New Statesman - Gay rights and "cultural relativism"
Gay rights and "cultural relativism"
Petra Davis
Published 05 November 2009
A response to Peter Tatchell
"[A] big error by some multiculturalists has been to bow to demands for cultural sensitivity by tacitly accepting that some peoples and communities can be exempt from the norms of universal human rights," argues the veteran lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) campaigner Peter Tatchell in the Independent today.
Tatchell's piece is an excerpt from his talk "Multiculturalism: the Subversion of Human Rights?", given as part of the Glasgay! festival. Citing the conspicuous lack of protections for LGBT people in equality legislation, Tatchell made the case that multiculturalism is leading to the rights of some minorities being prized over those of others. He also alleged complicity from those whose wariness of accusations of racism and Islamophobia could readily be exploited by the religious right, and argues that human rights activists have a moral duty to intervene in one another's cultures to establish universal human rights.
Tatchell's central contention -- that multiculturalism should not equal cultural relativism -- is shared by the activist and campaigner Linda Bellos. "Cultural relativism is destructive," she agrees. "It sets up a hierarchy of oppression, a kind of competition in which one minority group seeks to claim that it is more oppressed than another. In actual fact, most people have a set of identities that are multiple -- so, for example, there are many black people who are also lesbian, gay, bisexual, or transgender, and I'm one of those people. For us, setting up a hierarchy of oppression means there's always conflict."
Bellos does take some issue with Tatchell's interventionism, however. "He shouldn't be working on our behalf -- he should be working with us," she argues. "I continue to take issue with the lack of respect he seems to have for the work already being done."
Bellos may have a point. During his talk, Tatchell discussed the importance of his engagement with organisations such as the Muslim Council of Britain, but mentioned none of the UK's black and Muslim LGBT organisations. No mention was made of Black Pride, of UK Black Out, or the Black Gay Men's Advisory Group, with which Tatchell has previously worked very successfully on the Stop Murder Music! campaign and the Reggae Compassionate Act.
The tensions Tatchell explores in his talk are manifest, but there is still room for dialogue. This will naturally involve sometimes painful criticisms of others; but perhaps the work is best done in co-operation with, not on behalf of, LGBT people from different communities.
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Wednesday, 11 November 2009
Glasgow's transsexual Jesus | Culture | The Guardian
Glasgow's transsexual Jesus | Culture | The Guardian
Glasgow's transsexual Jesus
Charlotte Higgins
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Two hundred Christian protesters picketed the Tron theatre in Glasgow last week on the opening night of Jo Clifford's play Jesus Queen of Heaven, which depicts Christ as a transsexual. It sounds as if the protesters were at least as entertaining as the play, part of the city's Glasgay! festival. One placard read: "God: 'My son is not a pervert.'" I'm wondering by what means God might have imparted this message (telephone interview?).
Glasgow's transsexual Jesus
Charlotte Higgins
Tuesday 10 November 2009
Two hundred Christian protesters picketed the Tron theatre in Glasgow last week on the opening night of Jo Clifford's play Jesus Queen of Heaven, which depicts Christ as a transsexual. It sounds as if the protesters were at least as entertaining as the play, part of the city's Glasgay! festival. One placard read: "God: 'My son is not a pervert.'" I'm wondering by what means God might have imparted this message (telephone interview?).
Monday, 9 November 2009
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
Readers should note the correction at the end of this article by The Herald. A FACTUAL INACCURACY with regard to THE SH[OUT] EXHIBITION REFERRED TO AS "MADE IN GODS IMAGE" was remoned. THE ORIGINAL WRONGLY ATTRIBUTED TO EXHIBITION AS THE FESTIVAL'S OWN WORK. The EXHIBITION was produced by artists funded by Culture & Sport Glasgow and such artists did not feature in or have anything to do with the Glasgay festival.
Readers should note the correction at the end of this article by The Herald. A FACTUAL INACCURACY with regard to THE SH[OUT] EXHIBITION REFERRED TO AS "MADE IN GODS IMAGE" was remoned. THE ORIGINAL WRONGLY ATTRIBUTED TO EXHIBITION AS THE FESTIVAL'S OWN WORK. The EXHIBITION was produced by artists funded by Culture & Sport Glasgow and such artists did not feature in or have anything to do with the Glasgay festival.
Saturday, 7 November 2009
Friday, 6 November 2009
Jeus Queen of Heaven, sh[out] exhibition & Made in God's Image
THE GLASGAY! FESTIVAL WISHES TO POINT OUT TO READERS A FACTUAL INACCURACY with regard to the following quote appearing in recent news and blogs "Glasgay!, which is supported by the city council quango Culture and Sport Glasgow, has already provoked outrage over an exhibition that encouraged the public to graffiti a Bible." !!!! CORRECTION !!!! Readers should note that Glasgay! had nothing to do with the Sh[out] exhibition’s Bible “Made In God’s Image” work which is referred to incorrectly here. This work was made by other Culture & Sport funded artists who have nothing to do with Glasgay!.
Glasgay and Shout exhibition did however co-fund Jo Clifford’s new theatrical play “Jesus Queen of Heaven” which is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person. Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life. This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system however we respect your right to disagree with that opinion. We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Glasgay and Shout exhibition did however co-fund Jo Clifford’s new theatrical play “Jesus Queen of Heaven” which is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person. Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life. This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system however we respect your right to disagree with that opinion. We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Thursday, 5 November 2009
Theatre review: Jesus, Queen of Heaven - Scotsman.com Living
Theatre review: Jesus, Queen of Heaven - Scotsman.com Living
Theatre review: Jesus, Queen of Heaven
Date: 05 November 2009
By Jay Richardson
JESUS, QUEEN OF HEAVEN **
THE TRON, GLASGOW
IT'S been over 2,000 years, but Jesus still pulls a crowd. The mere existence of this play, in which the Messiah is portrayed as a transsexual woman, prompted more than 300 protesters to demonstrate outside the theatre on opening night. Inside, in a
ADVERTISEMENTset recalling The Last Supper, the audience sat disciple-like around writer-performer Jo Clifford, who, in the title role, began by archly lamenting Christ's apparent habit of upsetting Christians.
At once an expression of faith denouncing fundamentalism, a call for tolerance and acceptance for all, and an unabashed celebration of transgender existence, the worthy Queen of Heaven is regrettably overburdened by its ambition and a central characterisation that could inspire no-one. With the patronising rhetoric of a faux-naif, at times irritatingly New Agey in her wishy-washy evocation of guardian angels, Clifford's Jesus recalls various parables from the New Testament but transplants them to a contemporary setting and recasts them with greater inclusivity – the Good Samaritan is now a disco queen tottering home on her heels; the Prodigal Son returns a Prodigal Daughter.
Parallels between Christ's persecution and that of the transgender community and women are well-drawn and Clifford's version of Christianity feels like a fluffier, more welcoming and indeed fun sect than many. But the playwright can't resolve the Bible's contradictions and this pick'n'mix interpretation, alternately affirming and subverting the Gospels, is ultimately unsatisfying.
Theatre review: Jesus, Queen of Heaven
Date: 05 November 2009
By Jay Richardson
JESUS, QUEEN OF HEAVEN **
THE TRON, GLASGOW
IT'S been over 2,000 years, but Jesus still pulls a crowd. The mere existence of this play, in which the Messiah is portrayed as a transsexual woman, prompted more than 300 protesters to demonstrate outside the theatre on opening night. Inside, in a
ADVERTISEMENTset recalling The Last Supper, the audience sat disciple-like around writer-performer Jo Clifford, who, in the title role, began by archly lamenting Christ's apparent habit of upsetting Christians.
