Burning witches

Apparently Pope Francis was working behind the scenes to undermine gay rights in America. How shameful and pathetic of him. I have been so impressed with his approach to climate and his call to end the death penalty. But for him to make insidious comments about how the ‘traditional family’ is under threat (presumably from gay marriage) and then to secretly meet that poor misguided cretin Kim Davis...

I am glad that he is mobilising his flock to care about nature, but I would still prefer that they would all just go to their heaven now and leave the rest of humanity and nature in peace here on earth. Pope Francis seems still to be causing harm and burning witches in the name of Christ, just like his forefathers. Christ himself might weep with shame.

Francis attempts to distract us from Catholic sexual predators with a smokescreen of fake moralising about gay people and their rights to live as equals in society. Pope Francis should line up one hundred gay, lesbian and transgendered people from around the world and wash and kiss their feet. He should issue a formal apology on behalf of the church for centuries of persecuting, torturing and killing us in the name of their god. Or are we not worthy of his humility, unlike criminals, the American indigenous, and the poor? Jesus Wept.

Antony Hegarty

Read the whole story In The Guardian

Sunday shopping

Who said god-botherers had no taste?

We're fine with them as long as they don’t do any Pope stuff

A gay man has said that although Pope-ish acts are bad, a Pope-ish orientation is not. In what his friends claim is a softening of his stance on Popes, 38-year-old gay chef Tom Logan claimed he was fine with them as long as they didn’t do any Pope stuff.

He said: “If a person is a Pope but has good will, who am I to judge them?

“And it would be even more ridiculous if I were to say that then continue by telling Popes how to behave.

“After all I am just a bloke, albeit a bloke with a funny hat – a chef’s hat. Actually that does make me a bit special, so listen up.”

Speaking from behind the vaguely pulpit-like oven at the restaurant where he works, Logan said: “It’s fine for a man to have Pope-ish feelings, as long as he does not act on them in any way. Or lobby for religion.

“You could argue that telling a Pope not to do any Pope behaviour, like taking mass or dressing up in robes, is essentially the same as telling them not to be a Pope. But it is not."

From The Daily Mash. Of course.

The real Pope/Gays story.

Pope hope

We can but hope that at the very least, Pope Madge Francis may take notice of the real world...

...of fashion!

Fellini's Roma - Vatican Fashion Show

[Thanks to Jason at Night is Half Gone for this fab clip from Fellini's Roma]

While you were out...

So what did we miss while we were away? A few significant things, it seems...

One of our greatest Patron Saints Miss Elaine Stritch celebrated her 88th birthday on 2nd February. Damn! Should've sent her a postcard from Benalmadena... Here she is giving one of her legendary performances, in this classic Rodgers and Hart number...

Elaine Stritch - To Keep My Love Alive

Other significant birthdays we missed included Zsa Zsa Gabor's 96th on 6th Feb, and dear old Dora Bryan's 90th on 7th. To my knowledge they never performed together...

Dora Bryan - (Why) Because He Loves Me

We bade a sad farewell to Cecil Womack (of Womack & Womack), Peter Gilmore (star of The Onedin Line) and Reg Presley of The Troggs.

Beyoncé flipped her wig at the event that is a complete mystery to anyone outside the US, the Superbowl; and New York Fashion Week was and is abuzz with the reappearance of the shamed John Galliano.

In the real world, the horsemeat-in-burgers "scandal" rumbled on interminably, and researchers found clocking up 20 hours a week of TV time appears to be detrimental to sperm production.



Oh, and of course, the UK celebrated another significant step towards becoming a 21st century country when MPs voted to legalise equal marriage! It has yet to get through the House of Lords, but it is a landmark for gay rights.

The best news of the lot? That came today, while we were still in Essex - the resignation of the Nazi Pope Ratzinger! My innate loathing for the man, and for all he stands for is well-documented. Whether a change at the top will usher in any kind of enlightenment into the Medieval throwback that is the Catholic church is probably something of which we can only dream, but (hopefully) it can only be an improvement on this bigot.

I'd still prefer another week in Spain...

Fucked by Jesus, or Kill the Pope?

