END SCOTSGAY MAGAZINE ================= ScotsGay is a bi-monthly magazine for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals. Edited, printed and published in Scotland Issue 7 - December 1995 ELECTRONIC EDITION To subscribe: Send a mail message to listserver@drink.demon.co.uk The first (not subject) line of the message should be subscribe scotsgay-list (If you are subscribing for a different address from the one you are using to send the request, you should preface your request with a line of the form set address myotheraddress@my.other.system instead) To unsubscribe: Send a mail message to listserver@drink.demon.co.uk The first (not subject) line of the message should be unsubscribe scotsgay-list (If you are unsubscribing for a different address from the one you are using to send the request, you should preface your request with a line of the form set address myotheraddress@my.other.system instead) All Material Copyright (c) Pageprint Limited 1995. Permission is hereby given to distribute this material provided that this copyright notice is included and that distribution is specifically for non-profitmaking reasons. Distribution for profit must be done only with prior written consent of the magazine any deviation from this will be seen as an infringement of copyright. Hardcopies are limited to one per person for personal use only and such hard copies are subject to the same copyright restrictions as laid out above. The printed edition of ScotsGay is available by post at the following rates: 6 issue sub (UK & EC) 6ukp 6 issue sub (Overseas) 12ukp 12 issue sub (UK & EC) 10ukp 12 issue sub (Overseas) 22ukp Make Cheques and POs payable to 'Pageprint Limited' or 'ScotsGay' and send them to: Subscriptions ScotsGay Pageprint Limited PO Box 666 Edinburgh Scotland EH7 5YW ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- In this edition: Editorial - Mr Angry News - Reports and Investigations Humbug - Christmas, Bloody Christmas Soapbox - Rocking The Boat ScotsDyke - Roberts' Rules of Lesbian Chic Inside Out - ScotsGay's Scene Guide containing Scene News from around Scotland Boxes - The ScotsGay Meet Market Venues International - News from around the world Serial - The boys are at it again Music - Alan's Chart Arts - Phantom of the Opera Reviews - Videos, Mags, Books Listings and Helplines - Updated every issue Letters ---------------------------------------------------------------------- EDITORIAL: It's not often, these days, that you see me really angry about something. Years of toiling at the face of lesbigay liberation have made me pretty inured to most things, be they the petty personal politics that so often get in the way of the real task in hand, or the constant reminders of homophobia out in the big wild world beyond our self imposed ghettoes. But, the latest nonsense from the middle class totalitarian "socialists" in UNISON's lesbian and gay campaign who have voted to exclude bisexuals from their number, reduces me to spluttering and incoherent rage. HOW DARE THEY! It seems that it's all very well as long as you define as gay, but the moment you admit that you're bisexual, then you're out of the door. Many of the most ardent supporters of this position are well known to have had or be having sex with persons of the opposite gender - but they claim despite this that they're lesbian or gay, not bisexual. What blatant hypocrisy. They're as bad as the Uncle (and Auntie) Toms in the Churches and Parliament who condemn homosexuals at every opportunity yet manage to do an awful lot of discreet shagging of the ‘wrong' sort. I've always considered myself to be a monosexual, but if bisexuality is going to be a reason for exclusion from the movement I've worked in for 20 years, then stuff this for a game of soldiers, you can call me bisexual anytime - I know where my friends are. John Hein --------------------------------------------------------------------------- NEWS ==== BISEXUALS SHAFTED BY UNION Bisexuals and their allies are up in arms after the decision of public service Trades Union UNISON's lesbian and gay conference to ban them from the union's lesbian and gay groups. Lothian Region Branch proposed a motion to the Union's Lesbian and Gay Conference in Brighton last week which specifically excluded self identified bisexuals from the campaign. The motion, which was opposed by Thames Water and Edinburgh District Branch was narrowly carried. Earlier, Edinburgh District Delegate Ian Dunn had moved a motion of prioritisation to ensure that the motion was discussed and did not drop off the agenda. The original motion was proposed to the Lothian Region Branch by Murray ‘Viscount' Fforgie who really should know better. However, closet bisexuals continue to be welcomed (as they are at London Lesbian and Gay Switchboard which has a similar policy). Commented seasoned lesbigay campaigner Tim Hopkins, "The tide of opinion is really against UNISON on this one". However, fears that as a result of the new policy the union might not be able to continue to financially support Pride (which is advertised as being for lesbians gays and bisexuals), have been played down by all concerned. EQUALITY 2,000 A major political initiative has been taken by OUTRIGHT Scotland with their release of a consultative version of EQUALITY 2000, a comprehensive document which sets out the Group's stall for the creation, protection and enforcement of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered rights in a future Scottish Parliament. To most readers of ScotsGay, the document will prove pretty unexceptional, spelling out, as it does, the need for equitable treatment for Scotland's queer citizens. To our politicians, however, it's likely to lead to lively debate and comment - especially from the homophobes in all parties - not just the Tories. Single copies of the paper are obtainable by writing to The Secretary, OUTRIGHT Scotland, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA and enclosing an SAE. Written responses are invited (to arrive by 29th February 1996) and the final version will be up for debate at OUTRIGHT's AGM on 18th May 1996. SUPERSTITION KILLS Roman Catholic school children in Scotland are to be put at risk of AIDS/HIV after the banning by the Vatican of an HIV educational pack. Archbishop Keith O'Brien was told to ban the pack "HIV Prevention - A Christian Response" after the bigots of Rome discovered it made sensible comments about condoms and acknowledged homosexual relationships. Now, the Congregation for the Doctrine and the Faith (aka The Inquisition) has instructed the Archbishop to withdraw his imprimatur and to have the packs removed from schools. The packs had been around for three years, having been produced with the assistance of Lothian Health Board. Commented Father Tom Connolly, director of the Scottish Catholic Media Office: "You are not meant to use condoms at all, at all, at all, even if in marriage one partner has HIV, the use of a condom is still wrong". CENTRE ACCESS A possible problem has arisen over the proposed wheelchair access at Edinburgh's Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre. The Scottish Office is unhappy with the style of lift proposed for the exterior of the Grade II listed building in Broughton Street. However, another style of lift is being looked into and the matter will be discussed at building owners OUTRIGHT Scotland's EGM in the Centre on 16th December. The proposed alterations will cost in excess of ukp45,000 and some serious fund raising will be required. LEADING ACTIVIST DIES Leading HIV/AIDS activist Ken Cowan died on 11th November of complications through AIDS. He was 40. Formerly active in the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group (now OUTRIGHT Scotland), in recent years, Ken was much involved in the development of Body Positive (Strathclyde) and was instrumental in the setting up of PHACE West. Diagnosed HIV+ in 1991, Ken saw it as another challenge on the road of life and rose to the occasion. A nice, straightforward guy who will be much missed. WREATH A poppy wreath was laid on behalf of OUTRIGHT Scotland by Ian Dunn and Charles Colquhoun at the Edinburgh Cenotaph on 12th November. The laying had to take place after the official ceremony as the British Legion refused to allow OUTRIGHT to take part. However, the OUTRIGHT wreath remained in place with all the other wreaths and was not removed by Legion Officials as in previous years. CHANGE AT THE TOP One man in Scotland has it in his power to allow gay men of 16-18 to enjoy their sexuality without fear of criminal action. That man is the Lord Advocate. Now, Scotland has a new Lord Advocate - and ScotsGay can reveal exclusively that the message to our gay teens is: Carry on Shagging! Donald Mackay QC was appointed as Lord Advocate last month after serving as Solicitor General for Scotland for just six months. He replaces Lord Rodger of Earlsferry who left the post to become a Judge (a job in which he can remain if the Tories fail to win the next election). Although the Crown Office claims to have the matter under constant review, it is clear that the new Lord Advocate has no intention of withdrawing the current circular to Procurators Fiscal which advises them to leave consensual sex involving 16-18 year old men well alone. However, hot potatoes which will soon be landing on Donald Mackay's desk (he will become a Lord, but hasn't yet decided what to call himself) include the case of Stuart Gair (a heterosexual man fitted up by Glasgow police for a gay murder) and that of Craig MacKenzie (who is currently appealing against his conviction for the murder of a young man who was allegedly being forced into prostitution by others). Both cases show clear failures in the Scottish legal system and are both cases where the intervention of the Lord Advocate would be crucial. Meanwhile, the case of a young Asian man in Glasgow who recovered substantial damages from Strathclyde Police after he was seriously assaulted by an on-duty police officer continues to leave a sour taste in the mouths of all right thinking people. Despite the payout, no action is to be taken against the policeman concerned by his superiors. Strathclyde Police have no equal opportunities policy in place covering either lesbigay staff or the public unlike Lothian and Borders which has taken vast steps in the last few years although their change in policies have still to sink in with many officers at the sharp end. The appointment of a new Chief Constable in Glasgow may prompt changes, but the general feeling is "Don't hold your breath". A recent conference on Lesbigay Policing held in Manchester only managed to attract one Scots police representative (from Lothian and Borders). But Jim Whannel and Liz Jaconelli attending on behalf of Strathclyde Switchboard were appointed to the National Liaison Committee. RALLY World AIDS Day on Dec 1st was observed throughout Scotland. In Edinburgh several thousand gathered for a rally. PRIDE DATE PRIDE Scotland have announced that their Glasgow event is to take place on 22nd June 1996. DISCO 5th January from 10pm-2am sees NEW YEARS REVOLUTIONS, a women's disco at Glasgow School of Art Assembly Rooms, Renfrew Street, being run by the Glasgow Women's Library. Tickets (ukp4/ukp2) available from GWL or phone 0141-552 8345. SHELVED ScotsGay is now available at the appropriately named Dick Institute in Kilmarnock. A number of other libraries also now stock ScotsGay. HEALING SOLAS in Edinburgh will be hosting the second in a series of three workshops: "The Healer Within" on Saturday 27th January from 10am-6pm. Further details from Shona on 0131-661 0982. NO ACTION The Procurator Fiscal in Edinburgh has decided to take no action against bigot bookshop McCall Barbour after police removed a number of publications from their shelves. The evangelical booksellers continue to proudly stock anti-gay material. JACKPOT HIV/AIDS group Crusaid Scotland is to get ukp127,500 from the National Lottery over the next three years for their Individual Hardship Fund and general running costs. Glasgow Food Chain Working Group, which intends to supply meals to People With AIDS is also to receive funds. SMILE! Body Positive in Glasgow is looking for HIV-friendly dentists for their register. FAGS OUT The Edinburgh LGB Centre Meeting Room is to become a No Smoking Area from 1st January. TWO FOR ONE La Cage Restaurant in Glasgow is offering a two for the price of one deal to celebrate their recent opening. The discount cards are available in Madame Gillespies. NEW YEAR Edinburgh's Eat Out CafE is hosting a Hogmanay Women's Event: Women into '96. It starts at 9pm RIBBONS Inmates at Saughton Prison and Edinburgh school pupils made 150,000 red ribbons for World AIDS Day. They were distributed throughout the Lothians by the Edinburgh Evening News and local newsagents. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- CHRISTMAS, BLOODY CHRISTMAS The festive season has its ups and downs for all of us. Unfortunately, for ScotsGay's resident iconoclast Justin Milne, this jolly celebration of Christ's birth has mostly downs. Well, he always did have problems getting things up ... Oh fuck! It really is Christmas next week! All the merry Christmas tunes have been playing since at least October in most of the stores, so the actual event kind of catches up on you if you're not careful. As my boyfriend was remarking this afternoon when an ad for a Christmas compilation album appeared for the umpteenth time on the telly, the first year the record came out it was quite pleasant, but by the time you've heard it ten bloody years running, the novelty has rather worn off. It's not just the shops and telly that pump out the Christmas cheer - you can't even get away from it in the work environment. There's currently a particularly vile little computer programme called ‘Christmas for Windows' that not only plays irritating tunes loudly, but does so in the background when you're word processing or whatever! Or worse, when somebody has gone out to lunch and left their machine running. There is much to be said for DOS at this time of year! Then, there is the bloody office party - that one afternoon of the year when the bosses hold their noses and hobnob with us mere wage slaves (or in quite a few places, not so much of the hob and more of the knob - a kind of droit de signeur). If you're lucky enough to be out at work, it can be the occasion to finally bed the office junior, but more likely, you'll have to endure the office vamp who has had everybody else and wants to complete the set by having you. Eeeek! Gay offices, in my experience, aren't an awful lot better. Let's face it, if you haven't had the office junior by then, you ain't going to get him and what's left? Frankly, I'd rather be working! What of the day itself? Well, there's always the question of ‘where to go?' which has been know to cause dissension amongst even the closest of couples. If I don't want to go to my parents, I sure as hell don't want to go to his - especially if it means sleeping in single beds and pretending to be just good friends. Been There, Done That, Got The Fucking T-Shirt (and the matching socks from his thoughtful mother)! Why can't we just stay at home, put a dog on the fire (they're not just for Christmas) and retire to bed with a pile of good videos and a bumper packet of condoms? Sod it! This year, I've decided to hit back at the Season of Good Cheer. It really is all the children's fault that we have to put up with it anyway, so I've been going around stores and supermarkets and confronting unaccompanied bairns (everywhere but Falkirk) and declaiming loudly (in my best John Inman voice): "Ho, Ho, Ho - have I got a small surprise for you, little child. There isn't a Santa!" Instant tears! That's only come unstuck once with a precocious youngster who looked at me as if I had horns on, pointed out that he hadn't believed in Father Christmas or God since he was five, asked me if I was gay and then propositioned me in front of half the staff of Jenners. Run? I fled! If the parents are around, you have to be a bit more subtle if you don't want a smack on the jaw. Hanging around at the meat counter in Tescos is always good for a laugh - just point out in a loud voice that you've just found a nice lump of Daisy the Cow or Theresa the Turkey for your Festive Feast and you've created an instant vegetarian with all the catering problems that entails. But, as Christmas isn't just for the children, I'm taking the opportunity to spoil it for everybody else. For sending to the deeply religious, Barbara Smoker does a very good selection of Heretic Cards. These include the classic manger scene with the caption "It's a girl". (Have a free plug, Barbara: you can order them from her on 0181-690 2325.) Or, for the deeply irreligious, what better can you get than some schmaltzy Christian crap from McCall Barbour (purveyors of homophobia and racism to the superstitious - and if you think they're getting their phone number printed in a pretend family publication you can think again!)