At once an expression of faith denouncing fundamentalism, a call for tolerance and acceptance for all, and an unabashed celebration of transgender existence, the worthy Queen of Heaven is regrettably overburdened by its ambition and a central characterisation that could inspire no-one. With the patronising rhetoric of a faux-naif, at times irritatingly New Agey in her wishy-washy evocation of guardian angels, Clifford's Jesus recalls various parables from the New Testament but transplants them to a contemporary setting and recasts them with greater inclusivity – the Good Samaritan is now a disco queen tottering home on her heels; the Prodigal Son returns a Prodigal Daughter.
Parallels between Christ's persecution and that of the transgender community and women are well-drawn and Clifford's version of Christianity feels like a fluffier, more welcoming and indeed fun sect than many. But the playwright can't resolve the Bible's contradictions and this pick'n'mix interpretation, alternately affirming and subverting the Gospels, is ultimately unsatisfying.
Theatre reviews: The Maw Broon Monologues/10,000 Metres Deep/Antigone - Scotsman.com Living
Theatre reviews: The Maw Broon Monologues/10,000 Metres Deep/Antigone - Scotsman.com Living
Theatre reviews: The Maw Broon Monologues
Maw Broon, catching up after 60 years in limbo with everything the 21st century has to offer.
Date: 05 November 2009
By Joyce McMillan
THE MAW BROON MONOLOGUES ****
TRON THEATRE, GLASGOW
FOR a woman who first saw the light of day on 8 March 1936 – and was a lusty 50-year-old even then – the Sunday Post's great Scottish cartoon matriarch, Maw Broon, is looking in pretty good shape. She's not slim, she's not young, she's not braw; and as she comes to realise, in the course of The Maw Broon Monologues, a new Glasgay! Commission by Glasgow-born poet and playwright Jackie Kay, she isn't actually real.
For all her disadvantages, though, Maw Broon – as personified here by fabulous Terry Neason, and black alter ego Suzanne Bonnar – is all woman; and in Kay's weird, slightly mind-blowing tartan-tinged fantasy, she takes umbrage at Paw Broon's suspected infidelity, and sets off from her kitsch room-and-kitchen at No 10 Glebe Street to travel the world of the early 21st century, in search of the personal fulfilment she deserves.
Tartan shopping bag in hand, and headscarf tied firmly in place, she therefore visits a shrink, tries colonic irrigation, pines for a room of her own, wins through to round three of Scotland's Got Talent ("reality's no just on TV, ye know"), discusses the possible merits of a gay lifestyle, and generates her own version of the Vagina Monologues. And meantime, at the piano, the astonishing Tom Urie – in the character of Maw's unattractive bearded daughter, Daphne Broon – rattles out his own cycle of songs in which Neason and Bonnar celebrate or bewail Maw's fate, in styles ranging from Scottish country dance to serious blues; while a screen above the fireplace alternates between a sentimental Highland scene, and captioned texts in which the great philosophers of post-modernity offer their thoughts on the journey of the individual towards self-knowledge.
It has to be said that having set up this brilliant and hilarious scenario, Jackie Kay's 90-minute script doesn't quite develop the dramatic momentum of which it might have been capable. The relationship between the two Maw Broons is not clear; the idea of the black alter ego is not developed, and their conversation often dwindles into daytime television cliché. The show expresses no legible view about the self-obsessed individualism of our time; and it often slides into the easy comic option of setting up the old tenement stereotype, and then raising cheap laughs by conjuring up incongruities, like Maw Broon serving up sashimi.
But if the show sometimes lacks focus, and often tends to reinforce the stereotypes it sets out to challenge, it's also one of the most hilariously inventive investigations of Scottish kitsch culture to appear on stage since the 1980s. Maggie Kinloch's production fully exploits the postmodern madness of the material; Neason and Bonnar both sing beautifully, particularly when it comes to the blues. And Neason in particular sometimes seems like the very embodiment of a certain kind of Scottish womanhood – the hard-working, self-mocking kind for whom being a woman was never a matter of pride or joy, and who therefore needed the liberation brought by the strange, self-centred times we live in, as much as any group on earth.
Theatre reviews: The Maw Broon Monologues
Maw Broon, catching up after 60 years in limbo with everything the 21st century has to offer.
Date: 05 November 2009
By Joyce McMillan
THE MAW BROON MONOLOGUES ****
TRON THEATRE, GLASGOW
FOR a woman who first saw the light of day on 8 March 1936 – and was a lusty 50-year-old even then – the Sunday Post's great Scottish cartoon matriarch, Maw Broon, is looking in pretty good shape. She's not slim, she's not young, she's not braw; and as she comes to realise, in the course of The Maw Broon Monologues, a new Glasgay! Commission by Glasgow-born poet and playwright Jackie Kay, she isn't actually real.
For all her disadvantages, though, Maw Broon – as personified here by fabulous Terry Neason, and black alter ego Suzanne Bonnar – is all woman; and in Kay's weird, slightly mind-blowing tartan-tinged fantasy, she takes umbrage at Paw Broon's suspected infidelity, and sets off from her kitsch room-and-kitchen at No 10 Glebe Street to travel the world of the early 21st century, in search of the personal fulfilment she deserves.
Tartan shopping bag in hand, and headscarf tied firmly in place, she therefore visits a shrink, tries colonic irrigation, pines for a room of her own, wins through to round three of Scotland's Got Talent ("reality's no just on TV, ye know"), discusses the possible merits of a gay lifestyle, and generates her own version of the Vagina Monologues. And meantime, at the piano, the astonishing Tom Urie – in the character of Maw's unattractive bearded daughter, Daphne Broon – rattles out his own cycle of songs in which Neason and Bonnar celebrate or bewail Maw's fate, in styles ranging from Scottish country dance to serious blues; while a screen above the fireplace alternates between a sentimental Highland scene, and captioned texts in which the great philosophers of post-modernity offer their thoughts on the journey of the individual towards self-knowledge.
It has to be said that having set up this brilliant and hilarious scenario, Jackie Kay's 90-minute script doesn't quite develop the dramatic momentum of which it might have been capable. The relationship between the two Maw Broons is not clear; the idea of the black alter ego is not developed, and their conversation often dwindles into daytime television cliché. The show expresses no legible view about the self-obsessed individualism of our time; and it often slides into the easy comic option of setting up the old tenement stereotype, and then raising cheap laughs by conjuring up incongruities, like Maw Broon serving up sashimi.
But if the show sometimes lacks focus, and often tends to reinforce the stereotypes it sets out to challenge, it's also one of the most hilariously inventive investigations of Scottish kitsch culture to appear on stage since the 1980s. Maggie Kinloch's production fully exploits the postmodern madness of the material; Neason and Bonnar both sing beautifully, particularly when it comes to the blues. And Neason in particular sometimes seems like the very embodiment of a certain kind of Scottish womanhood – the hard-working, self-mocking kind for whom being a woman was never a matter of pride or joy, and who therefore needed the liberation brought by the strange, self-centred times we live in, as much as any group on earth.