We had a corker of a night at Polari Goes Pope (especially themed to mark the controversial visit this week of the Holy Fascist Ratzinger to these shores.)

Opening the evening, our host Paul Burston arrived in ecclesiastical vestments, complimented beautifully by scarlet platform stillies!



Teetering on and off the stage, he introduced our first guest reader - the marvellous Irish firebrand Catherine Brogan. We'd heard Miss Brogan read at Polari before, but this time, given the subject matter and her own Catholic upbringing, she really let rip! I like this woman...

Next up was the brilliant Scouser performance poet (another favourite of mine from a few Polaris ago) Gerry Potter, who read some new poems from his second autobiographical anthology Planet Middle Age, plus a poetic tribute to his mate David Hoyle, and a couple of works by his former alter-ego Chloe Poems. Particularly brilliant were I Wanna Be Fucked By Jesus(!) and The Effeminate (which I definitely want read out at my funeral!):

Chloe Poems - The Effeminate

Gerry Potter - Planet Middle Age

Then came the real surprise of the evening, as Paul took great delight in introducing to the stage none other than one of the most influential radical politicians of the 20th Century Tariq Ali to formally launch the book of the moment The Pope is Not Gay by Angelo Quatrocchi.



This is the man who argued against the Vietnam War in a debate with Henry Kissinger, who was a close friend of John Lennon and was cited as an influence by Malcolm X, the author of a controversial critique of the General Zia regime that crushed the Bhutto dynasty in Pakistan (The Leopard and the Fox) and the best-seller Trotsky for Beginners.

A most influential figure in the Leftist politics that emerged from the 1960s, Mr Ali's presence at an event like this was indeed a shining endorsement of the book, and its excoriation of Ratzinger's reputation... I (and most of the audience) was moved to purchase a copy, and I can't wait to read it!

After the break we had a triple bill of anarchic entertainment, as Paul introduced a man whose CV is most impressive - James Maker, close personal mate of Morrissey, former singer with "gay heavy metallers" Red Patent Leather Angels (RPLA), sometime actor, Punk and poet. Reading from his memoir Autofellatio, he cut an impressive dash in his frock coat and stilettos!



Next up was a man who needs no further comment from me, the marvellous David Hoyle, berating the establishment as only he knows how. He was swiftly followed by another genuine treat to close the show - the (very cute) musical maverick genius that is Ste McCabe, radical homosexual and Pope-hater. His songs, delivered in a "faux-innocent" "Jilted John" style, are pithy insights into the way a working class gay boy sees the world, and are just stupendous! From I've Got A Big Car to Kill The Pope, we were just stunned by his energy...

Ste McCabe - I've Got A Big Car

John-John and Tony both purchased copies of his Murder Music CD, which the lovely (and rather fanciable!) Mr McCabe duly signed.

After the dust had settled and the audience started to drift away, Paul invited us back to the "Green Room" to take a few more snaps with the performers - in a bleak little space which is apparently used by Her Majesty when she visits. She'd need gloves I reckon...

It was all over too soon, so we retired to seek some more alcoholic solace at the pub quiz at Retro Bar. A sparkling night's entertainment, and a fitting start to the Autumn/Winter Season, methinks!

Polari

Catholics "may not co-operate" with the law of the land!

Cardinal Cormac Murphy-O'Connor, the most senior Catholic in England and Wales, has said it "remains to be seen" whether the church will cooperate with the law of the United Kingdom.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/6473831.stm

The Equality Act (Sexual Orientation) Regulations, which outlaw discrimination against gay people by businesses and service providers, were approved tonight by the House of Lords and will come into force on 30 April.

So by what right does the Catholic Church of Rome - or ANY church for that matter - believe it can ignore the law? How dare they even make such a statement?

Isn't it about time that organised religions, which by their own history should be judged on their own record of hiding paedophiles, of corrupt business practices, and embracing terror and intimidation as a means of controlling their adherents, should be ostracised from the process of politics and the rule of nations for ever?!

I feel any government that allows elderly bigots to influence the decisions it makes for and on behalf of its citizens, is lost forever in a modern and progressive world.

Cardinals and Archbishops! Stick to your own weird blinkered existence, and let the real world exist without you and your kind...