? Mind you, you can get the same sort of thing in the Church of Scotland bookshop and it's marginally easier to explain what you're doing there if anybody sees you! Seriously though, this is the time when most people are thinking about what presents to get for their nearest and dearest. In my experience, the dearer the nearer - but I've got the cost down considerably by buying eleven months in advance. After all, the prices do fall considerably in the January sales. The only trouble with that approach is that a lot can happen in 360 days. Sadly, my elderly aunt managed to die just the week after I'd bought her an infeasibly sized dildo in Drondale's sale. No, I wasn't being nasty, she'd really have liked it - she managed to lead a healthy and enjoyable sex life well into her nineties and I gather that her demise was after a particularly rumbustious session with one of her many gentleman friends. So, here I am stuck with a 14" and nobody I know who is likely to be able to enjoy it... Then, too, I've been stuck with items which have gone a trifle out of fashion over the course of a year. Anybody got a use for a set of six coasters and a garden gnome? They really looked a bargain at the time, but I'm not so sure now. So, what am I going to get up to this year? Well, the boyfriend is definitely going off to his parents alone but I've got a little treat in store - it's amazing what you can pick up through an ad in the ScotsGay Meet Market! Bah, humbuggery! to the lot of you! --------------------------------------------------------------------------- ROCKING THE BOAT SoapBox is ScotsGay's new area where you can have your say on the issues of the day. And our new Letters Page (Page 30) is where you can get the chance to answer back! Kicking off, Glasgow based queer activist Garry Otton considers Assimilation and asks: Is it a bizarre gay practice? Ever since Charles Craddock invented the word "homo-sexuality" with a cocktail of Latin and Greek, generations of gays have poured over medical textbooks seeking explanations for their burgeoning sexuality. Apart from electric-shock treatment and hypnosis, precious little has been on offer. Stumbling on a niche market, evangelists have come up with ‘conversion therapy'. Andrew Comiskey, a soft-spoken, jet-setting, American quack with a book to flog, reckons: "to be dominated by erotic and emotional feelings for the same sex is, for many people, not something that is a source of ease, or peace, in real life". He hopes self-hating closets will clear the shelves, and he may be right! Drag-queen Candy, featured on ITV's Big Story, first saw the light, kneeling at the foot of her water-bed. Now, with a vital heterosexual component: a wife, (herself a former lesbian conversion-job called Ann), he introduces himself as John Paulk and tells everyone he's "dedicated to helping people coming out of homosexuality". When 26 year old Simon Harvey filled his car with exhaust fumes, he left a suicide note explaining that as Christian and gay, he felt "too filthy to live". His father, believing gay sexuality to be driven by "impious thoughts", tore it up and promptly set up "U-Turn Anglia", dedicating his life to curing the perverted. But if you ever thought such queerbashing was the exclusive reserve of the rabid straight: think again! With recent US research showing 30% of completed suicides by lesbian and gay youth, young people could be putting themselves at even greater risk by trusting themselves to ‘ex-gay' ministries like "Love in Action", set up by John ‘Candy' Paulk. Or Chris Metcalf, a "counsellor" at the "True Freedom Trust" who denies sexual encounters with converts, but has already faced accusations from young men like Alec Kemp who told ITV's Big Story: He gave me a very sexual hug and was clearly aroused". Or Drew Payne who claimed Metcalf was "rubbing his groin against his". With so much of our sexuality secret, just how much do we resent those who bring it all out into the open? The recent pillorying of gay rights group Outrage! affords a useful insight. The Sunday Times focused its attention on "barking mad" gay campaigner Peter Tatchell and "his handful of supporters called Outrage!". The half-page spread, by journalist Brian Deer, dismissed Tatchell as insane; his arguments little more than a reflection on "how deep his own injuries go". The frank submission was made even more remarkable by Deer's confession within the feature to being gay himself! It was a surprising appraisal of a lifelong pacifist who only "outed" a handful of bishops who voted for anti-gay motions at a Church of England synod. None of the bishops subsequently denied it in public and David Jenkins, the former Bishop of Durham, even went as far as to describe outing as "a perfectly reasonable and understandable tactic". Even so, Deer chose to join the journo-mob, planting the jackboot of the British Press firmly up Tatchell's backside. "Obnoxious little creep" - one newspaper described him. A "terrorist" squealed the Daily Mail; a "fascist" barked the Daily Express and "the most odious man in Britain" seethed London's Evening Standard. As for the so called "gay-friendly" newspapers: the Guardian thought him "a hypocrite as well as an intimidator" and The Independent found "few less attractive characters in British public". Even London's former gay weekly, Capital Gay, joined the scrum, devoting a two page spread to a readers' survey that asked: "Peter Tatchell: Prince or Prat?" and exposed a surprisingly lacklustre capital unanimously plumping for the latter! The only regular out gay columnist is John Lyttle who writes for The Independent. In one of his columns he writes: "Actually, I hate gay men. Loathe them..." complaining when someone had the audacity to grab his butt and give it a squeeze in a crowded bar. Outed closets, with their deep sense of shame, often portray a poor image of gay sexuality. Exactly 40 years ago, Peter Wildeblood, former diplomatic correspondent for the intensely homophobic Daily Mail, served time for "homosexual offences" as a result of the notorious Lord Montagu scandal. He wrote of his "personal problem": "I am no more proud of my condition than I would be of having a glass eye or a hare-lip". When the playwright John Osborne's gay sexuality was revealed by his lover after his death, it was a shock. Osborne had mocked the "clamouring AIDS lobby", supported Section 28 of the Local Government Act of 1988 - forbidding Local Authorities to "intentionally promote homosexuality" - and condemned equal rights campaigns by "fairies" and "poofs". Gay Russian playwright Nikolai Gogol went one better. At the age of 42, he starved himself to death. Posthumously blowing the lid off the closet of the head of the American FBI, J Edgar Hoover and Senator McCarthy's right hand man, the late Roy Cohn, likewise, revealed two men who had ruthlessly persecuted gays throughout the fifties. It can be equally baffling why so many MPs in the House of Commons, allegedly gay or bisexual, should want to vote against an equal age of consent. Such a paradox - a thorn in the foot of gay emancipation - has a morbid parallel: some of the world's worst serial killers of gays were themselves gay: Dennis Neilson, Jeffrey Dahmer and Michael Lupo, to name a few. Despite an appalling record of massacres, murders, burnings, torture, rape, pillage and homosexual persecution, Christianity maintains an effective foothold within the gay movement. In fact, with around 4,000 members, the Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement is the largest gay membership organisation in the UK. Another gay membership organisation in the UK is the 21 year old Gay Outdoor Club With groups in Glasgow, Edinburgh and Inverness, it boasts a full calender of over 40 events for the coming year, quite apart from its weekly hire of a private heated swimming pool in Glasgow. There are many cycling, win-surfing, badminton, rock-climbing caving, canoeing, Sunday walks, hillwalks, hostelling and camping events that take place right across the country. But its near 1,000 strong membership is largely white, middle-class and male. Last December, I wrote an article in the GOC Newsletter called "Opening The Doors Of The Club's Closet", challenging closetry and conservatism within the club, suggesting the constitution should incorporate a more state of the art reference to equal opportunities and open the doors of the club to more women and young people. (Men outnumber women in the GOC by almost 100 to 1 and it has so far resisted pressure to place recruitment advertisements in lesbian journals. Up-front copy prepared for Boyz was dismissed as "over the top" and "misleading". I spoke to one member from the teaching profession who expressed a fear of "young people being openly recruited to the club". According to Glasgow organiser Douglas Bingham, opposition has also been voiced in the past to GOC affiliating with the Scottish Youth Hostel Association. "I've been a member for 15 years since I was 19. I was at the meeting when this was discussed. I was disappointed". The club's committee have ruled, in the past, that a gay clothing company - offering to pay handsomely for the privilege of having its catalogue mailed out with the monthly newsletter - would taint the club's image. Six local contacts in England refused to allow their telephone numbers to be used in the gay press to promote their rambles and criticism has been made of distributing free newspapers to ramblers on walks. (One member describing them in the GOC Newsletter as "raunchy and lascivious publications".) Although not all of the members of this thriving club are so reactionary, my article provoked such controversy that the GOC Newsletter had to produce a 15 page supplement to house the angry responses. "I go out with GOC to get away from all the political crap", snapped one committee member. "I for one am not prepared to man the barricades every time some issue or other crops up and certainly prefer to walk up a small hill in northern Britain rather than march in London on some demo..." wrote another angry member. "Do we want some sort of frivolous group to organise ‘pink picnics'?" added yet another in exasperation. What was particularly surprising to potential young gay members was some of the remarks obviously addressing them: "There are enough screaming queens on the scene without GOC becoming Priscilla, Queen of the Pennines", wrote one disgusted member. Another suggested "we should be trying to attract the thousands of totally closeted gays within organisations such as the Ramblers Association, rather than letting GOC degenerate to a level that may attract youngsters with no sports interests out of the gay clubs". Yet another was more forthright: "If you want an outdoor club for the out under 25's, Garry, why not start one? But don't call it GOC". The GOC is not unique. Lesbian group KENRIC and catholic group QUEST are also forced to take on board the conservative and cautious views of its members, many of whom live in isolation outside city conurbations and for who sexual politics are a complete anathema. These organisations are not - of course - political, yet paradoxically, are part of a gay movement directly affected by the weight of global discrimination meted out to them. It must go without saying that one of the surest ways of denying ourselves our basic human rights is by being too afraid to ask... or, worse, by loudly criticising those who do. ------------------------------------------------------------------------- SCOTSDYKE ========= ROBERTS' RULES OF LESBIAN CHIC What I know so far: 1. It is never a good idea to ask someone to marry you before the first date. 2. This also applies to the Internet. Double. 3. Contrary to popular opinion, Tofu is not a food. 4. Your bumper sticker is preaching to the converted 5. The average interval between lesbian relationships is a minus three point seven minutes. 6. I love you is not a question. 7. Femmes look like femmes even in men's suits. 8. Ditto Tuxedos 9. Piercing your tongue is a lesbian contradiction in terms. 10. It is much cheaper to say, "No, thank you, I have to milk the bison this weekend" now than it is to break up later. It is not, however easier. 11. Any friend in need of being "fixed-up" is way too broken to be ready to date. 12. The term "Lesbian Therapist" is redundant. 13. Life is a process. Lesbian Life is the process of processing the process. 14. Anybody who thinks that being a lesbian doesn't have something to do with your mother isn't paying close attention. 15. After six months, all lesbian couples walk alike. It's a law. 16. After one year, all lesbian couples will be wearing at least one matching item of apparel. 17. After ten years, all lesbian couples pronouncing the word, "Hello" into a telephone will sound indistinguishable. 18. Your girlfriend will never understand why you want to start dating again. 19. There's no such thing as lesbian divorce. There is only thermo-nuclear war. And then best friends. 20. You will always solve the problems of the last relationship in the current one. 21. It will not, however, help. 22. Just because you never talk about any men except your father and brothers at work does not automatically mean that everyone at work surely must know you're a lesbian. 23. Dental Dams come in chocolate. And mint. And colours. Plasti-wrap just comes in colours. 24. Only one member of each couple will be truly thrilled to have gay and lesbian marriage legalized. 25. Which one will vary at any given time. 26. The only ex that your current lover will ever be fully able to appreciate is the one before at least the one before her. 27. If you don't tell people you have a life, they will think you are boring. 28. "No!" is a complete sentence. 29. Not all nuns are lesbians. 30. Ditto flight attendants. 31. Not all members of the LPGA are lesbians. 32. Ditto professional tennis players. 33. Not all residents of Palm Springs, Jamaica Plains, Northhampton, Asheville, Park Slope, Provincetown, or Key West are lesbians. 34. It's just wishful thinking. 35. Your mother no longer automatically believes she caused it. 36. You father will probably disagree. But only during major arguements. 37. Every family, if you extend out to all the cousins, has at least one gay or lesbian member. 38. Your father will tell any one who asks, that it's on your mother's side. 39. One half of the gay or lesbian businesses in our town will be out of business before the year's out. 40. The other half will believe that you owe them a living. 41. Your gaydar will only work on half the lesbian population. 