Wednesday, 4 November 2009
Vampire tales have become a real fetish on big and small screens. Will they keep their bite while celebrating tolerance in our multisexual society - Scotsman.com Living
Vampire tales have become a real fetish on big and small screens. Will they keep their bite while celebrating tolerance in our multisexual society - Scotsman.com Living
Vampire tales have become a real fetish on big and small screens. Will they keep their bite while celebrating tolerance in our multisexual societyBy Andrew Eaton
LAST weekend I went to a fetish club called Torture Garden. If this seems like an eccentric way to begin a feature about vampires, bear with me. Torture Garden began in London in 1990, and pitches itself as a night of "fantasy and transformation". Back then, the fetish scene was much more taboo than it is now, and a combination of tabloid scaremongering and overzealous policing resulted in nights being closed down.
Since then, Britain's sexual landscape has changed significantly. There is less homophobia (or, at the very least, homophobia is less socially acceptable), burlesque is everywhere, sadomasochism and fetishism are talked about more openly, and Torture Garden's Edinburgh debut did not attract any protests. Which is exactly as it should be. It was one of the friendliest, safest, most open-minded club nights I've been to.
Watching True Blood, the hit HBO vampire series that recently began on Channel 4, I keep thinking of Torture Garden. It's a show with a fascinating theme – what happens when mainstream society begins to absorb a minority it once viewed with suspicion and fear. For those not already addicted, True Blood is set in a parallel world where vampires have come out of the coffin, as it were, thanks to a synthetic drink called Tru-Blood which means they no longer need to feed on humans. After hiding from the world for centuries, they now walk openly among the living (only at night, obviously) and campaign for vampire rights in the media. They face hatred and bigotry, particularly from the religious, and much of the storyline is about the uneasy co-existence between vampires and humans.
True Blood is nuanced enough to remain ambiguous about what minority the vampires might represent. One obvious conclusion is that it's about being gay. There's a gay chef, Lafayette, who has to endure redneck ignorance just as the vampires do, and a punning road sign that says "God hates fangs". But Lafayette is also black; the series is set in the American Deep South, and there are frequent references to slavery, so it seems to be about racism too.
True Blood's main vampire, Bill Compton, wants to live an ordinary "mainstream" life. He dates a human called Sookie (X-Men's Anna Paquin, very amused that a vampire could have a name as boring as Bill) and even gives a history lecture at his local church (yes, he tells his astonished, ill-informed audience, vampires can look at crucifixes without bursting into flames).
Other vampires have no desire to conform and regard Bill as a sellout (these vampires hang out in a "vampire bar" which bears a passing resemblance to Torture Garden). The humans, meanwhile, fear the vampires but secretly envy them. The local drug dealer sells vampire blood, whose effects are a little like Viagra and LSD combined, and sex with a vampire is seen as a transgressive thrill – an image that plenty of gay people, and black people too, will find wearily familiar. Familiar, too, will be the vampires' resentment at the hypocrisy of a "mainstream" that is reluctant to accept them as they are, but happy to gawp at and exploit them.
In True Blood, though, no-one is immune to ignorance and hypocrisy. In one scene a black character, Tara, warns Sookie that vampires can hypnotise you. "Yeah, and black people are lazy and Jews have horns," Sookie scolds her, with a sarcastic and self-righteous tut. It later turns out vampires can hypnotise you.
Vampires, both scary and seductive, have long been used to symbolise all kinds of things that fascinate and frighten us simultaneously. George Romero's film Martin is really about drug addiction. Francis Ford Coppola's take on Dracula was a vampire movie for a world waking up to the reality of HIV. Numerous other films, from The Lost Boys to this year's Let The Right One In and the hugely successful Twilight, have used vampires as a metaphor for stories about adolescence. In The Lost Boys, teenage vampires run amok in a kind of nuclear family nightmare. The vampire in Let The Right One In is a fantasy protector figure for a misfit schoolboy whose life is being destroyed by bullies – a situation resolved by an act of sickening violence which the film, tellingly, doesn't judge.
Twilight, as has been widely observed, is really about teenage sexuality – and the fear of it. Kristen Stewart's small-town girl would, clearly, like to get intimate with Robert Pattinson's handsome vampire, but since his sexual urges are largely inseparable from his urge to suck all the blood from her body, their relationship must remain mostly chaste.
One obvious difference between the teenage Twilight and the more grown-up True Blood is that while the former is full of sexual tension, the latter is an orgy of actual sex. There's nudity and bondage and, in one memorable scene, an energetic romp in a car park which doesn't stop even when a jealous Tara throws rubbish all over the couple in question.
That this has all caused relatively little media hand-wringing says much about our more sexually liberated times. True Blood's plotline reminds me of a conversation I had once with Steven Thomson, director of the Glasgay! festival (currently in full swing). Thomson has worked hard, since he got the job, to make Glasgay! a broad, inclusive event. His way of doing that has been to brand it as a 'celebration of queer culture', exploring difference and transgressiveness in all its forms. If you are prepared to embrace queer culture, you are welcome, gay or straight. Torture Garden (which, it should be said, appears to draw a mostly heterosexual crowd) operates on a similar basis – you don't have to wear fetish gear or indulge in sadomasochistic play yourself, but you are welcome to come along if you respect its culture and its rules.
True Blood, too, feels like a celebration of queer culture, an exploration of what it means to be transgressive, and tolerant, in a multi-cultural, multi-sexual society. It takes the idea that vampires are really us further than I've ever seen it taken. Its popularity, I'd like to think, is a sign that we are more willing than ever to confront the monsters we create inside our heads. If everyone watches it, and gets it, it'll be another victory for liberal thinking. v
True Blood continues on Wednesday on Channel 4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released on 20 November
Vampire tales have become a real fetish on big and small screens. Will they keep their bite while celebrating tolerance in our multisexual societyBy Andrew Eaton
LAST weekend I went to a fetish club called Torture Garden. If this seems like an eccentric way to begin a feature about vampires, bear with me. Torture Garden began in London in 1990, and pitches itself as a night of "fantasy and transformation". Back then, the fetish scene was much more taboo than it is now, and a combination of tabloid scaremongering and overzealous policing resulted in nights being closed down.
Since then, Britain's sexual landscape has changed significantly. There is less homophobia (or, at the very least, homophobia is less socially acceptable), burlesque is everywhere, sadomasochism and fetishism are talked about more openly, and Torture Garden's Edinburgh debut did not attract any protests. Which is exactly as it should be. It was one of the friendliest, safest, most open-minded club nights I've been to.
Watching True Blood, the hit HBO vampire series that recently began on Channel 4, I keep thinking of Torture Garden. It's a show with a fascinating theme – what happens when mainstream society begins to absorb a minority it once viewed with suspicion and fear. For those not already addicted, True Blood is set in a parallel world where vampires have come out of the coffin, as it were, thanks to a synthetic drink called Tru-Blood which means they no longer need to feed on humans. After hiding from the world for centuries, they now walk openly among the living (only at night, obviously) and campaign for vampire rights in the media. They face hatred and bigotry, particularly from the religious, and much of the storyline is about the uneasy co-existence between vampires and humans.
True Blood is nuanced enough to remain ambiguous about what minority the vampires might represent. One obvious conclusion is that it's about being gay. There's a gay chef, Lafayette, who has to endure redneck ignorance just as the vampires do, and a punning road sign that says "God hates fangs". But Lafayette is also black; the series is set in the American Deep South, and there are frequent references to slavery, so it seems to be about racism too.
