live in Lanarkshire and are looking for support and friendship, whether you're coming out, thinking about it, or just want to know more, then phone Paul on 0845 6071936. E-mail: contact@bigllany.freeserve.co.uk LESBIAN YOUTH SUPPORT INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 18, Ashton-under-Lyne, Cheshire. SK15 2FE. Enclose sae. STONEWALL YOUTH PROJECT: Provides services for lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered young people living in Edinburgh and the Lothians. Project Phoneline: 0131-556 4040 (Tue 7.30-9pm) is staffed by trained young people and adult volunteers ready to give information or just chat. Stonewall Youth Group is for lesbians, gays, bisexuals and transgendered people aged 13-18 in the Lothians. Meets every Fri evening in Central Edinburgh. Stonewall Friends is for young people aged 18-25 and meets every Wed evening in Edinburgh with regular social events at other times. Stonewall Girlz is a once a month group for lesbian, bisexual and transgender women aged 13-25, providing social and educational activities in a safe, off scene environment. Office Phone/Fax: 0131-622 2266 (Tue-Fri 3-5pm). Write: Stonewall Youth Project, PO Box 4040, Edinburgh. EH3 9YF. E-mail: syp@dircon.co.uk WWW: http://www.syp.dircon.co.uk/ YOUTHCON: A gathering for lgbt young people aged 25 or under which will be held in Edinburgh 10th-12th Mar 2000. Write: YouthCon, c/o 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. E-mail: youthcon@youthcon.force9.co.uk WWW: http://www.youthcon.force9.co.uk/ YOUTHNET: Group for young (25 and under) lesbians, gays and bisexuals or anyone who is unsure. Informal meetings held fortnightly on Sun evenings. Phone: Dundee (01382) 202620 Mon 7-10pm. Write: PO Box 53, Dundee. DD1 3YG. E-mail: switchboard@dundeelgb.freeserve.co.uk WWW: http://www.dundeelgb.freeserve.co.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------- HELPLINES ========= Bisexual Phoneline Thu 7.30-9.30pm, Phone: 0131-557 3620 Borders Gay Switchboard: Thu 7.30-10pm, Phone: Galashiels (01896) 756611 Crosslynx National TV/TS Helpline: Mon 7.30-9.30pm, Phone: 0141-332 3333 Dumfries and Galloway L& G Phoneline: Thu 7.30-9.30pm, Phone: Dumfries (01387) 261818 Dundee LGB Switchboard: Mon 7-10pm, Phone: Dundee (01382) 202620 WWW: http://www.dundeelgb.freeserve.co.uk/ Fife Friend: Fri 7.30-10pm, Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688 Gay Line North East: Nightly 7pm-Late, for Gay and Bi men. Phone: Elgin (01343) 542928 Grampian Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Switchboard: Wed, Fri 7-10pm. Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 633500 (Minicom available), Fax: Aberdeen (01224) 634055 Lothian Gay and Lesbian Switchboard: Nightly 7.30-10pm, Phone: 0131-556 4049 E-mail: lgls@itek-uk.com WWW: http://www.lgls.org/ Lothian Lesbian Line: Mon, Thu 7.30-10pm, Phone: 0131-557 0751 Moray LGB Switchboard: Men: Fri 7-10pm; Women: Thu 7-10pm, Phone: Elgin (01343) 541188 Night Owl Crisis Line: Nightly Midnight-5am, Phone: 0141-332 2992 Strathclyde Gay and Lesbian Switchboard: Nightly 7-10pm, Phone: 0141-332 8372 Switchboard Lesbian Line: Wed 7.30-10pm, Phone: 0141-354 0400 London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard: 24 hours, Phone:/ Minicom: 020-7837 7324. FAX: 020-7837 7300. WWW: http://www.llgs.org.uk/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MUSIC ===== Chart by Alan Joy 1 Tungsten Carbine (Escape Remix/Original Mix) Future Groove 2 Jark Prongo Shake It (Club 69 Trance Mix) *69 3 Silvio Ecomo Standing Bango 4 Harley & Feller The Rising Sun (Bedrock Remix) Junior 5 Citizen K Interstate Advance 6 Paragliders Lithium EP: Lithium 2 Phoolish 7 808 State Invader (Vegas Soul Remix 2) Bellboy 8 Timo Maas Riding on a Storm Bush 9 Morel True (The Faggot is You) (Deep Dish Poof Daddy Remix) YoshiToshi 10 Durango 95 Drum Decay Duty Free 11 DJ Gilbert Age of Reason/Trailblazer/Raw Material Tri Lamb 12 DJ Remy Home Again Taste 13 Phantom Control Freak (Alien Trax Remix) Chug N Bump 14 Stef Freshly Squeezed (Original) Sadie 15 Funk Function! Empress Zero Multitracks 16 David Alvarado Klugh (DJ Dozia's Mix/Main Mix) Ovum 17 Country & Western Reincarnation (Danny Howells and Dick Trevor's Science Dept Mix) Red Parrot 18 Dominica Neon Advance 19 Dos Deviants The Present Situation WAQT 20 Jean Michel Jarre C'est La Vie (Futureshock Mix) Epic ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOTSDYKE ========= The Lesbian 2000 Calendar Heather's busy enjoying herself so we let Raven take over ScotsDyke to shamelessly plug her latest project. Well it all started like this. A couple of years ago down in a valley in Lancashire at "Lezzie Camp" I started chatting with my fellow dyke campers about finding a way to get a Lesbian nursing home. We all bantered and laughed at the idea of dartboards and pool tables with an adjoining bar and having a sauna/sweatlodge in the garden with a fire pit. We then talked a bit more seriously about how it really would be good to have a place for dykes/lesbians, whatever we want to call ourselves, to grow old disgracefully if we want to or serenely if that was our preference. The idea of being cared for in a non-straight way with no closeting at 70+, double rooms for couples, extra space for lovers or friends to stay over when visiting and just being able to hold hands seemed wonderful and possible, it just needed the money. So off I went on a mission to find a way of raising the money and I came up with the calendar idea. I hadn't found much competition for