42. The word, "Lover" is always more than any straight person will really want to know. 43. Gay men may be of the same ilk, but they are not of the same species. Your mileage may vary... (c) 1995. Shelly Roberts. All Rights Reserved. May be reprinted only in its entirety with written permission. Shelly Roberts is an internationally syndicated columnist, and author of The Dyke Detector, and Hey, Mom, Guess What! Paradigm Publishing. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- INSIDE OUT ========== Scotland's top-notch and readable guide to the whole lesbian, gay and bisexual scene. As well as listing the bookshops, cafes, pubs and clubs (and all their secret goings-on) our Meet Market has a huge range of hopeful souls looking for that special someone: it could be you! VENUES ====== Aberdeen CLUB CABERFEIDH 9 Hadden Street. Tel: (01224) 212181. Tue-Sun 10pm-2am Disco - tends to be quiet midweek but busier at the weekends. PINK FLAMINGO 47 Netherkirkgate. Tel: (01224) 624472. Daily Noon-2am. Plush cocktail bar frequented by the trendier crowd with an increasingly busy disco downstairs. Dundee CLUB CRUISE 60 Brown Street (part of Oscars). Tel: (01382) 221176. Sat 10.30pm-2.30am. Despite several recent attempts at expanding to two nights a week, remains a one nighter. Noisy with soft lighting, but, despite its name, relaxed and not too cruisy. DEVA'S 75 Seagate. Tel: (01382) 226840. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight, Sun 12.30pm-11pm. Formerly the Gauger, no expense spared in the re-decoration of Dundee's long established gay bar. Something for everyone! Pool table. DJ. Edinburgh BLACK BO'S 57/61 Blackfriars Street. Tel: 0131-557 6136. Mon-Fri 12.30pm-2.30pm and 6pm-10.30pm, Sat 12.30pm-10.30pm, Sun 6pm-10pm. Superb little vegetarian restaurant. Friendly staff. Mixed clientele. Good value lunch menu. BLUE MOON 1 Barony Street/36 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-556 2788. Popular lesbigay cafe/bar complex. The cafe opens Sun-Thu 9am-Midnight. Fri-Sat 9.30am-3am. The Buzz Bar is open Daily 9.30am-Midnight, The basement Tapas Bar serves Spanish food, drink and music and is open nightly 5pm-1am. CAFE KUDOS 22 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-556 4349. Daily Noon-1am. Food Noon-9pm. Part of Edinburgh's flourishing cafe society in the former Chapps premises. Fresh and stylish. CAFE LUCIA 13-29 Nicolson Street. Tel: 0131-662 1112. Generally 10am-10pm but hours vary according to performances. Mixed bar attached to the financially challenged Edinburgh Festival Theatre. Full of luvvies and their friends! C.C. BLOOM'S 23 Greenside Place. Tel: 0131-556 9331. Daily Noon-3am. Bar/diner serving superb food in the Hole in the Wall restaurant (Noon-10pm). Karaoke on Thursday and Sunday. Male strippers Sun at 4pm. Disco every night from 10.30pm. CITY CAFE 19 Blair Street. Tel: 0131-220 0125. Mon-Sat 11am-1pm, Sun 11am-Midnight. Not as outrageously mixed as it used to be, but still seriously conventional. DRONDALE LIMITED 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-556 1471. Open Mon-Fri 10am-7pm, Sat 12-8. At the front of the Edinburgh Lesbian Gay and Bisexual Centre. Undoubtedly the largest gay shop north of Manchester, with a large selection of magazines, cards, toys, underwear, swimwear, leather and rubberwear. Well worth a visit even if only for the cute staff (if you like that sort of thing). Worldwide mail order service. EAT OUT IN EDINBURGH 60 Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-556 0152. WWW: http://www.colloquium.co.uk/www/eponym/eatout.html. Daily 11am-11pm. Licensed cafe (situated at the rear of the Edinburgh Lesbian Gay & Bisexual Centre) wherein Brendan Nash provides a superior set of comestibles. EDINBURGH LESBIAN GAY AND BISEXUAL CENTRE 58a and 60 Broughton Street. Owned by OUTRIGHT Scotland, it houses Calosa Publishing Limited, Drondale Limited, and Eat Out in Edinburgh as well as providing meeting and noticeboard space for many lesbigay organisations. Private mailboxes available. FANTASIES 8b Drummond Street. Tel: 0131-557 8336. Mon-Sat 10am-9pm. Sun Noon-9pm. Scotland's ONLY licenced SEX shop where you'll be made welcome by the very bearish Vince (who's straight) or our front page pin-up Paddy (who isn't). Toys galore, video rental too! FOUR BBBB's CLUB 26b Dublin Street. Tel: 0131-538 7775. Big Beary Bulky Boys have their own club at Intense in the New Town Bar on the 4th Friday of the month. 8-10pm - bar opens to non members 9pm-12.30am. JOY AT THE NEW CALTON 20 Calton Road. Tel: 0131-558 3758. Sat 11pm-late. This One Nighter is Scotland's largest gay club. Reduced entry before midnight. For membership: write: JOY, PO Box 13456, Edinburgh. EH6 8YA. Wheelchair accessible. KUBHLAI KHAN 43 Assembly Street, Leith. Tel: 0131-555 0005. Mon-Sat 6pm-2am. Sun 12-Midnight. Newly opened Mongolian barbeque. Mixed. L.A.D.S. 2 Picardy Place. Tel: 0131-556 5414. Nightly 10pm-2am. Cruisy club/disco, membership available on night. Downstairs from Picardy's but with its own door, Currently closed for refurb. Will the black emulsion survive? See when it re-opens mid December! LORD NELSON BAR Linden Hotel, 9-13 Nelson Street. Tel: 0131-557 4344. Mon-Sat Noon-2pm, 6pm-11pm. Sun 7pm-11pm. Quiet bar attached to Edinburgh's biggest gay hotel. Superb Thai restaurant. Owned by London's Philbeach Hotel. MAGGIE RAYES 89 Rose Street Lane North. Tel: 0131-225 7651. Mon-Thur Noon-1am. Fri-Sat Noon-2am. Sun 1pm-1am. Frenetically friendly impromptu cabaret bar. Tuesday and Friday are karaoke nights! MARMALADE CAT BISTRO Old Craighall Road, Millerhill, near Dalkeith. Tel: 0131-660 1211. Mon-Sat Noon-2.30pm and 6-9.30pm, Sun 12.30-2.45pm and 6-9pm. Mixed establishment specialising in Portuguese cuisine. Vegetarian menu available. NEW TOWN BAR 26B Dublin Street. Tel: 0131-538 7775. Daily Noon-1am. Especially popular with Bears, but has wide clientele. Real Ale. Intense, the sub-basement leather and fetish bar is open Thurs-Sun 9pm-1am - mainly men, but women welcome too! No EIGHTEEN 18 Albert Place. Tel: 0131-553 3222. Mon-Sat Noon-10pm. Sun 2-10pm. Sauna club for gay gentlemen - run by a couple of straight Dykes! Now open on Sundays! OVER THE RAINBOW 32c Broughton Street. Tel: 0131-557 8969. Daily 11am-1am. Edinburgh's newest licensed cafe. Live music a speciality. Camp at its best! PICARDY'S BURLESQUE SHOW BAR 2 Picardy Place. Tel: 0131-556 5414. Mon, Wed-Sat 7pm-Midnight. Recently re-opened as a Cabaret Show Bar with show starting at 8.30pm. ROUTE 66 6 Baxter's Place. Tel: 0131-556 5991. Sun-Fri 3pm-1.30am. Sat Noon-1.30am. Food served all day. Quiz night Wednesday. Discos Fri and Sat. Real Ale. TASTE AT THE VAULTS 15-17 Niddry Street. Sun 11pm-3am. Weekly mixed members' club with DJs Fisher and Price. Visitor's passes available from West & Wilde. WEST & WILDE BOOKSHOP 25a Dundas Street. Tel: 0131-556 0079. Tue-Sat 10am-7pm, Sun Noon-5pm. Scotland's only lesbian and gay bookshop. Lots of books and quite a few magazines! Falkirk DROOKIT DUCK 16 Grahams Road. Tel: 01324 613644. Mon 11am-3pm and 5pm-11.30. Tue-Thu 11am-3pm and 5pm-12.30am. Fri-Sat 11am-12.30am. Sun 7pm-Midnight. Straight bar used by a few discrete local gays. Glasgow AUSTINS 183a Hope Street. Tel: 0141-332 2707. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight, Sun 12.30am-Midnight. Friendly and busy basement pub. Food lunchtimes (until 5pm). Entertainment every evening. BENNETS DISCO 80-90, Glassford Street. Tel: 0141-552 5761. Tue-Sun 11pm-3am. Very popular busy long established gay disco. Tuesdays straight. CAFE DELMONICA'S 68 Virginia Street. Tel: 0141-552 4803. Daily Noon-Midnight. Food Noon-7pm. Busy pub with backroom area (not THAT kind of backroom!). DJ: Mon, Thur, Fri, Sat. Bingo: Tuesdays. Games/Quiz: Wed. Karaoke: Sun. Happy hours: 5-7 and 9-10 every night. Mondays: Becks at ukp1.25 all night! CCA Centre for Contemporary Arts, 350 Sauchiehall Street. Tel: 0141-332 7521. Centre open Mon-Wed 9am-11pm Thur-Sat 9am-Midnight Sun Noon-10.30pm. Bookshop Mon-Sat 10am-6pm Sun Noon-5pm. Galleries Mon-Sat 11am-6pm Sun Noon-5pm (admission free). Two galleries, two performance spaces, cafe bar and bookshop. Lesbigay friendly place bustling with life, the universe and everything. Wheelchair accessible apart from upstairs performance space. CLUB X-CHANGE 25 Royal Exchange Square. Tel: 0141-204 4599. Nightly 11pm-3am. Large basement club, popular with young crowd. Wednesday nights are straight (though still quite mixed). Not as busy as it used to be. COURT BAR 69 Hutcheson Street. Tel: 0141-552 2463. Mon-Sat 11am-Midnight, Sun 8.30-11pm. Small bar beside former Sheriff Court. Straight until mid-evening. GHQ CAFE/BAR 8-10 West George Street. Tel: 0141-332 8005. Bar: Noon-Midnight. Cafe:10am-10pm. Nice and convenient for Queen Street Station. Large bar featuring Suave Gav - Glasgow's most popular DJ. Happy hour 5pm-7pm nightly. LA CAGE RESTAURANT 26 Cheapside Street. Tel: 0141-221 7078. Nightly 6pm-11pm. Scotland's first top class restaurant catering for a lesbigay clientele. Highly recommended - premiere cuisine in sumptuous surroundings. Reservations strongly advised! MADAME GILLESPIE'S 26 Cheapside Street. Tel: 0141-226 5468. Daily 6pm-3am. Scotland's first gay revue bar. Duplex complex incorporating disco with fab light show. A quality venue featuring regular PAs. Staff permanently in drag. SQUIRES LOUNGE 106 West Campbell Street. Tel: 0141-221 9184. Mon-Fri Noon-Midnight, Sat 12.30pm-Midnight, Sun 8pm-12pm. Long narrow intimate basement bar, DJ Sun, Tue, Wed, Thur, Fri & Sat. Packed at the weekend. Nightly happy hours 9-10pm (all night Sun). VICTORIA BAR 157-159 Bridgegait. Tel: 0141-552 6040. Mon-Sat Noon-Midnight, Sun 12.30pm-Midnight. Basically straight, but justly popular with real ale queens and dykes. THE WATERLOO 306 Argyle Street. Tel: 0141-221 7359. Daily Noon-Midnight. Popular, crowded, down to earth gay drinking shop. Scotland's oldest gay bar - what more can we say? Inverness NICO'S BAR/BISTRO Glen Mhor Hotel, Ness Bank. Tel: 01463 234308. Wed and Fri 9-11pm. Smart relaxed bar popular with local gays especially on Wednesday and Friday nights (9.15pm onwards). Mixed clientele. Kilmarnock KAYPARK TAVERN 27/29 London Road. Tel: 01563 523623. Straight pub - the lounge is used by some local gays on Mondays evenings. Stirling BARNTON BISTRO 3 1/2 Barnton Street. Tel: 01786 461698. Mon-Sat 10.15am-11pm (Meals Noon-8pm), Sun 6.30pm-11pm. 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. InsideOut: a monthly magazine for lesbians, gays and bisexuals. ISSN: 1360-9327. Edited, printed and published in Scotland.(c) Pageprint Limited, December 1995. PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5JW. In even numbered months, InsideOut appears as part of ScotsGay. Non profit use by the lesbigay community of material in the magazine will normally be permitted free of charge - but contact us first for permission. We haven't had sex with most of the people who appear in the magazine, so we don't actually know what their sexuality is. Editorial: Tel: 0131-539 0666. Fax: 0131-558 1262. E-mail: scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk. Advertising: Tel: 0131-558 1279. Fax: 0131-558 1262. 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. ABERDEEN Well folks, it's that time again. Time for me to tell you all about the rivetting scene going on up here in Dod'n'Bunty Town, all about the packed dance floors, the crowds of boogiebabes strutting away to all the latest vibes, the cabarets, the personal appearances, the fashion, the glamour, the fame!!! Well yes, er, ummm ... Still, it's not all that bad. Where else is Abba, Madonna, etc still in fashion? Where else does nobody care whether you're wearing the latest Versace or dressed from your Mum's clubbie book. That's what's so wonderful about Aberdeen. It's stuck in such a timewarp that nobody has to bother about new clothes, CDs, etc. Perhaps we should rename the Granite City to Groundhog City. Still, if you think it's bad up here, it sounds as though Dundee's worse, and it was interesting to note from the last SceneOUT that even Edinburgh seems to think that its scene is quiet compared with Glasgow. The past few weeks have been really quiet, with little or no gay life after midnight. Even the weekends have been quieter than usual with both clubs looking decidedly empty at times. Where is everybody going? Even the cruising grounds are quiet just now (not that I do that sort of thing of course). We can only hope that things liven up a bit at Christmas. Homophobia is alive and kicking in Aberdeen. There have been a few recent attacks on cruisers in a well known Aberdeen square. Take care, stay in a group, tell Mummy when you'll be back, carry an Uzi, and always wear clean knickers in case you get run over by a police car! Is it really such a big deal for two men to kiss each other goodbye at the airport? Apparently the case in Aberdeen. Yes, you too can get slung in the cells for doing what hetties do! Wondering why the last InsideOUT was late in Aberdeen? Due to the postal strike, they were sent by courier to a solicitor's office for collection. Some junior member of staff opened the package, and not liking what she saw, decided to bin it!!! Where else but Aberdeen is the unauthorised opening and disposal of somebody else's mail considered acceptable? Hopefully, I'll be telling you about the wonderful Christmas and New Year frolix in the next issue. Don't know what's planned for Hogmanay, but I hear that one date to look out for will be the New Year sleaze ball. If it works at the Sydney Mardi Gras, why shouldn't it work here? Further details to follow ... DUNDEE Well there's nae news frae Dundee this month, coz naebody's interested in telling us what's happening there! Now we could just pretend that Dundee disnae exist, but we're no like that. We're gonna bitch and moan until we get results, so if ye want the prestige of huvin' yer name in print, then write, phone or email us! EDINBURGH The last couple of weeks have been as busy as usual, with each of the clubs and pubs trying their hardest to attract the punters. The New Town had a lovely Tennents SD promotion on, I managed to get a free T-shirt and half pint out of that one. You had to think of a two word catch phrase, each starting with S & D respectively. You can imagine some of the amusing quips people were coming up with. The clientele was somewhat different, that night there were two women in, having quite a ball! CC Blooms proves to be as fun as usual, I even managed to get a snog from the lovely Karen Dunbar, heterosexuality - whatever next! Of course, that was only a blip on the wonderfully queer atmosphere, the lovely guys and gals managing to give it all they can, bopping on the dance floor and drinking themselves in a pleasant state of Dutch courage! CC's had a remarkable escape from fire the other day, with The Gas Board Showrooms (AKA The Theatre Royal) being gutted by the blaze. Its should be quite amusing to see the number of straight folks stumbling unawares into the gay pubs after the shows at the Playhouse. Its always funny watching their reactions: will they leave straight away, or will they manage to swallow one drink before making for the door? Route 66 is still my favourite venue for a drink and a chat, if you don't mind the music (if you're looking for something a bit quieter, there's always Cafe Kudos). It was my first port of call after getting my nipple pierced, the flavoured vodkas helping to numb the sting. The gorgeous staff were most sympathetic, and quite keen to see that I was comfortable. The Joy membership forms seem to have re-emerged in the pub, so if you're looking for one, you now know where to look. It was Route 66's 1st Birthday Party the other day. Hardly seems like a year since Stevie transformed one of the more basic hettie pubs in town into somewhere worth going. Quite a party, and thanks for the pix Stevie - we will return the ones we couldn't print if they're not stuck together! JOY - the happy club for gay folks - is getting much busier now, especially in the festive season. For