True Blood's main vampire, Bill Compton, wants to live an ordinary "mainstream" life. He dates a human called Sookie (X-Men's Anna Paquin, very amused that a vampire could have a name as boring as Bill) and even gives a history lecture at his local church (yes, he tells his astonished, ill-informed audience, vampires can look at crucifixes without bursting into flames).
Other vampires have no desire to conform and regard Bill as a sellout (these vampires hang out in a "vampire bar" which bears a passing resemblance to Torture Garden). The humans, meanwhile, fear the vampires but secretly envy them. The local drug dealer sells vampire blood, whose effects are a little like Viagra and LSD combined, and sex with a vampire is seen as a transgressive thrill – an image that plenty of gay people, and black people too, will find wearily familiar. Familiar, too, will be the vampires' resentment at the hypocrisy of a "mainstream" that is reluctant to accept them as they are, but happy to gawp at and exploit them.
In True Blood, though, no-one is immune to ignorance and hypocrisy. In one scene a black character, Tara, warns Sookie that vampires can hypnotise you. "Yeah, and black people are lazy and Jews have horns," Sookie scolds her, with a sarcastic and self-righteous tut. It later turns out vampires can hypnotise you.
Vampires, both scary and seductive, have long been used to symbolise all kinds of things that fascinate and frighten us simultaneously. George Romero's film Martin is really about drug addiction. Francis Ford Coppola's take on Dracula was a vampire movie for a world waking up to the reality of HIV. Numerous other films, from The Lost Boys to this year's Let The Right One In and the hugely successful Twilight, have used vampires as a metaphor for stories about adolescence. In The Lost Boys, teenage vampires run amok in a kind of nuclear family nightmare. The vampire in Let The Right One In is a fantasy protector figure for a misfit schoolboy whose life is being destroyed by bullies – a situation resolved by an act of sickening violence which the film, tellingly, doesn't judge.
Twilight, as has been widely observed, is really about teenage sexuality – and the fear of it. Kristen Stewart's small-town girl would, clearly, like to get intimate with Robert Pattinson's handsome vampire, but since his sexual urges are largely inseparable from his urge to suck all the blood from her body, their relationship must remain mostly chaste.
One obvious difference between the teenage Twilight and the more grown-up True Blood is that while the former is full of sexual tension, the latter is an orgy of actual sex. There's nudity and bondage and, in one memorable scene, an energetic romp in a car park which doesn't stop even when a jealous Tara throws rubbish all over the couple in question.
That this has all caused relatively little media hand-wringing says much about our more sexually liberated times. True Blood's plotline reminds me of a conversation I had once with Steven Thomson, director of the Glasgay! festival (currently in full swing). Thomson has worked hard, since he got the job, to make Glasgay! a broad, inclusive event. His way of doing that has been to brand it as a 'celebration of queer culture', exploring difference and transgressiveness in all its forms. If you are prepared to embrace queer culture, you are welcome, gay or straight. Torture Garden (which, it should be said, appears to draw a mostly heterosexual crowd) operates on a similar basis – you don't have to wear fetish gear or indulge in sadomasochistic play yourself, but you are welcome to come along if you respect its culture and its rules.
True Blood, too, feels like a celebration of queer culture, an exploration of what it means to be transgressive, and tolerant, in a multi-cultural, multi-sexual society. It takes the idea that vampires are really us further than I've ever seen it taken. Its popularity, I'd like to think, is a sign that we are more willing than ever to confront the monsters we create inside our heads. If everyone watches it, and gets it, it'll be another victory for liberal thinking. v
True Blood continues on Wednesday on Channel 4. The Twilight Saga: New Moon is released on 20 November
Prejudice has no foundation in Bible, says transsexual author - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
Prejudice has no foundation in Bible, says transsexual author - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
Prejudice has no foundation in Bible, says transsexual author
JO CLIFFORD: Her new play Jesus, Queen of Heaven attracted Christian protesters on its opening night
Alison Campsie
0 commentsPublished on 4 Nov 2009
The playwright whose depiction of Jesus as a transsexual woman sparked a Christian protest has spoken out against her critics, claiming their prejudice has no foundation in the Bible and revealing she is a regular churchgoer herself.
Jo Clifford, 59, said she had been upset by the demonstration outside the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, where about 300 objectors congregated on the opening night of Jesus, Queen of Heaven.
Ms Clifford, who is both a transsexual and a churchgoer, said she wrote the play to examine the roots of prejudice faced by both gay people and those who have crossed genders.
She performs as Jesus in the play, and publicity material for the show depicts her as the Messiah, complete with crucifixion wounds and a halo.
Ms Clifford, of Edinburgh, said: “I think it is very sad that the protest has enlisted Christians who have difficulties with gays and transsexuals. I wanted to point out that this does not have any foundation in the Bible.
“The people who angered Jesus were the scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites – the people who were deeply prejudiced, those who passed judgment on people they did not know.
“Being transsexual, I think an awful lot about where prejudice comes from.
“I would say about 95% of the play has the most profound respect of the gospel and the figure of Jesus. I really have no wish to offend anybody, which means that it is a big shame that everyone has taken great offence. That was genuinely not my intention.
“I think there is a great deal of prejudice against transsexuals and I am really sorry to see that. I don’t think that this prejudice has any foundation in the Bible.
“I should also say that I have shown the script to committed Christians, people who know a great deal about theology, and they supported what I have done.”
Jesus, Queen of Heaven is being staged as part of Glasgay!, an arts festival “for queer people and their friends”, whose sponsors include Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Arts Council and Glasgow Culture, Media and Sport.
Ms Clifford has been a professional playwright since 1986 and has written around 65 plays. She is a former professor of theatre at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and her work has featured in venues around the world. Next spring, her play Everyone will be staged at the Lyceum in Edinburgh.
Ms Clifford, formerly known as John, started the process of becoming a woman following the death of her wife in 2005.
“It has been a very slow, gradual process and I finally made the decisive step in 2005 when my wife died. I had performed obligations as a husband but once the children had grown up and I was a widower, it seemed the
right time.”
Those who demonstrated against Jesus, Queen of Heaven on Tuesday night blocked Chisholm Street in Glasgow city centre for more than three hours.
Ms Clifford said: “I saw one placard which said: ‘God: My son is not a pervert’. That is a terrible thing to say. I am not a pervert. I often thought I was, and that did me a lot
of harm.”
Among the demonstrators was Jack Bell, pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Polmadie. He led protests against Jerry Springer – The Opera, which has been interpreted as blasphemous by some, when it was staged at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.
The Christian Institute, which is opposed to equality for gay people, described the Glasgay! festival as “further proof of an agenda to use taxpayers’ money to fund assaults on Christian values”.
Ms Clifford added: “I think that the terrible malaise in the world today is partly because we have lost touch with spirituality.
“Christianity has been a great support to me. It does hurt that these people should be experiencing so much prejudice. They should go back and read the Bible again.”
Blasphemy? No, but worth watching
“God: My son is not a pervert” and “God save Scotland from blasphemy” – these were two of the banners held by the irate Christians gathered outside the Tron theatre. The object of their protest was transgender playwright Jo Clifford’s new work Jesus, Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is portrayed as a transsexual.