calendars for dykes, except from the States, and personally didn't like the "straight" looking women in false poses. So I set off to make my own and here it is. I called on the help of a couple of mates for their photographic skills and a few more mates for some models and turned my flat in to a studio for a day. Well, what a laugh! If the dogs weren't running around being mad then the dykes were. Our photographer for the day hadn't done anything like this before. Her eyes were popping from her bright red cheeks and lots of sexy little grins were being sent across the room to her partner, who had come along to hold certain bits of equipment! In various states of dress and undress women were running around from the bathroom to the lounge and off to the bedroom (not always for photos eh Jacz). At 5pm the doorbell rang and we all had to rush about getting clothed as "Mummy and Mummy" turned up with toddler to do our "Preggy Belly" shot. There we were about 6 dykes in different states of undress singing the Teletubbies song to an 18 month old toddler when only 10 minutes earlier we'd all been running around with our tits out, very bizarre! Anyway, the whole thing was a very empowering experience for all involved and great fun too. After the photo shoot came the hard part, how to turn the pictures into a calendar and get it printed for as little cost as possible. I went round various printers in Aberdeen and finally got an affordable quote so I started looking at advertising. I phoned up N.O.W, ScotsGay and Diva and sent off a pencil drawn idea of an advert, only to find that when it was produced each mag had turned it upside down and inside out and made my original idea look like crap. Nice work though guys and gals the ads are great. On chatting to John Hein, the editor of ScotsGay, I was put in touch with a printing company in Glasgow, and ended up with a far better quote for production of the calendar, many thanks for that John. He also gave me the phone number of a co-worker and personal friend of his who works wonders with computers. For just a plate of nachos (I'm sure 'a few pints' came into the equation as well - F.) this wonderful woman has computerised all the hand drawn and photocopied stuff that I had prepared and got the whole lot ready for the printer, Feorag you're a Goddess! As I speak now the computer disc is on it's way to the printer to become 2000 lovely lesbian calendars. It's taken 3 months of brain storming and hair pulling but it's finally happened and only with the help of all the people mentioned here and featured in the calendar and their fabulous encouragement when, at times, it all seemed too much. The calendar itself consists of 12 black and white photos, some with a little bit of colour highlighting, of what can only be described as "real" lesbians. We don't see ourselves as "super models" or anything like that, we are just ordinary women like the dyke next door. I have chosen some poetic verses and some "witty ditties" to accompany each of the photos from a selection of ideas put forward by a bunch of us on a lazy Sunday afternoon. We like them and hope you do too. If you'd like more info about the Women's Holiday Centre you'll find the address in the calendar and if you drop them a line they'll send you a fact sheet. If you would like more info about "Lezzie Camp" then write to me, Raven, at the calendar address. We have all worked voluntarily here at the calendar and not even put in for expenses yet, as there is no cash flow to speak of until the orders come in. Like I said earlier, the overall idea is to raise money to eventually buy an "Old Dykes Home", and maybe, in 10 to 15 years we'll have enough money to make that possible. However, along the way I've decided that the calendar is going to support the Women's Holiday Centre at Horton-in-Ribblesdale and "LezzieCamp" with some cash to make ends meet as both are great places and need financial help. So at the end of the day the more calendars you buy the more money they get so tell all your friends to get buying calendars now Oh, by the way, we hope to produce greetings cards and postcards in, the spring so if you see the "Raveart" logo you'll know where your money is going. Well that's about all from me, thanks in anticipation of your support for the calendar and maybe I'll see some of you and your Zimmer frames in the future, as I intend to grow old as disgracefully as I can!!!! If you would like to order a calendar then please send a cheque or postal order payable to S. Payne for UKP 5.95 inclusive of postage and packaging and your name and address on a piece of paper to: Calendar 2000 Raveart UK 29a Bedford Avenue Aberdeen AB24 3YN -------------------------------------------------------------------- CREDITS ======= ScotsGay: a monthly magazine for lesbians, gays and bisexuals edited, printed and published in Scotland. ISSN: 1357-0595. (c) Pageprint Publishing Limited, December 1999. 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. Production: Feorag NicBhride. Hinderance: Sekhmet T. Pussycat. Contributors in this issue: Tim Hopkins (News), Martin Walker (The Nice Bit), Garry Otton, Feorag NicBhride & Kenny Martin (Features), Granny Spice, Martin Walker, Liquid Silk, Goldilocks & Dr. Kenniff (Scene), Rex Wockner (International), Malcolm Epstein, Scott J Reid & Laura McGrath (Reviews), Raven (ScotsDyke). Editorial Enquiries: Write to: ScotsGay, 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. If you wish to unsubscribe, send an "unsubscribe scotsgay-list" message.