a good night with an amazing atmosphere and the best choons around, there's no alternative. The amount of sweat that manages to drip from the air conditioning is quite remarkable. I was dancing so hard last time, I didn't notice that the red from my underwear was slowly soaking its way through my jeans, hot or what? Cafe Kudos is looking amazing at the moment, with the Christmas tree covered with AIDS awareness ribbons, right through to the flashing bulbs on the roof. A very relaxing pub for a good drink, a nice place to take your mummy and daddy when coming out to them... Another place they may just graduate to be being taken is Picardy's Burlesque Showbar, where Raymond is basically going for a straight audience with his five night a week 'Mimes a Ladysham'. He's been written up in The List and the straights seem to be loving it although there's still a fair sprinkling of woofters and dykes enjoying the show. With all that strutting the stage, I hear that El Raymondo is bowing out of Maggie Rayes which is being taken over by Babs and renamed Frenchies. I've heard a lot about Babs over the years and will be looking forward to making her acquaintance. It seems like the place to be seen of an afternoon is in one of the Internet Establishments which have mushroomed all over Edinburgh (with probably the most queer friendly being Web 13 in Bread Street). Now, Broughton Street has got something along the same lines - but with a difference! No 74, just down from the LGB Centre, is now the home to Reality, "Scotland's first network interactive virtual reality gaming experience". Mine host, the incredibly cute Paul Younger (Hands off, he says he's straight. Ed.), tells me that he chose Broughton Street with its gay village atmosphere very much in mind. "It's a hip place to be!", he says. It's nice to note that the place hasn't attracted lots of spotty weans (or worse, the Suits of Cyberia) and seems to bring in a varied and friendly 18+ crowd. Marcc GLASGOW Hi from the Holy City once again! The big event of the last month was most definitely the opening of La Cage, the new restaurant at Madame Gillespies. Everybody, but everybody was there - including young Gordon Gosnell who was seen enthusing about the quality of the roast beef - apparently slightly rare, just the way he likes it! Unfortunately, he had to be told that the thing he was holding was a serving dish and not a plate and could he please leave some for someone else! The place is looking good, and already I hear that booking is advised most nights. Definitely the place to take the boyfriend for that special night out. It looks as if it's going to be a busy period over the festivities - you can already feel the buzz in the air and the whole toon was hoachin' when I popped round a few places last week. Madame G's has a Xmas Eve bash with lots of pressies from Santa, drink promos all night and a super guest DJ. Wonder who that will be??? Their 31st December bash will have highland dancers and guest stars Frann+Hanna and Handy Cameron. Bennets has been pushing the boat out with a cornocupia of entertainment and fun for the festive season. There are lots of drinks promos over the next few weeks there too. And they're open until 4am each night until 4th January. Things kick off with a PA by Sean Maguire on the 16th of December (and not the 17th as forecast in one small circulation gay arts magazine) and there's the Hogmanay Special at Hogmanay (that's 31st December if there are any persons of an English disposition reading this) with disco diva Mary Kiani (free bubbly, sandwiches, prizes, and the first twenty in the door get a surprise free gift). In between, there's the Xmas party, Karen Dunbar is on on the 27th, and there's a surprise gay opening on a Tuesday - Boxing Day to be precise - when Betty-B will be belting it out as we all down Sambuca at 75p a shot! Have a look at Bennets ad in our centre pages ... I'd better not forget to mention that Austins will be spilling over into Bennets for the Final of Austins' Karaoke Competition - Big Karn's House Party will be hosting this as usual. At Austins itself, there are parties planned for 24th, 25th and 31st December and, if any of us are still capable, there's a New Year's Night Party on 1st Jan! They're open until 1am every night during the festive period. Down at the Waterloo, Cal is, as usual, playing his cards close to his chest. A very good technique for getting folk into the pub, that. You know he'll have something good going on - but you can't find out what it is unless you actually go along! The crowd at Squires are only having two parties - on Xmas Eve and at Hogmanay. But the rest of the season will be filled with their usual programme so, see their ad! The GLC Project is still fundraising - the new Centre may have had its official opening, but that doesn't mean that everything is paid for, no siree! They're having a ceilidh featuring Rewud at the People's Palace on Friday 22nd December. So, get your kilts and your dancing shoes on and head for Glasgow Green! The tickets at ukp7 (ukp5 concessions) include a free buffet! Delmonica's is going into the footwear business, in a manner of speaking, on Boxing Day when they present their Panto: "Poof in Boots". Oh no they don't, oh yes they do ... Musn't forget to mention that the Cafe at GHQ is now running Sanctuary their women-only evening. It kicked off (footwear again) with a launch party on 1st December and has proved popular ever since! Finally, I musn't forget to plug the Glasgow Bars AIDS Welfare Fund's Gay Ball at the Central Hotel on 29th January where the ever popular Brenda Cochrane will be appearing with The Carlton Swing Band. I hear that tickets are going fast! If you're not from Glasgow (or even if you are and don't fancy driving home after the event) why not take advantage of the special rates on offer at the Central Hotel for overnight accommodation on production of your Ball (ticket)? See you's all next month ... PJ -------------------------------------------------------------------------- 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, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. To place a Contact Ad: Write to the above address enclosing your advertisement copy. Ads are FREE of charge to the advertiser. Or you can send them by e-mail to scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk ScotsGay's FREE personal ads are read by more people than those in any other Scottish based lesbigay publication. WOMEN Gay Female I am 35, very fem, would like butch/boyish female 28-39 anywhere. I am non-smoker and enjoy going out or staying in. Photo possible. Box SG07001. Glasgow - Lanarkshire Gay inexperienced 19 year old seeks similar for fun, friendship and a whole lot of fun. Box SG07002. Virgin Lesbian Lady, 42, no previous experience, seeks company of a very butch lesbian who is sincere for a possible long term relationship. Close up facial photograph is a prerequisite. Box SG07003. Female Partners Wanted I am a fun, adventurous female, who likes to party and have a great time. Please get in touch. Box SG07004. MEN Glasgow - Wants Fun and Horny Friends Oriental guy, 21, told cute looking, seeks guys 18-27 for uncomplicated hot safe fun. Photo and phone number ensures reply. Box SG07005. Glasgow - Little Devil Impish 23 slim wicked looking demon, smoker, evil SOH, seeks saintly 18-25 angels to corrupt with devilish cuddles and ungodly kisses. Eternal damnation a possibility but not essential. Photo please. Box SG07006. Newsflash - Fife a disaster zone for single gay men One 18 year old, 6'1", intelligent, honest, sincere, GSOH man said "Emergency supplies of men are needed for a 1-2-1 Relationship Rescue. All 18-30 volunteers considered with photo". Box SG07007. Non Scene Intelligent, small, rotund, hairy, jolly, red haired (and bearded) 40 year old guy would like to hear from a young guy who would appreciate his company. Box SG07008. Fife - Tayside - Lothian Inexperienced student, 23, seeks similar guys under 25 for conversation and clinches. Smooth, trim guys preferred, any race. Photo helpful but not a must. Let's start to enjoy life! Box SG07009. Light Discipline Young, inexperienced, want to know more? Friendly but firm uncle will teach you all you require. Send confidential reply, photo (returnable). Box SG0710. Masterful, Early 40's, Butch Seeks well-developed, big, or at least chubby lads, 18-25, who are around 200lbs and submissive, for love and strict training. Central Scotland/anywhere. Box SG07011. Glasgow - Edinburgh - Stirling 26 year old gay guy, 5'5" tall, 10 stone, seeks same for fun nights in/out. Can travel but can't accommodate at the moment. ALAWP. Box SG07012. Sole Mate Wanted Edinburgh guy with shoe fetish seeks friends. Box SG07013. Hello! Are you young, shy, inexperienced, maybe unsure of your sexuality? Kind, mature guy will introduce you to things gently and give you time to find out what you're really into. Box SG07014. Scottish Borders Young looking 37 year old, safe and experienced, wishes to meet Borders lad of legal age for friendship, fun and good times. Straight types only. Discrete and sensible. GSOH. ALA. Box SG07015. Very Hairy Seeks Very Smooth 39 year old guy, very hairy (red) chest and body, balding with beard, would like to hear from young smooth guy who prefers a mature man. Versatile, friendly, safe. Beginner welcome. Non-smoker preferred. Box SG07016. Dumbarton - Anywhere Non effeminate guy 45, seeks other genuine guys for friendship 1-2-1 perhaps leading to more. Can accommodate or travel. Possible flat share. Photo if possible, mine by return. Box SG07017. Edinburgh - Anywhere Friendship and a totally good experience on offer to any guy under 35. Must be straight looking and acting. Possible 1-2-1. Me 37, GSOH and genuine. Want to know more? Box SG07018. Dunfermline - Fife - Anywhere 35, 6', blond, VWE, non scene, enjoys a good laugh. Not much happening in Fife. Wishing to meet other guys for safe fun. No complications. Willing to experiment. ALA. Photo? Box SG07019. Tayside - Dundee - Anywhere Genuine, 5'11" tall, slim build, 42 years young looking, seeks others 18-40, any nationality for friends with view to 1-2-1. Discretion assured. Can accommodate. ALA with photo and telephone number. Write soon. Box SG07020. Business Man Looking for young friend under 25 in need of firm but friendly fun. Box SG07021. Mature Gent Wanted Slim Glasgow student, 21, 5'11", dark hair, seeks Nigel Mansell lookalike. Non scene? Discretion? No problems! Box SG07022. Bald Guy - 37 - Young Looking Would like to meet a younger guy who is not bothered about my being bald. I'm caring, affectionate, honest and dependable. I hope you will reply. Genuine replies only. ALA. Box SG07023. Young Guy Wanted Are you under 21? A student perhaps? Bisexual maybe? Looking for a discrete, no strings friendship with an older guy? I might just be what you're looking for! Write fully for quick response. Photo helps but is not essential. Box SG07024. Falkirk - Central Scotland 35, 5'6", slim, passive, looking for friendship or 1-2-1. Must be under 40. ALAWP. Photo, phone number ensures reply. Genuine. Box SG07025. Horny Friend Wanted - Edinburgh 25, blond, nice looks, slim and wants it all the time. Likes WE horny boys. I just can't get enough! Lessons gratefully received! I'm also shy and straight looking/acting. Photo please. Box SG07026. Young Chubby Wanted 40 year old guy would like to meet young (18-24) chubby guys for fun or friendship. Can accommodate. Non smoker essential, smooth body an advantage. Photo helps. ALA. Box SG07027. 18 Year Old Gay Male Student Hi, Asian student in Bristol (UK) studying Languages & IS, n/s, g.l., vvvgsoh, like going out/staying in, loyal and reliable, looking for friends ... maybe more from UK or France (18-25ish!) e-mail: sk-marwaha@wpg.uwe.ac.uk. All letters/e-mails replied. Box SG07029. Dundee/Tayside Hi! I am a passive gay guy in my late 30's (slim build) and I am looking to meet someone who is aged 18 to 40 (also slim) who is non scene for friendship and possible relationship. Photo or phone number if possible. ALA. Box SG07030. Looking for Discrete Fun Early 30's, young looking, slim, dark hair, some body hair, glasses, professional guy, can travel, looking for !! You hairy a bonus. Any age considered. Bald no problem. ALAWP only. Box SG07031. Start Here Young? Shy? New to all this? Then why not explore things with a 40 year old mature uncle? I'm friendly and understanding and could be just what you need before progressing onto other things. Box SG07032. Aberdeen/Scotland If the thought of a serious 1-2-1 relationship bores you, please don't reply to this advert. Male, non scene, genuine, serious, sincere, romantic, looking for genuine honest partner. ALA. Box SG07033. Twinks Or Disco Bunnies Need Not Apply! Mature man sought by Glasgow student, 21, 5'11", slim, dark hair. Facial hair an advantage but not essential. Box SG07034. Glasgow Gay guy, 31, seeks friends 20-33. Interests: music, videos, cinema, nights out. GSOH. 5'6", slim, not bad looking, seeks similar. Photo and phone number gets mine. Non scene preferred. Write soon. Box SG07035. Nurse Fife/Edinburgh Area Only 32, young looking, slim build, slightly hairy, clean shaven. You 25-50, young looking, slim/medium build (hairy a bonus). Discretion a must. Active. No tattoos on hands please. ALAWP. Box SG07036. North West Subskin Sub skin seeks hard men for wet and wild times. ALAWP and phone. Box SG07037. Dundee - Edinburgh - Anywhere Two good looking gay lads (28 and 32), into videos, leather, uniform, would like to meet guyz with same interests. Let's get together, lads, for some good fun. Can accommodate. ALAWP. Box SG07038. Steam - Vintage Transport Edinburgh/Lothian 31 year old would like to meet others interested in steam or vintage transport. Other interests: cinema, reading, travel, videos. ALA. Photo please. Box SG07039. Dundee - Glasgow - Edinburgh - Anywhere Two good looking gay guyz 27 and 32 wish to meet other gay good looking guyz between 25 and 35 for safe fun and friendship. Can travel or accommodate. Genuine replies only. ALAWP. Box SG07040. Dundee Genuine discreet uncle seeks slim active nephew for fun friendship. Please send frank letter with photo and phone number. ALA. Write soon. Box SG07041. Glasgow Man Active, stocky/burly, vwe, 46, 5'9", short beard, into denim/leather, non scene, seeks non smoking man/men (balding/thinning/cropped/'tached/bearded a plus) for info, guidance and good long sessions. Box SG07042. School Days Strict teacher and his Lochgellys will refresh your memory. Box SG07043. Ayrshire/Glasgow Gay guy, 28, straight acting/looking, honest, genuine, likes pubs, music, cinema, nights in/out, seeks guy 18-30ish for fun and possible relationship. No queens please. ALAWP. Box SG07044. Ayrshire - Anywhere Guy 51 seeks partner. 