The scene was reminiscent of the times in the 1970s when Pastor Jack Glass and company used to picket Billy Connolly’s show in protest at his crucifixion sketch, unaware that leaflets deconstructing the sketch and pointing out historical inaccuracies such as “Jesus did NOT wear casual sandals” were funnier than anything the Big Yin himself could have come up with.
So is Clifford’s play, presented here as part of the Glasgay! festival, as controversial as it is made out to be? Is it really a blasphemous affront to Christianity? The answer on both counts would seem to be no.
Sure, it is an unconventional interpretation of Jesus’s life: one which transposes the gender of the Messiah from male to female. But then interpretation is what the Christian faith is founded on.
Other than that, Clifford’s monologue – which is delivered to an audience seated on three sides at linen-covered tables resembling The Last Supper – is a far-from-shocking, moving, at times narratively ramshackle mix of modernised parables, gospel, autobiographical snippets and pleas for compassion, love and tolerance of others that echo Jesus’s teachings, rather than denigrating them.
As one protester vehemently declared to me: “I don’t need to go down a sewer to know that it sinks.” Well, quite.
But you might want to at least see the play you’re damning before throwing the first stone.
Prejudice has no foundation in Bible, says transsexual author
JO CLIFFORD: Her new play Jesus, Queen of Heaven attracted Christian protesters on its opening night
Alison Campsie
0 commentsPublished on 4 Nov 2009
The playwright whose depiction of Jesus as a transsexual woman sparked a Christian protest has spoken out against her critics, claiming their prejudice has no foundation in the Bible and revealing she is a regular churchgoer herself.
Jo Clifford, 59, said she had been upset by the demonstration outside the Tron Theatre, Glasgow, where about 300 objectors congregated on the opening night of Jesus, Queen of Heaven.
Ms Clifford, who is both a transsexual and a churchgoer, said she wrote the play to examine the roots of prejudice faced by both gay people and those who have crossed genders.
She performs as Jesus in the play, and publicity material for the show depicts her as the Messiah, complete with crucifixion wounds and a halo.
Ms Clifford, of Edinburgh, said: “I think it is very sad that the protest has enlisted Christians who have difficulties with gays and transsexuals. I wanted to point out that this does not have any foundation in the Bible.
“The people who angered Jesus were the scribes, Pharisees and hypocrites – the people who were deeply prejudiced, those who passed judgment on people they did not know.
“Being transsexual, I think an awful lot about where prejudice comes from.
“I would say about 95% of the play has the most profound respect of the gospel and the figure of Jesus. I really have no wish to offend anybody, which means that it is a big shame that everyone has taken great offence. That was genuinely not my intention.
“I think there is a great deal of prejudice against transsexuals and I am really sorry to see that. I don’t think that this prejudice has any foundation in the Bible.
“I should also say that I have shown the script to committed Christians, people who know a great deal about theology, and they supported what I have done.”
Jesus, Queen of Heaven is being staged as part of Glasgay!, an arts festival “for queer people and their friends”, whose sponsors include Glasgow City Council, the Scottish Arts Council and Glasgow Culture, Media and Sport.
Ms Clifford has been a professional playwright since 1986 and has written around 65 plays. She is a former professor of theatre at Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh, and her work has featured in venues around the world. Next spring, her play Everyone will be staged at the Lyceum in Edinburgh.
Ms Clifford, formerly known as John, started the process of becoming a woman following the death of her wife in 2005.
“It has been a very slow, gradual process and I finally made the decisive step in 2005 when my wife died. I had performed obligations as a husband but once the children had grown up and I was a widower, it seemed the
right time.”
Those who demonstrated against Jesus, Queen of Heaven on Tuesday night blocked Chisholm Street in Glasgow city centre for more than three hours.
Ms Clifford said: “I saw one placard which said: ‘God: My son is not a pervert’. That is a terrible thing to say. I am not a pervert. I often thought I was, and that did me a lot
of harm.”
Among the demonstrators was Jack Bell, pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Polmadie. He led protests against Jerry Springer – The Opera, which has been interpreted as blasphemous by some, when it was staged at the Edinburgh Fringe in August.
The Christian Institute, which is opposed to equality for gay people, described the Glasgay! festival as “further proof of an agenda to use taxpayers’ money to fund assaults on Christian values”.
Ms Clifford added: “I think that the terrible malaise in the world today is partly because we have lost touch with spirituality.
“Christianity has been a great support to me. It does hurt that these people should be experiencing so much prejudice. They should go back and read the Bible again.”
Blasphemy? No, but worth watching
“God: My son is not a pervert” and “God save Scotland from blasphemy” – these were two of the banners held by the irate Christians gathered outside the Tron theatre. The object of their protest was transgender playwright Jo Clifford’s new work Jesus, Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is portrayed as a transsexual.
The scene was reminiscent of the times in the 1970s when Pastor Jack Glass and company used to picket Billy Connolly’s show in protest at his crucifixion sketch, unaware that leaflets deconstructing the sketch and pointing out historical inaccuracies such as “Jesus did NOT wear casual sandals” were funnier than anything the Big Yin himself could have come up with.
So is Clifford’s play, presented here as part of the Glasgay! festival, as controversial as it is made out to be? Is it really a blasphemous affront to Christianity? The answer on both counts would seem to be no.
Sure, it is an unconventional interpretation of Jesus’s life: one which transposes the gender of the Messiah from male to female. But then interpretation is what the Christian faith is founded on.
Other than that, Clifford’s monologue – which is delivered to an audience seated on three sides at linen-covered tables resembling The Last Supper – is a far-from-shocking, moving, at times narratively ramshackle mix of modernised parables, gospel, autobiographical snippets and pleas for compassion, love and tolerance of others that echo Jesus’s teachings, rather than denigrating them.
As one protester vehemently declared to me: “I don’t need to go down a sewer to know that it sinks.” Well, quite.
But you might want to at least see the play you’re damning before throwing the first stone.
The Maw Broon Monologues at the Tron, Glasgow - Times Online
The Maw Broon Monologues at the Tron, Glasgow - Times Online
The Maw Broon Monologues at the Tron, GlasgowRobert Dawson Scott
Recommend?
You may think you know Maw Broon and all the other Broons, the family that has lived at 10 Glebe Street in the pages of The Sunday Post since 1936. But you may have to think again.
Jackie Kay’s script for this Glasgay! show begins with the invention for Maw, played by Terry Neason, of her doppelgänger, or alter ego, in the shape of Suzanne Bonnar. The idea that Maw would use, or even understand the meaning of, words such as that is part of a huge in-joke that would leave anyone who does not know the original gasping for air.
But it is more than just a joke at Maw’s expense; doppelgängers and alter egos are a key part of Scottish cultural tradition. Kay invites us to conclude that Maw Broon, all common sense and family values, is just as valuable. Meanwhile, still dressed in heavy tweed skirt and sensible skirt but egged on by her alter ego, Maw finds herself with a full-size mid-life crisis. Cue any number of modish solutions from psychotherapy to colonic irrigation (“I’m my own worst enema,” she cries).
In each case, the scene is decorated with equally inventive songs by Tom Urie. Dressed as the plain Broon daughter Daphne (his first entrance, complete with black wig and heavy beard got one of the biggest laughs of the night), Urie accompanies the songs live from the piano and occasionally supplies other characters in a range of finger puppets.