5'9", 11st, hairy body, own home, single, can accommodate. Must be clean shaven and masterful, age 20+. Photo and phone number ensures reply. Box SG07045. CQ CQ CQ Are there any gay hams out there? GM1 seeks contacts. Novices especially welcome. Packet/phone 2M. Box SG07046. Greenock New to area. Looking for friends, maybe more. Me: 28, 5'8", likes theatre, pubs, music, anything. Where are the gays in Greenock/Gourock? ALA. Photo preferred. Age 18-30. Box SG07047. Elgin - Inverness Gay guy, early 40's, slim, friendly, non scene, varied hobbies and interests, seeks new friends any age for fun, friendship and possibly 1-2-1 relationship with right person. Box SG07048. Over 30s Only Inverness guy, 43, 5'9", stocky build, GSOH, varied interests, seeks others over 30 locally and nationwide for fun, friendship and possibly more. Make contact today and see what happens. ALA. Box SG07049. Aberdeen Guy Young 32 year old, looking for same or young guy to look after. Must be honest, horny, like nights out/in, clubbing. Own flat. Photo please and phone number where possible. ALA. Box SG07050. Dundee - Tayside Guy, 40s, reasonable looks, pleasant personality, would like to meet guy for close relationship preferably around same age but not essential. Must have good sense of humour and be sincere. Box SG07051. Dundee - Tayside - Anywhere Genuine guy, 40's, slim, friendly, straight acting, varied hobbies and interests, seeks new active friend, any age, locally/anywhere for fun, friendship and hopefully more with the right person. Box SG07052. Glasgow Guy For You? 31, 5'8", top would like to hear from any interested guys - the price of two stamps will let you find out more! Go on! Photo/phone ensure reply. Box SG07053. Glasgow Businessman Seeks slim young guy to put over his knee. Can accommodate. Photo helps. ALA. Box SG07054. Edinburgh Spankings Firm guy, 33, seeks bottoms needing spanked, caned or tawsed. Must be under 40 and prepared to be disciplined. Box SG07055. East Lothian Early 40s chubby passive guy, camp with GSOH, would like to meet guy for love, cuddles, massage and discreet times. Phone appreciated. Can accommodate. Genuine ad. ALA. ASAP. Box SG07056. 24 Year Old Oriental Training to be a gym instructor would like to meet like minded lads. I'm 5'10" about 11st. Clean shaven, smooth etc. Lives in Beds, but don't hold that against me. Hopefully, you should be young (below 35?). Cheers. Box SG07061. North of Scotland, Inverness Based? Join Me? Mid 30's, non-smoker, slim, hairy, loving guy from Glasgow, seeks sports/arts oriented 23-36 year olds for weekends together? Anyone for panto's - perhaps special one! Singles/couples. Can accommodate/massage. ALAWP, Christmas Card. Box SG07062. Glasgow Area Good looking 29 year old, tall, slim, short dark hair, looking for someone same age or younger for fun times. You won't be disappointed. Photo please to ensure reply. Box SG07063. Glasgow - Reclaim That Night! Bring in the New Year with a smile. Attractive, intelligent, young guy seeks similar 25-35 for that smile. ALAWP. 3D letter? Box SG07064. Glasgow - Oriental/Black Genuine student, 19 years old, looking for oriental or black friends 18/35 for friendship, letters and maybe more. I'm good looking, sporting and game for a laugh. Photo gets definite reply. Box SG07065. Edinburgh - Lothians Slim, good looking 18 year old guy, fed-up with being let down, needs someone under 27 to brighten up my days and heat up my nights. Box SG07066. BISEXUAL Edinburgh Male, 30 (some say) Would like to meet bi female for long term fun or friendship. Pleasant personality more important than looks. Edinburgh/Glasgow/UK. Box SG07028. Edinburgh 45 year old guy seeks younger women or couples for mutual exploration. Your limits respected. Box SG07057. Come and play with us! Mixed bi-couple need people for things you just can't do with two. Switch into some safe sexy and fantasy fulfilling games. What's your pleasure? Edinburgh area. Box SG07058. WANTED Sperm Donor Mature lesbian couple seek tall dark handsome man for donor. Must be HIV tested. Box SG07060. ACCOMMODATION OFFERED To Let Big room in Gayfield Square. ukp55/week all bills included. Check Ian 0131-557 1662. EMPLOYMENT OFFERED Gunge Girls Required! Renegade Productions require two female models for fully clothed messy video shoot - must be willing to enjoy covering each other with custard/Angel Delight. Clothes provided. For full info contact John at 01475 630438 (Evenings) or e-mail 100623.2700 @compuserve.com. USA Houseboy/valet required for Florida home. Will interview 11/2/96 to 14/2/96 in Scotland. Phone 00 1 904-441-4034 or send resume/picture to Lord Charles Ramsay Allen, 77 Concord Drive, Ormond Beach, FL 32176, USA. FRIENDS ABROAD Canada Daddy Teddy Bear wants one or more cubs, any location, age, colour, or shape, to whom he can write and become friends. I am and have been a frequent traveller, and am more than willing to consider return home visits. My interests are varied, and I work with computers. My preferences sexually are cuddling, kissing, and mutual JO. To me, sex is a very gentle art! If this is of interest to you, please write to me either electronically or by snail-mail. E-mail: dbonyun@globalx.net. Postal: David Bonyun, 7 Keppler Crescent, NEPEAN, K2H 5Y1, Ontario, CANADA. PASSING GLANCES Health Day - Tron Theatre - July Derek, you kept looking up at me, but I was too shy to come down. You said you were a chubby chaser. I would love you to chase me! Box SG07059. SERVICES Accountancy Services Tax problems, accounting, auditing, business plans, call Marios on 0131-555 0600 (Fax: 0131-555 6652). We are members of the Chartered Association of Certified Accountants and Registered Auditors. Personal and confidential service. Aromatherapy For stress and relaxation, trainee offers aromatherapy/massage at ukp10 per session (half hour). Telephone Clay on 0131-554 2429. Boudoir Noir The non-fiction Leather-Fetish-Consensual SM Magazine. Box 5, Station F, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, M4Y 2L4. Phone: 00 1 416 591 2387. Fax: 00 1 416 591 1572. E-mail: boudoir@the-wire.com. Sample $10. Subscription $24 ($50 outside North America). Member Canadian Magazine Publishers Association. Check out our Web Site at http://www.the-wire.com/boudoir.noir. Company Formations Why pay more? For only ukp90, Cosun Limited will supply a freshly formed Scottish, English/Welsh or Northern Ireland Limited or PLC with your own choice of name. For a free copy of our 'Guide to Limited Companies': Freephone 0800 526421. Contacts in USA and France Voluntary Group for holiday exchange, penpals, etc. Covering USA and French-speaking countries. For sample bulletin send 3 International Reply Coupons to: Recontre France/Amerique, 350 Nature Trail Lane, Murrysville, PA 15668, USA. Genuine Phone Dating For Gay Men The Dating Line that has it all! Instant Messaging, VoiceMale Dating and "Traditional" Phone Dating. 0891 556655. 39p/min cheap, 49p/min other. TBO, Box 425, PE25 2RQ. CALL NOW! Get onto the Internet For only a tenner a month (plus VAT), Demon Internet Services provides full access to the Internet. Want to learn more? Phone 0131-552 0344. Get Wet Leather, rubber, & PVC clothes for men & women, leather & rubber harnesses, silicone and latex toys, lubricants, SM equipment, wholesale available. Send ukp5 for catalogue or sae for price list to: Get Wet, BCM 3564, London. WC1N 3XX. Tel/Fax: 0171-627 0290. Pen Friends Gay, Lesbian and Bi-sexuals ages 16+, non profit organisation, members nationwide and worldwide, membership ukp6 p/a or ukp3 p/a concessionary. Write, enclosing 2 stamps to: LGB National Pen Pals, PO Box 2000, Horwich, Lancs, England. BL6 7PG. Stories To Order Our stories enliven those parts others cannot. Why? Because they are created especially for you and only you. Read about whatever you wish by using our definitive fantasy service. Intrigued? Then why not send a stamp for full details of our truly individual service to: TTS, PO Box 1846, Bath. BA1 3TJ. Worldwide Penfriends Regular lists. Make friends, exchange holidays, improve your languages. For general and music lovers' lists send ukp3 to 'The Penpal List', c/o 221B Merton Road, Southfields, London. SW18 5EE. WHERE TO STAY Want a friendly B&B? Balnacrive Guest House, Dulnain Bridge, by Grantown-on-Spey. Anne and Mary warmly welcome you to the Scottish Highlands. All sports and recreation available from walking to ski-ing. Please phone 01479 851228 for brochure. New Zealand Accommodation SIGMA - South Island Gay Managed Accommodation, a network of accommodation for gays and lesbians visiting the South Island of New Zealand. For a free list, write to: Ron Harris, Shag Point, RD2 Palmerston, Otago, NZ or phone 00 64 3-465-1742. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- INTERNATIONAL NEWS from Rex Wockner SWEDEN BLASTS ZIMBABWE Swedish Foreign Affairs Minister Lena Hjelm-Wallen has strongly denounced Zimbabwean President Robert Mugabe's recent aggressive anti-gay tirades. "It goes without saying that individuals should be allowed to be who they are and express their nature in different ways so long as it does not hurt anybody else," she said. "Naturally, this right includes a person's sexual orientation. The Swedish government is of the opinion that discrimination and punishment of individuals based on their sexual orientation is wholly unacceptable... When it comes to Zimbabwe, it is with amazement and concern that I have noted the condemnatory and discriminating attitude that the power of the country has demonstrated towards homosexuals. In the continuous dialogue between Sweden and Zimbabwe we will make our point of view on this issue clear." In recent months, Mugabe and Members of his Parliament have been spouting the most extreme vitriol heard in the world for decades. Protests may be directed to Parliament of Zimbabwe, P.O. Box CY298, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe, and to Robert Mugabe, Private Bag 7700, Causeway, Harare, Zimbabwe. Much-needed support may be sent to Gays and Lesbians of Zimbabwe (GALZ), Private Bag A6131, Avondale, Harare, Zimbabwe. ROMANIA REJECTS EQUALITY Romania's Chamber of Deputies have rejected a package of revisions to the Penal Code that included altering Article 200 to delete the portion that punishes homosexuality with up to five years in prison. The changes to Article 200 had been approved earlier as an amendment to the Penal Code reform measure, which led to a premature report by the Reuters news service that Romania had legalized gay sex, when, in fact, the final Penal Code package had not been passed. The latest vote places Romania in hot water with the Council of Europe, which made decriminalization of gay sex a condition of Romania's membership in the body. The decisive votes were cast by members of the Party of Romanian National Unity, the Greater Romania Party and the Socialist Workers' Party - which are described by local gays as "extremist parties" that cast their ‘no' votes to oppose the gay reforms. Another key factor was a year-long campaign by the Orthodox Church, which circulated petitions calling for increased penalties for gay sex. Even if the revisions had passed, Romanian gays would not have been in a very safe legal space. Under the newer Article 200, it would have remained criminal to engage in homosexual sex that "cause[d] public scandal," defined (in a 57-year-old statute) as "any act which becomes known to more than two persons who disapprove of it." And homosexual organizations, associations, proselytization and propaganda were to have been prohibited under threat of up to five years in jail. The revisions were denounced by Amnesty International and other human-rights organizations for their vagueness and seeming infringements on freedoms of speech, assembly and association. Romanian gays have requested protest letters to Petru Tanase Tavala, Chairman, Committee for Human Rights; Oliviu Gherman, Chairman, Permanent Bureau of the Senate, Senate of Romania; and Adrian Nastase, Presidinte, Camera Deputatilor; Palatul Parlamentului, Bucharest, Romania. AUSTRIA Austria's conservative People's Party (OeVP) and far-right Freedom party have teamed up in Parliament for the first time and killed a number of the Social Democrats' projects, including one to equalize the age-of-consent for gay-male and heterosexual sex. Straight sex and lesbian sex are permitted at age 14 but men must wait till age 18 to have sex with each other. INDIA "Ashura," India's first gay film, is near completion and will debut on TV. The movie, by producer Ashish Balram Hagpal, who also stars in it, chronicles the love affair of an industrialist and a newspaper editor. The ending is not happy. One of the men, unable to accept his sexuality, marries a woman. India Today recently featured a photograph of the two men kissing. ISRAEL Israeli gays say the assassination of Prime Minister Yitzhak Rabin was a blow also to the gay cause because Rabin was actively pro-gay. Rabin reportedly helped change regulations that barred gays from high-security jobs in the military, and ð ð once assisted a reserve officer, Uzi Even, who had lost his security clearance because of his sexual orientation. NEW ZEALAND Transsexual District Councillor Georgina Beyer, 38, was recently elected mayor of the conservative, rural town of Carterton. She may be the world's first transsexual mayor. Beyer previously achieved the distinction of being the first openly transsexual elected official in New Zealand. "The Carterton-area people are pretty conservative but a lot of people wanted something different to happen to the Council," Beyer explained, attributing her landslide win over two opponents to her "vim and vigour." SPAIN Spain's Congress of Deputies and Senate have banned discrimination based on sexual orientation and created new hate-crime laws. Ratifying a new Penal Code, the legislators declared the right to express one's sexual orientation a fundamental freedom and prohibited sexual-orientation-based discrimination in housing, employment, public services and professional activities. The new code also specifically criminalizes hate and violence against gay individuals and organizations with penalties ranging from six months to four years. UKRAINE The former Soviet republic has begun producing condoms according to Deputy Health Minister Viktor Marievsky. "So far only a few are available," he said. "And the ministry has issued orders to pharmaceutical authorities to check the quality of those available in chemists' shops." Russian condoms have always been unpopular in Ukraine because they are too thick. Top-sellers come from India, China and Poland, although most men refuse to use rubbers at all. The most-common form of birth control in much of the former Soviet Union remains abortion. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- SERIAL ====== I AIN'T NEVER GONNA LET YOU GO ... In the previous episode of our tale of two teenagers growing up gay together, the lusty lads discovered the joys of versatility. But will young love last? Read on and find out in the final episode (for the time being) of Tony Hiscox-Sloan's one handed masterpiece. Now that Paul was into being fucked as well, it put a whole new meaning into regular sex. No longer were our sessions ruled by whether he was randy or not. We were at it all the time and I was beginning to wonder if it was natural to do it so often, or were we just a pair of randy healthy teenagers? When I say we were at it all the time, I mean all the time. Everywhere and anywhere. An example of this came on the bus on the way home. It was about eight thirty, we had been late night shopping and had decided that it was time to head home. As always, we sat upstairs at the back - I don't know why , but we always did. This time the bus was empty and we were carrying on a bit, tickling each other and so on. "Paul, look this bus is one of the old ones that's not fitted with a surveillance camera." "So?", I muttered in return. Dave just grinned at me pulled out his semi-hard cock and said, "Blow job, please". "For God's sake, not here." "Come on, be a devil. No-one will see, and I can watch for them coming on." I just laughed and went down on his beautiful cock and began to suck for all I was worth. I must admit I found the thought of being caught at it very stimulating. So much so that my cock was every bit as hard as Dave's, but there was no way that I was pulling out my dick on the back seat of any bus. Dave made me stop, popped his cock into my hand and whispered to me to toss him off. It only took a few strokes and he was shooting all over the back of the seat. When he had finished, he just wiped his thing on his shirt end and popped it back. By now, I was as randy as hell, and Dave knew it. "Want me to stay over?", he whispered softly. I just grinned and nodded silently. When we got back to my house, I told Mum that Dave was going to stay over. "Well, make sure he phones home and tells them where he is", Mum shouted as we disappeared towards my room. Dave phoned home from the extension in the hall and everything was OK. As we lay in each others arms on top of the bed, Dave said he had something he wanted to tell me. "Oh", I blurted out apprehensively. "You know I have been applying for university places all over the country." "Yeh" "Well I have been accepted by Aberdeen, and I start next term". "Will that mean I won't be able to see you?" "Well, not so often anyway." I must have looked really sad as Dave snuggled up to me and whispered into my ear, "Come on baby, it's not the end of the world. We will still have each other, only not so often". I grabbed hold of him and held him so tightly that I nearly squeezed him to death. "You will still want me for a boyfriend, won't you?" "Of course, Silly Billy. We will never be parted for good". As we lay in the darkness of the room, gently stroking each other, the thought of parting soon gave way to pure lust. "Paul", Dave whispered, "make love to me. Slow and gentle, I really need you to-night. " Dave turned over, the hairs on his arse rubbed against my cheeks as I kissed the inside of his leg. I sat up, and slowly rolled a condom down the length of my shaft, parted his legs with my hands and sat in-between his legs placing my dickhead at the entrance of his love hole. As I entered him, I gently lowered my body on top of him, feeling my cock slide all the way in. I lay like that for a few seconds before I started to get my rhythm going. Slowly at first, drawing it back till it was almost out , then back in again. Dave was in heaven, his body was arching to meet me as I drove back into him, and at the same time he let out a small sigh. This was going to be some fuck, I thought. I wasn't to be disappointed. Gradually I picked up the pace of my thrusts, determined that I would keep it going for as long as I could. I could really feel Dave's body work in conjunction with mine. We were fucking as one. Having started and stopped now for about an hour, and getting desperate to come, I whispered to Dave that I was going to finish it this time. We really went at it and in no time I could feel the cum shoot inside the condom. I rolled over, exhausted, and smiled at Dave who was by this time wanking away as hard as ever at has proud manhood, and before I could grab it there was spunk everywhere. He always was the impatient type! Once we had cleaned up, Dave looked at me and said, "Don't you even think of going to sleep. We might have to part temporarily quite soon, but we are sure as hell going to make the best of it meantime". ------------------------------------------------------------------------ MUSIC ===== ALAN'S CHART 1. Natural Born Grooves - Fore Runner (Assured) 2. Trope - Amphetamine (Baby Doc Mix) (Prolekult) 3. Mothballs - Instinct of Self Preservation: UK Remixes (KGB's Coalesced Mix) (Slate) 4. Outline - Chinese Juice (Bamboo Kitchen Mix) (Boom) 5. Phantom - Control Freak (Original Mix) (Chug N Bump) 6. Sourmash - Pilgrimage to Paradise (The Hardfloor Remix) (Prolekult) 7. Fade - So Good (The Lifter Mix) (Fade) 8. D&T - Up and Down (Rizzo's Funk Electric Mix) (Tripoli Trax) 9. The Auranaut - Hear the Rich Boy (Just Passing Through) (Disruptive Pattern) 10. Matthewman/Wells - XVX.6 (XVX) 11. Quivver - Believe In Me (SPS Whooped Club Mix) (Perfecto) 12. D:Ream - The Power (Of All the Love in the World) (Dancing Divaz Rhythm Mix) (Warner) 13. Rushmore & Panufnik - Get Up (Move Your Butt) (Spirits of Inspiration) 14. Force Mass Motion - Test Cut (Rabbit City) 15. Force Mass Motion - Layer-8 (Rabbit City) 16. DJ UFO - Cosmos / X (Electric Kingdom) 17. Secret Life - Love Love Love (Play Boys Fully Loaded Dub) (Pulse 8) 18. D.N.Party - Get It On (Alpha Mix) (Ugly Bug) 19. Baby Doc - Sienna (White Label) 20. Wicked Annabella - Baby (Don't Stop) (Robs) Joy - Scotland's Largest Gay Club Saturday, Calton Road, Edinburgh ------------------------------ ARTS ==== PHANTOM OF THE OPERA Amidst the pretty mundane set of panto's doing the rounds of Scotland's theatres this Xmas, it's nice to be able to report on a really decent night out at Edinburgh's Playhouse. I thought that I wouldn't go a bundle on The Phantom of the Opera, but I was wrong. OK, the music sounds like everything else that Andrew Lloyd Weber has ever written, but that was never an impediment to most of the other successful composers in history. Actually, there are a few more good tunes than I expected, but where Cameron Mackintosh and The Really Useful Theatre Company's production really scores is in the staging and costumes which are spectacular - nay, stunning! Edinburgh's Playhouse is transformed in an orgy of theatrical wonderment - the memory of which lasts long after you've emerged onto the dreary street after the performance. No stranger to the role of Theatre's most famous mystery man, Mark McKerracher has already played the Phantom in both London and Manchester. His other credits include: Sweeney Todd, Juan Peron in Evita and Jean Valjean in Les MisErables which he played on Broadway and in London's West End. Nicky Adams, who played Cosette in Les MisErables in London plays the female lead role of Christine whilst Andrew Halliday, whose credits include both Phantom and Cats in London, plays Raoul. Since it first opened at Her Majesty's Theatre in London in 1986, The Phantom of the Opera has broken every Box Office record at every theatre it has played throughout the world. Frankly, I'm not surprised. This is a camp, over the top production of the first order - one that should appeal to the queen in us all and one that certainly appealed to all the queens who were in on the first night! Martin Powell FREE TICKETS Courtesy of Cameron Macintosh, we're able to offer ScotsGay readers a chance to win a pair of free tickets for Phantom at Edinburgh's Playhouse on Monday 5th February. All you have to do is write to: Phantom Tickets, ScotsGay, PO Box 666, Edinburgh EH7 5YW. Please enclose your name and address and also answer the following question: Who wrote the music for Phantom of the Opera? The winning entry will be drawn at random from correct entries. All entries must arrive by 19th January 1996. The winner will be notified by post. ----------------------------------------------------------------------- REVIEWS ======= video: The Art of Cruising Men Cheerful Scout Productions 70min I've been getting a bit tired recently of filth masquerading as education, so this one makes a nice change - for once, the filth is actually quite informative and rather amusing to boot. Introduced and linked in a cyberspace style, the video consists of mucky bits, interviews with gay men and timely advice not just on safe sex, but on how to make the most of gay culture and its norms. Unusually, the men who are interviewed aren't just pretty twinks but include a wide selections of ages and body types with even Peggy Tatchell making an appearance! This is the perfect present for somebody who is just coming out, but is so amusing that it could make a good stocking filler for any gay man. Justin Milne mags: Prowl No 34 Prowler Press, ukp4.99 I must be getting old, as I finished up somewhat out of breath after my one handed perusal of this, one of Prowler Press's latest offerings. In it, we get to see some of the material for which Bjorn Andersen got banged up at Heathrow when he imported it from Budapest. Methinks the Customs were just jealous! books: Hollywoodn't: A Queer Postcard Book by Laurence Jauget-Paget Pandora, ukp6.99 I hope you haven't bought all your Christmas cards yet, ‘cause here is a book of postcards that though admittedly not conceived for this holiday, will nevertheless bring a smile to many a recipient of one of these gorgeously reproduced pictures. There are photographs of Bonnie and Clyde, Greta Garbo, Baby Jane and Clark Gable, but Laurence Jauget-Paget has captured and cross-dressed them all and many more besides. This camp collection of 30 postcards shows classic 1920s - 1950s Hollywood images, but with a queer twist. So if you want to send something different to your friends this Christmas and get away from the typical butch and well hung Santa cards here is your chance. And while you're at it you might as well get two copies ‘cause I'm sure you'll never send any away if you have only the one! Black Confetti: New Fairy Tales for an Old Country by Diesel Balaam and Sukie de la Croix Excalibur Press of London, ukp7.95 Not quite the side-splitter that I'd expected from the authors of the much missed Emerald City News, but, nonetheless, not a bad read with a few droll moments. Forget the pretentious blurb on the cover and try and ignore the rather dreary typesetting, for this set of modern fairy tales all have an unexpected twist. It's queer fiction for the 90's on universal themes and is probably accessible even to heterosexuals. Available direct from the publishers at 4-6 Effie Road, London, SW6 1TD. Tel: 0171-371 9044. The Immortal Bartfuss by Aharon Appelfeld Quartet Books, ukp7.00 The Immortal Bartfuss is a strange character. He is a survivor in the face of absurdity. I know that it's not the literal quote, but it's not a mistake. His life seems to revolve around one or the other absurd occurrence. He lives out his life in a strange sort of twilight world with a wife he doesn't love and who despises him, a daughter whose disability his wife uses against him and first and foremost memories that haunt him. He is racked by a guilty conscience, ‘cause he used the suffering of his fellow Jews to amass himself a fortune in the closing days of the last war. But nothing means anything any longer to this sad figure, everything is just so bloody trivial, his wife, his daughter, his friends, his life. Soooooo trivial. If you fancy committing suicide this Christmas, this book is your ideal companion. It's like the vinyl carrying the sounds of Leonhard Cohen magically transported into print. Incredibly depressing and yet I can't help wanting to read it again. I must be mad. Slow Death in Paris by Denis Belloc Quartet Books, ukp8.00 I've just finished reading this harrowing book and it brought back memories of the more horrible experiences of my late teens and early twenties when I was part of the underground, although in my case in Berlin, so excellently portrayed by this Parisian writer. After leaving home at a very early age I first lived in Munich and then in Berlin. There I had first hand experiences with the "Grimy underbelly of the City of Light" as the writer calls Paris. But that name rings equally true of the Berlin in the early seventies I came to know. Berlin then was the shining beacon of Capitalism surrounded by the dark seas of Communism. But underneath the shining exterior was a cruel underworld of prostitutes and pimps, junkies and ruthless pushers, the filthy and horrifying areas around the wall, where only the very young and naive like me or the hardened criminals would hang out. So easily could I have been the thirty-six year old homosexual amongst an army of spectres looking for love and a fix like the hero of this book. So easily could I have been the one whose love and passion is rejected over and over again and so easily could I have turned to the apparent release offered by the pushers of hard drugs. And the enormous descriptive power of this author lies in accurately portraying just that sort of life, from the terrified young woman begging for mercy from a pusher with a knife at her throat, to the desperate junkie pissing into his heroin to dissolve it for the next shot. The frightening thing for me was that all of it was not so strange, all of it I could recall, all of it I had seen and conveniently forgotten to make room for the much more trivial life of middle age into which we all seem to slip unnoticed by ourselves sooner or later. This book screamed at me: "Wake up, it still goes on today". Frightening, but I'm glad I took this unpleasant trip down memory lane. A Class Apart: The private pictures of Montague Glover by James Gardiner Serpent's Tail, ukp15.99 Sorry, but sometimes I'm really a little ignorant. I really didn't know who this Montague Glover was when this book arrived at my doorstep. I've since found out a little about him, mainly from this book, but once I delved into his story I really wanted to know more about him. He was an architect and an army officer awarded the Military Cross for bravery during World War 1 and a talented amateur photographer and what's more, he was a queer like you and me. He died in 1983 and left us a wealth of photographic evidence, thousands of photographs spanning over thirty years with the earliest having been taken as far back as 1918. And each one of these photographs tells the story of this remarkable man and the three obsessions in his life; the search for "rough trade", men in uniform and last but not least the handsome East End lover with whom he shared his life for over fifty years. Now there is something to aim for, a gay golden anniversary. James Gardiner has compiled this amazing biography in words and pictures and has succeeded not only in giving us an insight into this man's story, but also allows everybody a look into the hidden history of the gay sub-culture in the first half of this century. He has selected the most evocative of Glover's photographs and has brought them to life with his own research into gay history, fragments of gay writing from the time, Glover's own wartime diaries and letters to and from the men he loved. It's a book that will inspire and help overcome the apparent obstacles that a homophobic society throws into the path of every gay man. And quite apart from that, some of the pictures are simply delicious! Letting It All Hang Out by RuPaul Hyperion Couldn't put this one down at all. What a life! What a character! What entertainment. Brought up in the American Deep South as the only son of poor country folk, RuPaul later moved with his parents and sisters to San Diego, California. By the time he was seven his mum and dad separated, leaving RuPaul as the only male in a otherwise completely female household. Even then he started entertaining his family with his impressions of Cher, Carol Burnett and Tina Turner to name but a few and in ninth grade was voted best dancer and best Afro in school. But he also dreamt of being a star right from his pot-smoking adolescence and wanted to break away from small town life in downtown San Diego. And he did more than just dreaming of it. He enrolled first at a musical drama department only to find it unsuitable, but persevered in straight drama classes, which were led by a hot-headed and dynamic teacher, who by all accounts gave him a rooting and lots of self confidence. Next came various small TV appearances and work in clubs and bars and a life full of ups and downs, and for about seven years he described himself as down and out in New York, London and L.A. The first time he came to Britain the customs officials turned him straight back and forced him to return to the States, without as much as leaving Heathrow. But the tide turned in 1992 and after having successfully concluded a gruelling tour of America he came to the notice of a much wider audience and is now the first drag queen to ever become a spokesmodel for a major cosmetics company. His autobiography has been a real pleasure to read and is full of little snippets of wisdom. Here is just one of them: "There is no higher authority on the planet, when it comes to deciding what's best for you, than you". So there you have it, as far as I'm concerned you'll deprive yourself of a wonderful book if you don't rush out and buy a copy. The Encylopaedia of Flower Remedies by Clare G. Harvey & Amanda Cochrane Thorsons, ukp12.99 "Have you ever felt happier for surrounding yourself with fresh flowers, been especially attracted to certain kinds of blooms or found solace strolling among fields or gardens filled with flowering