There are too many great lines (“Reality’s not just on TV”, “built like a bothy”) and too much gleeful recognition for laughter not to be guaranteed. And Neason and Bonnar are two of the best voices Scotland has produced, so the songs are great. Indeed, in the face of general audience adulation, it seems almost rude to point out that actually it could, and probably still can, be a whole lot better.
The opening performance was messy technically. Both principals were clearly nervous and Maggie Kinloch, who directs, has not persuaded them to adopt a consistent style. Are they cartoon characters or real people? They are stuck somewhere in between, which looks and feels uncomfortable and does not make the best of Kay’s clever but wordy script.
The Maw Broon Monologues at the Tron, GlasgowRobert Dawson Scott
Recommend?
You may think you know Maw Broon and all the other Broons, the family that has lived at 10 Glebe Street in the pages of The Sunday Post since 1936. But you may have to think again.
Jackie Kay’s script for this Glasgay! show begins with the invention for Maw, played by Terry Neason, of her doppelgänger, or alter ego, in the shape of Suzanne Bonnar. The idea that Maw would use, or even understand the meaning of, words such as that is part of a huge in-joke that would leave anyone who does not know the original gasping for air.
But it is more than just a joke at Maw’s expense; doppelgängers and alter egos are a key part of Scottish cultural tradition. Kay invites us to conclude that Maw Broon, all common sense and family values, is just as valuable. Meanwhile, still dressed in heavy tweed skirt and sensible skirt but egged on by her alter ego, Maw finds herself with a full-size mid-life crisis. Cue any number of modish solutions from psychotherapy to colonic irrigation (“I’m my own worst enema,” she cries).
In each case, the scene is decorated with equally inventive songs by Tom Urie. Dressed as the plain Broon daughter Daphne (his first entrance, complete with black wig and heavy beard got one of the biggest laughs of the night), Urie accompanies the songs live from the piano and occasionally supplies other characters in a range of finger puppets.
There are too many great lines (“Reality’s not just on TV”, “built like a bothy”) and too much gleeful recognition for laughter not to be guaranteed. And Neason and Bonnar are two of the best voices Scotland has produced, so the songs are great. Indeed, in the face of general audience adulation, it seems almost rude to point out that actually it could, and probably still can, be a whole lot better.
The opening performance was messy technically. Both principals were clearly nervous and Maggie Kinloch, who directs, has not persuaded them to adopt a consistent style. Are they cartoon characters or real people? They are stuck somewhere in between, which looks and feels uncomfortable and does not make the best of Kay’s clever but wordy script.
The Maw Broon Monologues, Tron Theatre, Glasgow - Herald Scotland | Arts & Ents | Stage & Visual Arts
The Maw Broon Monologues, Tron Theatre, Glasgow - Herald Scotland | Arts & Ents | Stage & Visual Arts
The Maw Broon Monologues, Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Neil Cooper
Star rating: ****
Published on 4 Nov 2009
Michty!
Whit’s goin’ oan in Auchenshuggle? If Jackie Kay’s loose-knit cabaret reinvention of the nation’s cartoon first lady is anything to go by, the gallus besom’s not only rediscovered her funny bone, but she’s gone and got herself emancipated with it.
As projected quotes from Carl Jung, Virginia Woolf, Karl Mark and others usher in each belated life lesson, the ultimate working-class matriarch meets her match in her all-singing, all-dancing psyche.
In her own words, Maw Broon is “built like a bothy” and is craving for adventure beyond Glebe Street. Maw and her doppelganger duly embark on an adventure that takes in everything from therapy and colonic irrigation to rehab and political discourse with a less likeable Broon. En route, Maw sings the blues, gets down and dirty and discovers big words beyond the reductive tartan kitsch she was drawn, if not born, into.
The end result is a form of hand-me-down feminism patented in the 1970s alternative theatre scene, but reinvented here in Maggie Kinloch’s Glasgay! production with polish as well as punchlines. As the two Maws, Terry Neason and Suzanne Bonnar make for a magnificently brassy double act. Musical director Tom Urie, meanwhile, is a larger than life accompaniment. It would be wrong to reveal which Broon he turns up dressed as, but let’s just say he more resembles Desperate Dan in drag.
As with David Greig and Gordon MacIntyre’s collaboration on their indie pop stage rom-com Midsummer this time last year, here is a popular mini musical with substance as well as style. Kay has gone further, subverting – some might say corrupting – a national treasure by making her an independent woman to be reckoned with.
The Maw Broon Monologues, Tron Theatre, Glasgow
Neil Cooper
Star rating: ****
Published on 4 Nov 2009
Michty!
Whit’s goin’ oan in Auchenshuggle? If Jackie Kay’s loose-knit cabaret reinvention of the nation’s cartoon first lady is anything to go by, the gallus besom’s not only rediscovered her funny bone, but she’s gone and got herself emancipated with it.
As projected quotes from Carl Jung, Virginia Woolf, Karl Mark and others usher in each belated life lesson, the ultimate working-class matriarch meets her match in her all-singing, all-dancing psyche.
In her own words, Maw Broon is “built like a bothy” and is craving for adventure beyond Glebe Street. Maw and her doppelganger duly embark on an adventure that takes in everything from therapy and colonic irrigation to rehab and political discourse with a less likeable Broon. En route, Maw sings the blues, gets down and dirty and discovers big words beyond the reductive tartan kitsch she was drawn, if not born, into.
The end result is a form of hand-me-down feminism patented in the 1970s alternative theatre scene, but reinvented here in Maggie Kinloch’s Glasgay! production with polish as well as punchlines. As the two Maws, Terry Neason and Suzanne Bonnar make for a magnificently brassy double act. Musical director Tom Urie, meanwhile, is a larger than life accompaniment. It would be wrong to reveal which Broon he turns up dressed as, but let’s just say he more resembles Desperate Dan in drag.
As with David Greig and Gordon MacIntyre’s collaboration on their indie pop stage rom-com Midsummer this time last year, here is a popular mini musical with substance as well as style. Kay has gone further, subverting – some might say corrupting – a national treasure by making her an independent woman to be reckoned with.
Gay activists take public money to stage Transsexual Jesus play, moan about homophobia – Telegraph Blogs
Gay activists take public money to stage Transsexual Jesus play, moan about homophobia – Telegraph Blogs
Gay activists take public money to stage Transsexual Jesus play, moan about homophobia
By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: November 4th, 2009
41 Comments Comment on this article
The Glasgay! arts festival is staging a play called Jesus, Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman. As soon as I read about it, I thought: “I bet some public money has gone into that”. But even I was taken aback when I visited the festival website:
If there’s one thing gay activists love, it’s public money. Though, as you can see, they’re only too thrilled to pick up a bit of commercial sponsorship along the way.
Unsurprisingly, Jesus, Queen of Heaven has provoked protests from Catholics (who are probably unaware that they’re subsidising this venture through income tax, council tax, lottery tickets etc). They have protested outside the Tron Theatre. One banner reads “Jesus, King of Kings, not Queen of Heaven”; another says “God: My Son is not a Pervert”. That last message is unpleasant – but, hey, “Glasgay! supports the right of freedom of expression”, we’re told. Unless, of course, it decides that it’s being subjected to “homophobia” by the Christians it has upset. They are the ones being “provocative”, it seems.
Tricky territory, eh? Let’s turn to the BBC for guidance. Here is the report on its website:
Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual.
The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman, is being staged.
It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland’s gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.