plants? If so, you have already experienced the therapeutic power of flower." These are the first two sentences in this remarkable book. I first was introduced to the healing powers of plants in the late seventies when my then partner got very much involved with Bach Flower Remedies. I met up with large numbers of people who had been healed of various illnesses and ailment by these lovely tasting tinctures. Until then I had been rather ignorant and perhaps cynical about all alternative methods of healing. But these days I have to admit, I would rather put my faith into something as obscure as the Kombucha Tea Mushroom, than to hark back to conventional medicines, most of which rely on massive doses of potentially harmful chemicals. Which of course brings me back to this lovely book. I am just completely taken by the thorough approach and in depth information contained in this encylopædia. As soon as this title arrived at our house it became very much a talking point with our friends. It was actually published some months back, but we haven't really had the chance to write this review, because many of our friends have borrowed it and most have bought their own copy. This is the first complete encylopædia of flower essences I have ever come across and it gives information on remedies gathered from all corners of the world. There are descriptions of the healing powers of flowers from the West coast of America, from the Australian Bush, from Hawaii, the Himalayas and the Amazon jungle. But even with all these far fetched flowers, the humble Daisy and Dandelions are not forgotten and even plants which most of us might consider to be noxious weeds, like Rose Bay Willow Herb, we are told are full of healing powers. And to top it all, it's not just a dry textbook, the authors have included some spectacular colour plates of the most gorgeous flowers and even some Kirlian photographs of some amazing specimens. If you are at all interested in alternative medicine and especially flower remedies then this book is an absolute must in your library. --------------------------------------------------------------------------- LISTINGS ======== We TRY to provide Scotland's most up-to-date and accurate listings. If your group isn't listed, - or if your entry needs updating - please write to ScotsGay with full details. We're not clairvoyant: If we don't know about it, it just won't go in! We'd also like to know about your forthcoming events and meetings. Although many of the listings are for specific towns, they often cover a much wider area. If in doubt, you can always phone one of the Switchboards for more information. Write to:- ScotsGay Listings, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh EH7 5YW, Fax them to: 0131-558 1262 or e-mail them to scotsgay@drink.demon.co.uk. NATIONAL ORGANISATIONS OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND is Scotland's oldest lesbian, gay and bisexual rights organisation. It was founded in 1969 as the Scottish Minorities Group, later became the Scottish Homosexual Rights Group and changed its name to OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND in December 1992. OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND owns the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre. To contact, write to: The Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, 58a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA or send e-mail to tmh@dcs.ed.ac.uk EDINBURGH: The Lantern is a drop-in discussion group which meets every Monday 7.30–9pm in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre at 58a Broughton Street. Varied programme - please drop down any Monday, no formalities, new members welcomed. Details: Phone Gerry on 0131-448 2040 or Marshall on 0131-467 4456. DUNDEE: OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND Dundee Focus Group for lesbians, gay men and bisexuals meets 4th Thursday of each month at 7pm in the YMCA Special Projects Office, 76 Bell Street. Write to: PO Box 104, Dundee. DD1 3DU. Why not join OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND? Membership is ukp12 waged, ukp6 low-waged (under ukp10,000 pa) and ukp3 unwaged. Life membership is ukp150. Please make out your cheque/Postal Order to OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND and send to The Membership Secretary, OUTRIGHT SCOTLAND, 58a Broughton Street, EDINBURGH. EH1 3SA. LESBIAN ARCHIVE AND INFORMATION CENTRE: The UK's largest and most significant collection of materials relating to lesbian lives. LAIC (at Glasgow Women's Library) 109 Trongate, Glasgow. G1 5HD. Tel: 0141-552 8345. Open Tue-Fri 1-6pm and sat 2-5pm. PRIDE SCOTLAND: Pride Scotland has been established to organise the annual lesbian, gay male and bisexual Pride event in Scotland, which will be held in Glasgow on 22nd June 1996. Phone: 0131-556 8822. Or write: c/o GGLC, 11 Dixon Street, Glasgow, G1 4AL. E-mail: pride@tardis.ed.ac.uk. All kinds of help are urgently required for next year! LOCAL ORGANISATIONS ABERDEEN: Aberdeen Gay Group caters for all ages and meets 3rd Sunday of every month. Phone Ron on Aberdeen (01224) 640996 for information or write to: AGG, PO Box 129, Aberdeen. AB9 6EY. Swim or Social most Wednesdays: Phone David on Aberdeen (01224) 317552. Icebreakers is a social group which meets on Friday evenings. Contact Aberdeen Switchboard for details. AYR: Ayrshire Forum is a group for gay men, lesbians and bisexuals providing support and acting as a social focus. Meets every Wednesday 7.30-9.30pm. For info: contact Ayshire Switchboard or write c/o The Leisure Centre, 24 Wellington Square, Ayr. Ayrshire Gay and Lesbian Switchboard operates Mon/Wed/Fri 7-10pm (answerphone outwith these periods). Phone: Ayr (01292) 619000. Or write to: PO Box 1043, Ayr. KA6 5JQ CAITHNESS GAY AND LESBIAN CONNECTION: A friendly informal group which meets regularly. Write to: Box 689, Journal Office, 42 Union Street, Wick, Caithness. KW1 5ED. CENTRAL REGION: Forth Friend has a social group which meets every second Wednesday. The Forth Friend phoneline operates each Monday from 7.30pm to 10pm on Stirling (01786) 471285. Or write to: PO Box 28, Stirling. FK9 5YW. DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY: Regular social meetings - usually every second Thursday. For details of all events: phone Dumfries (01387) 269161 Thursdays 7.30–9.30pm or write to Dumfries and Galloway Lesbian and Gay Group, PO Box 1299, Dumfries. DG1 2PD. DUNDEE: Tay Friend, holds regular social meetings for gay men. Write to: Tayfriend, PO Box 182, Dundee. DD1 9UP. EDINBURGH: Icebreakers is an alternative to the scene and takes place between 7pm and 8pm on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each calendar month in the Blue Moon, 36 Broughton Street. Phone Lothian Switchboard for details. The Lantern is an informal discussion group held every Monday 7.30–9pm downstairs in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. Phone: Gerry on 0131-448 2040 or Marshall on 0131-467 4456. ELGIN: Elgin Gay Switchboard is trying to get off the ground. For more details, telephone Bobby on Elgin (01343) 542928. Moray Gay Group meets second Wednesday of each month 8.15pm in the lounge (enter from car park) of the Cat's Whiskers pub in New Elgin. Phone Douglas on Elgin (01343) 547107 for details. FIFE FRIEND: Small voluntary phoneline offering support, advice and information to lesbians and gay men within Fife. Friday: 7.30pm–10.30pm. Telephone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688. Write to PO Box 19, Kirkcaldy, Fife. KY1 3JF. Runs a monthly disco. GLASGOW: Glasgow Gay and Lesbian Centre Project meets on the 1st Saturday of each month at 2pm in Strathclyde House. Write to: GLC Project, PO Box 463, GLASGOW G12 8NJ or contact 0141-227 6936 (Phone/Fax). For childcare, phone and ask for Kim (at least 1 week in advance). BSL Interpreter is usually available (check 2 weeks in advance). Glasgow Gay Group is an informal social group for gay men. Has a regular weekly pub night as well as running other social events like theatre, cinema, bowling, etc. Phone: Steve on 0141-339 7395 - preferably on Mon or Tues evenings. Icebreakers Cafe - An alternative to the gay scene - First Sunday in each month. 12.30–3.30pm in Austin's Bar, 183a Hope Street, Glasgow. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard. HAMILTON: Lanarkshire Gay Men's Group is a new group which meets regularly. Details from Kenneth Henry at Phace West: 0141-332 3838. INVERCLYDE: Inverclyde Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Group imeets every Tuesday 7-10pm. Details from Joe Hammill on Greenock (01475) 729174. INVERNESS: Gay Group meets on the 4th Wednesday of each month at 28 Huntly Street. Phone Andrew on Inverness (01463) 711585 (Mon-Fri 9am-5pm) or write to: PO Box 67, Inverness. IV1 2XX. PAISLEY: Paisley Forum is a social group for lesbians, gay men, bisexuals and our allies. Meets Paisley Arts Centre, New Street on the 2nd and 4th Sunday of each month 8.30-10.30pm. Details: Phone Sandra on 0141-887 2649 or contact Strathclyde Switchboard. WOMEN'S GROUPS ABERDEEN LESBIAN GROUP: Meets every Wednesday 8-10pm in the Women's Centre, Shoe Lane. Phone Aberdeen (01224) 625010 or 627415 for details. EDINBURGH: AD Group: For lesbians 45+ (younger lesbians who support the concerns of lesbians 45+). Meetings for discussion and support, first Saturday (1–5pm) of month in The Women's Centre, 61a Broughton Street. For more details, phone Edinburgh Lesbian Line. Dykes Nytes Out: social events for couples and singles in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Lesbian Line 0131-557 0751, Mondays and Thursdays 7.30–10pm. For information, advice and counselling in confidence. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU. Edinburgh Bisexual Group meets every Thursday at 8pm-9.30pm in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. All welcome. Women's Network: PO Box 159, Edinburgh. EH7 5EL. GLASGOW: Dykes Nytes Out: social events for couples and singles in Edinburgh and Glasgow. Write to: PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3LU. Glasgow Women's Library, 4th/5th Floors, 109 Trongate, G1 5HD. Tel: 0141-552 8345. Open Tue-Fri 1-6pm. Sat 2-5pm. Closed Mon. Lending and reference library - books, magazines, journals, videos, leaflets and information. UK and overseas feminist and lesbian publications. Contains the Lesbian Archive and Information Centre - a unique national collection of publications, journals and ephemera by and for lesbians. Lesbian Avengers: Meets regularly. Phone 0141-552 8345 for details. Lesbian Line: 0141-552 3355 Wednesdays 7–10pm. Write to: PO Box 686, Glasgow. G3 7TL enclosing an sae for monthly 'Lavender Listing'. Lesbian Mothers Group: Meets every second Monday at 7pm. Support group, pub nights, informal chat. Creche and fares help available. Phone Lynne on 0141-221 7150. Lesbian Networking Meeting: Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for meeting details and Lynne on 0141-221 7150 for childcare information. Lesbian Sports Group: Squash, badminton, tennis. Meets weekly. Phone Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. Lesbian Youth Action: Contact Lindsay Jane Morgan c/o Glasgow Lesbian Line. Olderwomen's Group: Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. Team Caledonia West Women's Cycling Group: Phone Women in Sport on 0141-227 5933 for details. Women's Softball Group: Meets weekly. Contact Glasgow Lesbian Line for details. INVERNESS: Out and About is a friendly lesbian social group that gets together once a month. Write to: PO Box 91, Inverness. IV1 2GJ. LESBIAN INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 8, Todmorden, Lancashire. OL14 5TZ. Please enclose an sae. Phone/Fax: Todmorden (01706) 817235. BISEXUALS EDINBURGH BISEXUAL GROUP: Meets every Thursday at 8pm-9.30pm in the Edinburgh Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Centre, 58a Broughton Street. There's an excellent programme of talks and speakers usually followed by a visit to a local pub for socialising. Phone Bisexual Line on 0131-557 3620. ATHEISTS/HUMANISTS EDINBURGH FREETHINKERS: An informal network of militant atheists (with one militant humanist agnostic atheist). Write to: PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW or e-mail god@dorothy.demon.co.uk GAY AND LESBIAN HUMANIST ASSOCIATION (GALHA): A group for non religious lesbians gays and bisexuals which promotes an enlightened, rational Humanist approach to homosexuality. Details from GALHA National Office, 34 Spring Lane, Kenilworth, Warwickshire. CV8 2HB. Phone/Fax: Kenilworth (01926) 58450. BEARS BEARS' CLUB UK: For hairy men and admirers. Meets in the New Town Bar, Edinburgh on the 3rd Wednesday of each month from 8.30pm. Write to: BCUK, 56 Albert Street, Beswick, Manchester. M11 3SU. BEREAVEMENT LESBIAN & GAY BEREAVEMENT PROJECT: Lesbians and gay men needing advice and support can ring 0181-455 8894 at any time. Or write to: Lesbian & Gay Bereavement Project, Vaughan M Williams Centre, Colindale Hospital, London. NW9 5HG. BIKERS GAY BIKERS MOTORCYCLE CLUB: A UK-wide club for women and men. Active Scottish section. Write for details to GBMCC, PO Box 33, Nottingham. NG10 2BF. CHRISTIANS L&GCM: Lesbian and Gay Christian Movement. Scottish Helpline 0141-334 2286 Thurs 7–10pm or write to PO Box 1436, Glasgow. G31 2NY. METROPOLITAN COMMUNITY CHURCH: An inclusive church for the lesbigay and trangendered community in Edinburgh. Meets every third Sunday in the Chaplaincy Centre, 1 Bristo Square, at 6pm. Write: MCC Edinburgh, PO Box 12433, Edinburgh. EH1 3FU or phone Middlesborough (01642) 534344. QUAKERS: Quaker Lesbian and Gay Fellowship (formerly Friends' Homosexual Fellowship) is a welcoming and supportive national group for people of all sexual orientations and their friends. Write to: Ruth, 3 Hallsfield, Cricklade, Swindon, Wilts. SN6 6LR. QUEST: Organisation for Roman Catholic men and women who are gay. Telephone: Linkline Glasgow on 0141-552 8328. Sunday 7–10pm. Or you can write to: Quest, PO Box 280, Glasgow. G12 0AW. COMPUTER BUFFS BORDERS BULLETIN BOARD: Computer based info every evening 6pm-8am. Hawick (01450) 377877. To get at the Gay areas, leave a message for the SYSOP asking for access. CHAPPS BBS: 24 hour board operating at speeds up to 28,800. 0131-539 1132 or 0131-538 3345 (speeds up to 14,400) Fido echoes. LAMBDA BOARD - EDINBURGH: A free 24 hour computer based bulletin board system. Private mailboxing, areas for Women, Gay Men, Bisexuals, Leather Enthusiasts, TV/TSs, etc. 0131-556 6316. Scrolling (8N1) and Viewdata (Prestel) formats at speeds up to V22bis (2400/2400). CULTURAL GAY CALEDONIAN ASSOCIATION: Social group for kilt wearers and friends. Meets in GHQ on the 1st and 3rd Wednesdays of each month. Phone Bill on 0141-646 1513. INTERNATIONAL KILT APPRECIATION SOCIETY (IKAS): Contact and social group for guys interested in viewing/wearing kilts. Regular newsletter: SAE Mervyn Tacy, ‘Ziveli', 20 Ordsall Park Road, RETFORD, Notts, DN22 7PA. LONG YANG CLUB: An international organisation for gay orientals and interested people of other nationalities. Promotes social events, education and mutual help services and publishes a magazine. Phone Ray: 0131-336 1287. DRINK PROBLEMS If you are a lesbian or gay man with a drink problem and want help and advice, ring Tom on 0141-770 6599, 7 days a week anytime. Tom refers to Alcoholics Anonymous (AA), but does preparatory work. FORCES AT EASE: An advice service to armed forces personnel and their families on any subject. Free, independent, confidential, impartial. Write: 28 Commercial Street, London E1 6LS or phone (Sundays 5-7pm only) 0171-247 5164. RANK OUTSIDERS: Support group of Lesbian and Gay Ex Armed Forces Personnel. No rank distinctions. Write to Rank Outsiders, PO Box 10133, London. SW2 2ZD or telephone the Regional Director Robb Nunn on 0131-332 9662. National Helpline: 0171-566 0044 Wed 7-9pm. HEALTH MATTERS AYRSHIRE AIDS AWARENESS PROJECT: Support and assistance for those living with AIDS/HIV. Befriending and buddy services. Phone: Ayr (01292) 619000 Or write: PO Box 1043, Ayr. KA6 5JQ. BODY POSITIVE (GLASGOW): Providing support for those HIV+ and with AIDS in the West of Scotland. Phone: 0141-332 5010. Or write: 3 Park Quadrant, Glasgow. G3 6BS. BODY POSITIVE (GRAMPIAN): Support and assistance for gay men with HIV/AIDS. Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 404408. Or write to: PO Box 83, Aberdeen. BODY POSITIVE (LOTHIAN): Phone to speak to a gay positive person 1:1 on 0131-652 0754 Mon, Tue, Wed, Fri 10am-4pm, Thur 10am-7pm. Or write to: 37-39 Montrose Terrace, Edinburgh. EH7 5DJ. CENTRE FOR WOMEN'S HEALTH: 6 Sandyford Place, Sauchiehall Street, Glasgow. G3 7NB. Open Tue-Thur 10am-4.30pm (other times by arrangement). Fully accessible. Telephone: 0141-211 6700 (Minicom: 0141-211 6701). GALUP: Gay and Lesbian United Programme. Promotes health issues among lesbians gays and bisexuals in the Dundee area. Write: c/o YMCA Special Projects Office, 76 Bell Street, Dundee. GLASGOW BARS AIDS WELFARE FUND: Raises funds for various HIV/AIDS projects in the Glasgow area. PO Box 3954, Glasgow. G51 4RA. GLASGOW HIV CARERS SUPPORT GROUP: Phone: 0141-353 2979. Or write to: Church House, 340 Cathedral Street, Glasgow. G1 2BQ. GRAMPIAN AIDS LINE: Aberdeen (01224) 574000 Tuesdays and Fridays 7–9pm or write to GAL, PO Box 250, Aberdeen. PAISLEY SUPPORT GROUP: For people with HIV, partners, friends and family. Meets Tues 1.30-3.30 at The Wynd, School Wynd (off Moss Street). Phone: 0141-842 7203. PHACE WEST: A locally based and managed agency for people affected by HIV/AIDS serving Glasgow and the West of Scotland. 49 Bath Street, Glasgow. G2 2DL. Phone: 0141-332 3838 (Fax: 0141-332 3755). POSITIVE HELP: Practical help for people who are HIV+ or who have AIDS and their families, children, friends and carers. 64a Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. Phone: 0131-558 1122. PSORIASIS GROUP: A new self-help group for lesbians, gays and bisexuals affected by psoriasis. Write to: Stuart Easton, 7/9 Orwell Terrace, Edinburgh. EH11 2DU. REACH OUT HIGHLAND: encourages and supports people throughout the Highlands - whether living there or visiting - to take responsibility for, manage, and make informed choices about their sexual health and well-being. 28 Huntly Street, Inverness. Phone: Inverness (01463) 711585. SCOTTISH AIDS MONITOR: provides information and support on all matters relating to HIV/AIDS, including welfare rights and legal advice, charitable relief fund, Buddy support and counselling for friends and family. Phone: 01382 461167 (Dundee), or 0131-555 4850 (Edinburgh). Or write to c/o SWT Dept, Northern College, Gardyne Road, Broughty Ferry, Dundee or 26 Anderson Place, Leith, Edinburgh. EH6 5NP. SOLAS NATIONAL HIV INFORMATION CENTRE: 2/4 Abbeymount, Edinburgh. EH8 8EJ. Information, advice and cafe. Information centre: Mon, Tue, Thurs, Fri - 11-4pm. Wed, 5-9pm. Phone: 0131-659 5116. STEVE RETSON PROJECT: Weekly sexual health service for gay men. Tuesday 5.30-9pm. GUM, Royal Infirmary, Castle Street, Glasgow. NATIONAL AIDS HELPLINE: 0800 567123. A Freephone, 24 hour service for confidential advice and information. LEATHER MSC SCOTLAND: MSC Scotland, PO Box 28, Head Post Office, Edinburgh. EH3 5JL. MSC Scotland is a member of the European Federation of Motorcycle Clubs. LEGAL GAY AND LESBIAN LEGAL ADVICE: GLAD is a London based advice line run by lesbian and gay lawyers. Phone: 0171-831 3535 (Mon-Fri 7-9.30pm). State clearly that you seek Scottish legal advice as our law is very different from that of England and Wales. ORDERS ORDER OF PERPETUAL INDULGENCE: The Sisters and Brothers of the OPI are part of a world wide order of queer men and women of all sexualities which is open to all who feel the habit. Its tenets are: The expurgation of stigmatic guilt and the promulgation of universal joy. Contact Sister Solicitation OPI, c/o Eat Out, 60 Broughton Street, Edinburgh. EH1 3SA. OUTDOOR CLUBS GAY OUTDOOR CLUB: Holds regular events including walking, cycling, swimming, hillwalking, windsurfing, cross-country skiing, camping and youth hostelling etc. Also holds regular swimming/social meetings in Edinburgh and Glasgow. For more details about GOC, write (enclosing an A5 sae) to: GOC, PO Box 24, Minehead, Somerset, TA24 8YZ or ring one of the Scottish Contacts:- East: Grant on 0131-556 8705 (Hill-walking), John on 0131-226 2341 (Swimming), Iain on 0131-539 0715 (Cycling). West: Douglas on 0141-848 6643. North: Michael on Inverness (01463) 230651. GAY RAMBLING GROUP: Walks on the 2nd Saturday of each month. Phone Robert on 0141-427 1511. OVER FORTIES PHOENIX: The only national group for the over forties and friends of any age. Write (enclosing an sae) to: Phoenix, PO Box 103, Wallington, Surrey. SM6 9SJ. PARENTS PARENTS' FRIEND: Phone: 0113-267 4627 from 7.30-10pm. Or write to: Voluntary Action Leeds, Stringer House, 34 Lupton Street, Hunslett, Leeds. LS10 2QW. SCOTTISH PARENTS ENQUIRY SERVICE: Support for parents of lesbians and gay men. Contact via Lothian Switchboard or write to SPE, PO Box 169, Edinburgh. EH1 3UU POLITICAL DELGA: Democrats for Lesbian and Gay Action - write to 4 Cowley Street, London. SW1P 3NB or e-mail archdruid@cix.compulink.co.uk LABOUR CAMPAIGN FOR LESBIAN AND GAY RIGHTS: Works within the Labour and Trades Union movement to secure equality for lesbians and gay men. Contact PO Box 306, LONDON N5 2SY. Local Groups throughout the UK. LESBIAN AND GAY FREEDOM MOVEMENT: LGFM is a movement to bring Anarchist ideas and ideals to lesbians, gays and bisexuals, and to make sexuality a major campaigning issue for all anarchists. Details (3 postage stamps please) from LGFM, BM Box 207, LONDON. WC1N 3XX LIBERAL PARTY LESBIAN AND GAY CAMPAIGN: Phone: Southport (01704) 500115 (day), 0151-259 5935 (ansaphone), write to: Liberal Party Lesbian & Gay Campaign, 41 Sutton Street, Liverpool. L13 7EG or e-mail: libgay@libparty.demon.co.uk TORCHE: Tory Campaign for Homosexual Equality - write: BM TORCHE, London WC1N 3XX. RAPE/SEXUAL ABUSE RAPE AND ABUSE LINE: For male and female survivors. Women: Dingwall (01349) 865316 7-10pm nightly. Men: Dingwall (01349) 862686 Mon and Wed 7-10pm. Or write: PO Box 10, Dingwall. IV15 9LH. SCIENCE FICTION GLASGOW GAY SCIENCE FICTION SOCIETY: Meets every 3rd Sunday of the month. Contact Paul on 0141-339 9176. S/M SM GAYS: Write to SM Gays, BM SM Gays, London. WC1N 3XX. E-mail: bandanas@dircon.co.uk SPORTS ALTERNATIVE WRESTLERS EUROPE: A European-wide gay/bisexual wrestling organisation organised from Glasgow. Contact c/o Alternative Sports, PO Box 437, Glasgow. G42 8HU, phone 0973 310416 or e-mail 100022.2554@compuserve.com BRITISH GAY AND LESBIAN SPORTS FEDERATION: Encourages participation in sport. Write (with sae) to BGLSF, Central Station, 37 Wharfdale Road, London. N1 9SE. EDINBURGH ALTERNATIVE WRESTLING CLUB: Phone Derek on 0131-467 1465. EDINBURGH GAY MEN'S RUNNING CLUB: Meets for 3–4 mile casual local run. Call Alistair: 0131-661 0008. GAY BODYBUILDERS/WEIGHTRAINERS CLUB: contact Winston Duncan on 0171-379 3480 for contact with Scottish members and nationally. Club produces "Iron-Up" magazine as part of ukp25 membership. GAY FOOTBALL SUPPORTERS NETWORK: Glasgow group holds monthly meetings in Squires Bar. For further details, please send an sae to GFSN, c/o Gay Times, 116 Bayham Street, London. NW1 0BA. STUDENTS Many Universities and Colleges have Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Societies. Contact these via your Student Union or Student Association. Many are open to non-students living in the area. There are also groups covering wider areas run in conjunction with the National Union of Students - East of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, East of Scotland Area NUS, 11 Broughton Market, Edinburgh. EH3 6NU or phone on 0131-556 6598. North of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, North of Scotland Area NUS, University of Aberdeen, 50/52 College Bounds, Aberdeen, AB2 3DS. West of Scotland: Write to Lesbian, Gay & Bisexual Officer, West of Scotland Area NUS, Cathcart House, Langside College, 50 Prospecthill Road, Glasgow. G42 9LB. You can contact the NUS Scottish Lesbian, Gay and Bisexual Officer on 0131-556 6598 or write to NUS Scotland, 11 Broughton Market, Edinburgh. EH3 6NU. E-mail: nus-scot@dircon.co.uk. TEACHERS EIS GAY AND LESBIAN NETWORK: Write c/o 46 Moray Place, Edinburgh. EH3 6EH. Or contact Simon Macaulay, Assistant Secretary, on 0131-225 6244. TV/TS ABERDEEN: Crossdressing Group. Contact Aberdeen Switchboard for details. EDINBURGH: Scottish TV/TS Group meets in private rooms every last Saturday each month except December. Ring Lothian Switchboard for further information. GLASGOW: Crosslynx meets second Wednesday of each month from 7pm-10pm. Phone Strathclyde Switchboard for more details. VISUAL IMPAIRMENT VISUAL IMPAIRED GAY GROUP SCOTLAND (VIGG): Offers a listening ear and support to women and men in close co-operation with the Lesbigay Disability Forum. Phone Colin and Jim: Dumfries (01387) 261679. WORKPLACE MSF: Lesbians and Gays in MSF. Phone: 0171-738 5469 or write c/o 39b Pentonville Road, London. N1 9LP. UNISON NATIONAL L&G CO-ORDINATING COMMITTEE: Phone: 0131-469 3880. Or write: c/o 18 St Giles Street, Edinburgh. EH1 1PT. WRITERS INDELIBLE INC: New LGB Writers' Group formed in Glasgow. Poetry, plays, exchange ideas, collaborations, informal meetings. Phone: Brian 0141-946 2078. YOUTH GROUPS LESBIAN YOUTH SUPPORT INFORMATION SERVICE: PO Box 8, Todmorden, Lancashire. OL14 5TZ. Please enclose an sae. Phone/Fax: Todmorden (01706) 817235. STIRLING YOUTH GROUP: Meets Mondays fortnightly. Details from Forth Friend on Stirling (01786) 471285 Mon 7.30-10pm. STONEWALL YOUTH GROUP: For lesbians, gays and bisexuals under 26. New members group meets Wed night and Core Group and 20+ Groups meet Fri night. Phone: 0131-556 4040 Tues 7.30-9pm (answering machine outwith these times). Or write: Stonewall Youth Project, Dunford House, 7 Boroughloch, Edinburgh. EH8 9NL.. STRATHCLYDE LESBIAN AND GAY YOUTH MOVEMENT: Friendship and support for under 28s. Meets Tuesday 7.30pm and Sat afternoons. Details from Strathclyde Switchboard or Glasgow Lesbian Line. SWITCHBOARDS AND HELPLINES AYRSHIRE GAY AND LESBIAN SWITCHBOARD: Mon, Wed & Fri 7-10pm Phone: Ayr (01292) 619000 BISEXUAL PHONELINE: Thurs 7.30-9.30pm Phone: 0131-557 3620 DUMFRIES AND GALLOWAY L&G PHONELINE: Thurs 7.30-9.30pm Phone: Dumfries (01387) 269161 DUNDEE LGB SWITCHBOARD: Mon 7-10pm Phone: Dundee (01382) 202620 EDINBURGH LESBIAN LINE: Mon, Thurs 7.30-10pm Phone: 0131-557 0751 FIFE FRIEND: Fri 7.30-10.30pm Phone: Kirkcaldy (01592) 266688 FORTH FRIEND: Mon 7.30-9.30pm Phone: Stirling (01786) 471285 GLASGOW LESBIAN LINE: Wed 7-10pm Phone: 0141-552 3355 GRAMPIAN LESBIAN, GAY & BISEXUAL SWITCHBOARD: Wed & Fri 7-10pm, some Tues 2-5 Phone: Aberdeen (01224) 633500 Minicom: Aberdeen (01224) 634055 Fax: Aberdeen (01224) 634066 LOTHIAN GAY & LESBIAN SWITCHBOARD: Nightly 7.30-10pm Phone: 0131-556 4049 STRATHCLYDE GAY AND LESBIAN SWITCHBOARD: Nightly 7-10pm Phone: 0141-332 8372 LONDON LESBIAN AND GAY SWITCHBOARD: 24 hours Phone/Minicom: 0171-837 7324 ------------------------------------------------------------------------- LETTERS ======= ScotsGay welcomes letters from readers. They should be sent to: ScotsGay Letters, PO Box 666, Edinburgh EH7 5YW. +++ c/o 112 Annan Road Dumfries DG1 3EZ Dear Editor, GREAT SORROW As a gay/blind man, I would like, through the medium of your magazine, to ask if the Dumfries and Galloway Lesbian & Gay (phoneline) Group has any intention of having me as one of their members - or not? I have tried to have meetings with various members of the Group, but each meeting has unfortunately had to be cancelled for numerous reasons. I have written to the Group, but my letter(s) go unanswered, and my phonecalls of enquiry, are never returned. The LesBiGay Disability Forum - a focus group for ‘Outright Scotland', has kindly invited me to attend their activities, but as most of those are held in or around Edinburgh, it involves both myself and my guide dog in a round trip of approximately 160 miles. It is particularly galling that I should have to make such a journey - when a Gay Group already exists within my locality. I have been also told, by the LesBiGay Disability Forum, that my visual impairment is not a problem for the Dumfries and Galloway Gay Group - but faced with their evasion, procrastination and silence - I may be forgiven for being sceptical of their sincerity. I have a strong suspicion, that some form of unspoken vetting procedure is in operation within this Group. Their authority appears unquestionable, their decisions accountable to no-one, and even a hearing of any grievance virtually impossible to obtain. If my suspicions are groundless, then I unreservedly apologise to this Group - but until I secure some measure of satisfaction - my nagging fears will remain. Finally, my greatest sorrow is that I have to recourse to write this letter at all. Just being Gay/Lesbian/Bisexual in our society is often difficult enough - without having to encounter obduracy from our own Gay Community. Yours faithfully, Colin Maxwell-Charters, Co-ordinator, Visually Impaired Gay Group Scotland +++ Wembley London Dear Editor, HEALTH SURVEY I was diagnosed HIV+ eight and a half years ago and decided I wanted to be treated like any other patient in the event of illness - that is I did not want any special treatment because of my status. I am still alive and well (apart from the usual bouts of flu) and holding down a demanding, full-time job. Every now and again I have suggested to people it would be useful to know how many people are in a similar position - not on special medication but still alive and well. Such information is not easy to come by, at least not in plain English. The issue came up again following the results of the Delta trial. One of the main criticisms of that was that there was no control group of people not taking AZT or other drugs. It seems to me we must start gathering data, so I am issuing this appeal: would anyone who is HIV+ and not on special medication please contact me. I would like to know when they were diagnosed, what their general state of health is, if the diagnosis caused them to change their eating habits, stop smoking, start exercising, go on vitamin pills etc. The idea is to put the details into a database and contact people on a regular basis, say once every three months, in order to ascertain that they are still alive and if they have suffered from any illness in the period. Personal details will, of course, be kept strictly confidential. Please write to Brian Parry, PO Box 130, London W5 1DQ. Yours, Brian Perry ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ScotsGay: a bi-monthly magazine for lesbians, gays and bisexuals edited, printed and published in Scotland. ISSN: 1357-0595. (c) Pageprint Limited 1995. Non profit use by the lesbigay community of material in the magazine will normally be permitted free of charge - but contact us first for permission. We haven't had sex with most of the people who appear in the magazine so we don't actually know what their sexuality is. Editor: John Hein. Contributors in this issue: Dick Wilson (News), Justin Milne & Garry Otton (Features), Gordon, Shelley Roberts (ScotsDyke), Gordon, Graham, Marcc & John (Scene), Rex Wockner (International), Tony Hiscox-Sloan (Smut), Martin Powell (Arts), Justin Milne (Films and Books), Dirk, Andy & Dokta (Books). Editorial Enquiries: Write to: ScotsGay, Pageprint Limited, PO Box 666, Edinburgh. EH7 5YW. Telephone: 0131- 539 0666. Fax: 0131-558 1262. 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: 0131-558 1262. Subscribing by Internet: Scotsgay is available on the 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.