Festival organisers said it had not intended to incite or offend anyone.
The Christian protesters gathered outside the theatre ahead of the opening night of the production on Tuesday.
Jesus Queen of Heaven, which runs until Saturday, is written and performed by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford.
The demonstrators sang hymns and waved placards.
One read: “Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven.”
Another said: “God: My Son Is Not A Pervert.”
Festival organisers described the banners as “fairly provocative” and said they could be viewed as inciting homophobia.
Glasgay! producer Steven Thomson said: “Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person.
“Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life.
“This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system, however, we respect your right to disagree with that opinion.
He added: “We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.”
Glasgay! is described as “Scotland’s annual celebration of queer culture” and is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Event Scotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow City Council.
Can you spot a quote there from one of the Christians offended by this event? Me neither. The report is written from the perspective of the Glasgay! organisers. So, in addition to all the other subsidies it enjoys, Jesus, Queen of Heaven also receives indirect support from the licence fee. Why am I not surprised?
Gay activists take public money to stage Transsexual Jesus play, moan about homophobia
By Damian Thompson Religion Last updated: November 4th, 2009
41 Comments Comment on this article
The Glasgay! arts festival is staging a play called Jesus, Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman. As soon as I read about it, I thought: “I bet some public money has gone into that”. But even I was taken aback when I visited the festival website:
If there’s one thing gay activists love, it’s public money. Though, as you can see, they’re only too thrilled to pick up a bit of commercial sponsorship along the way.
Unsurprisingly, Jesus, Queen of Heaven has provoked protests from Catholics (who are probably unaware that they’re subsidising this venture through income tax, council tax, lottery tickets etc). They have protested outside the Tron Theatre. One banner reads “Jesus, King of Kings, not Queen of Heaven”; another says “God: My Son is not a Pervert”. That last message is unpleasant – but, hey, “Glasgay! supports the right of freedom of expression”, we’re told. Unless, of course, it decides that it’s being subjected to “homophobia” by the Christians it has upset. They are the ones being “provocative”, it seems.
Tricky territory, eh? Let’s turn to the BBC for guidance. Here is the report on its website:
Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual.
The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman, is being staged.
It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland’s gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.
Festival organisers said it had not intended to incite or offend anyone.
The Christian protesters gathered outside the theatre ahead of the opening night of the production on Tuesday.
Jesus Queen of Heaven, which runs until Saturday, is written and performed by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford.
The demonstrators sang hymns and waved placards.
One read: “Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven.”
Another said: “God: My Son Is Not A Pervert.”
Festival organisers described the banners as “fairly provocative” and said they could be viewed as inciting homophobia.
Glasgay! producer Steven Thomson said: “Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person.
“Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life.
“This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system, however, we respect your right to disagree with that opinion.
He added: “We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.”
Glasgay! is described as “Scotland’s annual celebration of queer culture” and is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Event Scotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow City Council.
Can you spot a quote there from one of the Christians offended by this event? Me neither. The report is written from the perspective of the Glasgay! organisers. So, in addition to all the other subsidies it enjoys, Jesus, Queen of Heaven also receives indirect support from the licence fee. Why am I not surprised?
Jesus Was Not a Transsexual - Religion - Gawker
Jesus Was Not a Transsexual - Religion - Gawker
Jesus Was Not a Transsexual
A play called Jesus, Queen of Heaven, about the bearded one wanting to take a walk on the wild side, hitch up his/her robes, paint his/her nails and become Jesus-ina or whatever is upsetting christians.
Dour Scottish Bible-readers have come up with some placards that they waved outside the theater on opening night in Glasgow yesterday, according to the BBC. They include: "Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven," and "God: My Son Is Not A Pervert." Seriously. They're actually funny if you yell them in a ridiculous Scottish accent.
The play, part of a festival in Glasgow called 'Glasgay!', was written by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford. The producer, Steven Thomson, said "Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person."
"If Glasgow's council taxpayers were consulted, I doubt they would consider this was a good use of their money," responded a spokesman for the Christian Institute.
But it's fine because everyone is forgiven and happy! A blurb on the play's website reads: "And she does not condemn the gays or the queers or the trans women or the trans men, and no, not the straight women nor the straight men neither. Because she is the Daughter of God, most certainly, and almost as certainly the son also. And Gods child condemns nobody. She can only love…" Although apparently she can't punctuate, because 'God's' certainly takes a possessive.
Send an email to Ravi Somaiya, the author of this post, at ravi@gawker.com.
Jesus Was Not a Transsexual
A play called Jesus, Queen of Heaven, about the bearded one wanting to take a walk on the wild side, hitch up his/her robes, paint his/her nails and become Jesus-ina or whatever is upsetting christians.
Dour Scottish Bible-readers have come up with some placards that they waved outside the theater on opening night in Glasgow yesterday, according to the BBC. They include: "Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven," and "God: My Son Is Not A Pervert." Seriously. They're actually funny if you yell them in a ridiculous Scottish accent.
The play, part of a festival in Glasgow called 'Glasgay!', was written by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford. The producer, Steven Thomson, said "Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person."
"If Glasgow's council taxpayers were consulted, I doubt they would consider this was a good use of their money," responded a spokesman for the Christian Institute.
But it's fine because everyone is forgiven and happy! A blurb on the play's website reads: "And she does not condemn the gays or the queers or the trans women or the trans men, and no, not the straight women nor the straight men neither. Because she is the Daughter of God, most certainly, and almost as certainly the son also. And Gods child condemns nobody. She can only love…" Although apparently she can't punctuate, because 'God's' certainly takes a possessive.
Send an email to Ravi Somaiya, the author of this post, at ravi@gawker.com.
BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
BBC NEWS | Scotland | Glasgow, Lanarkshire and West | Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
Jesus Queen of Heaven is on at the Tron in Glasgow until Saturday
About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual.
The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman, is being staged.
It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland's gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.
Festival organisers said it had not intended to incite or offend anyone.
The Christian protesters gathered outside the theatre ahead of the opening night of the production on Tuesday.
Jesus Queen of Heaven, which runs until Saturday, is written and performed by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford.
The demonstrators sang hymns and waved placards.
One read: "Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven."
Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life
Steven Thomson
Festival producer
Another said: "God: My Son Is Not A Pervert."
Festival organisers described the banners as "fairly provocative" and said they could be viewed as inciting homophobia.
Glasgay! producer Steven Thomson said: "Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person.
"Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life.
"This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system, however, we respect your right to disagree with that opinion.
He added: "We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Glasgay! is described as "Scotland's annual celebration of queer culture" and is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Event Scotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow City Council.
Transsexual Jesus sparks protests
Jesus Queen of Heaven is on at the Tron in Glasgow until Saturday
About 300 protesters held a candlelit protest outside a Glasgow theatre over the staging of a play which portrays Jesus as a transsexual.
The protest was held outside the Tron Theatre, where Jesus Queen of Heaven, in which Christ is a man who wants to become a woman, is being staged.
It is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, a celebration of Scotland's gay, bi-sexual and transsexual culture.
Festival organisers said it had not intended to incite or offend anyone.
The Christian protesters gathered outside the theatre ahead of the opening night of the production on Tuesday.
Jesus Queen of Heaven, which runs until Saturday, is written and performed by transsexual playwright Jo Clifford.
The demonstrators sang hymns and waved placards.
One read: "Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven."
Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life
Steven Thomson
Festival producer
Another said: "God: My Son Is Not A Pervert."
Festival organisers described the banners as "fairly provocative" and said they could be viewed as inciting homophobia.
Glasgay! producer Steven Thomson said: "Jesus Queen of Heaven is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person.
"Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life.
"This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system, however, we respect your right to disagree with that opinion.
He added: "We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Glasgay! is described as "Scotland's annual celebration of queer culture" and is funded by the Scottish Arts Council, Event Scotland, Glasgow City Marketing Bureau and Glasgow City Council.
YouTube - Tron Theatre Queen of Heaven Blaphemy Glasgow
YouTube - Tron Theatre Queen of Heaven Blaphemy Glasgow
Viewers will note the outpourings of religious sympathy and protest at our play Jesus, Queen of Heaven. Please pay attention to the provocative placards.
Viewers will note the outpourings of religious sympathy and protest at our play Jesus, Queen of Heaven. Please pay attention to the provocative placards.
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman - Herald Scotland | News | Home News#have-your-say#have-your-say
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman - Herald Scotland | News | Home News#have-your-say#have-your-say
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman
Protesters wave placards opposing Jesus, Queen of Heaven at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.
Martin Williams
0 commentsPublished on 4 Nov 2009
More than 300 Christian protesters demonstrated in the centre of Glasgow last night against a publicly funded play that portrays Jesus as a transsexual woman.
The demonstrators, who waved placards and sang hymns and gospel songs, blocked Chisholm Street for about two hours from 6.30pm as they held a candlelit vigil outside the Tron Theatre where Jesus, Queen of Heaven will run until Saturday.
A ecumenical congregation including Catholics and evangelical Christians voiced their disapproval of the show, which presents Christ as a man who wants to become a woman.
One placard said: “Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven”.
Another stated: “God: My Son Is Not A Pervert”.
The production is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, Scotland’s annual celebration of homosexual culture, which receives funding from Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Arts Council.
The Christian Institute, which is opposed to equality for gay people, has said the festival is “further proof of an agenda to use taxpayers’ money to fund assaults on Christian values.”
Protesters said last night that they did not feel their demonstration would give more publicity to the show they wanted banned.
Jack Bell, pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Polmadie, said: “We are here to protest against the blasphemy of this play.”
Another demonstrator, Peter Campbell of St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Greenock, said: “I am here to say enough is enough. I feel I have to do something because I don’t feel this is right and I have to stand up for the cause of Jesus.”
Publicity material for the play shows the writer and lead performer of the piece – transsexual Jo (formerly John) Clifford – posing as Christ with crucifixion wounds and a halo.
Glasgay!, which is supported by the city council quango Culture and Sport Glasgow, has already provoked outrage over an exhibition that encouraged the public to graffiti a Bible.
!!!! CORRECTION !!!!
Readers should note that Glasgay! had nothing to do with the Sh[out] exhibition’s Bible “Made In God’s Image” work which is referred to incorrectly here. This work was made by other Culture & Sport funded artists who have nothing to do with Glasgay!.
Jo Clifford’s new theatrical play “Jesus Queen of Heaven” is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person. Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life. This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system however we respect your right to disagree with that opinion. We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Christians protest at portrayal of Jesus as transsexual woman
Protesters wave placards opposing Jesus, Queen of Heaven at the Tron Theatre in Glasgow.
Martin Williams
0 commentsPublished on 4 Nov 2009
More than 300 Christian protesters demonstrated in the centre of Glasgow last night against a publicly funded play that portrays Jesus as a transsexual woman.
The demonstrators, who waved placards and sang hymns and gospel songs, blocked Chisholm Street for about two hours from 6.30pm as they held a candlelit vigil outside the Tron Theatre where Jesus, Queen of Heaven will run until Saturday.
A ecumenical congregation including Catholics and evangelical Christians voiced their disapproval of the show, which presents Christ as a man who wants to become a woman.
One placard said: “Jesus, King of Kings, Not Queen of Heaven”.
Another stated: “God: My Son Is Not A Pervert”.
The production is part of the Glasgay! arts festival, Scotland’s annual celebration of homosexual culture, which receives funding from Glasgow City Council and the Scottish Arts Council.
The Christian Institute, which is opposed to equality for gay people, has said the festival is “further proof of an agenda to use taxpayers’ money to fund assaults on Christian values.”
Protesters said last night that they did not feel their demonstration would give more publicity to the show they wanted banned.
Jack Bell, pastor of the Zion Baptist Church in Polmadie, said: “We are here to protest against the blasphemy of this play.”
Another demonstrator, Peter Campbell of St Andrew’s Roman Catholic Church in Greenock, said: “I am here to say enough is enough. I feel I have to do something because I don’t feel this is right and I have to stand up for the cause of Jesus.”
Publicity material for the play shows the writer and lead performer of the piece – transsexual Jo (formerly John) Clifford – posing as Christ with crucifixion wounds and a halo.
Glasgay!, which is supported by the city council quango Culture and Sport Glasgow, has already provoked outrage over an exhibition that encouraged the public to graffiti a Bible.
!!!! CORRECTION !!!!
Readers should note that Glasgay! had nothing to do with the Sh[out] exhibition’s Bible “Made In God’s Image” work which is referred to incorrectly here. This work was made by other Culture & Sport funded artists who have nothing to do with Glasgay!.
Jo Clifford’s new theatrical play “Jesus Queen of Heaven” is a literary work of fiction exploring the artists own personal journey of faith as a transgendered person. Glasgay! supports the right to freedom of expression and offers audiences a diverse view of LGBT life. This work is not intended to incite or offend anyone of any belief system however we respect your right to disagree with that opinion. We welcome genuinely interested audience members who wish to understand the artistic intention behind this work.
Monday, 2 November 2009
‘Could do better’ – Tatchell’s view on Scotland’s gay rights record - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
‘Could do better’ – Tatchell’s view on Scotland’s gay rights record - Herald Scotland | News | Home News
By Mark Smith
0 commentsPublished on 1 Nov 2009
In the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow there’s a little black book that shows just how far Scotland has come on gay rights – and how far it still has to go.
For page after page, there are comments like “love is love” and “being different isn’t wrong”. Then suddenly the tone gets darker. Someone has written in thick black ink: “Your all going to the bad fire.” Just underneath that, someone else has had the last laugh: “And you ought to go back to grammatical basics.”
This mix of good, bad and funny (but overwhelmingly good) comments in the visitor’s book for the gallery’s sh[OUT] exhibition reflects the mixed progress Scotland has made on equality for gay and lesbian people. This week Peter Tatchell, the legendary gay rights campaigner, visited the exhibition to deliver a speech on human rights and said that while there are good signs of change in Scotland – such as the new law on gay adoption – there are bad signs too, such as a rise in homophobic attacks.
New figures seem to support him. Strathclyde Police told the Sunday Herald this week that there were 254 homophobic incidents in their area in 2008-09, steeply up from 189 in 2007-08. In 2003-04, there were only 50. Tatchell says this rise may be down to gay people becoming more visible: “As more and more have the confidence to express their affection in public, this makes them vulnerable to the hardcore homophobic minority who still harbour violent responses to homosexuality.”
The recent change in the law on aggravated crime in Scotland – which extends hate-crime legislation, with extra penalties, to cover attacks on gay and lesbians and comes into force next year – will help, says Tatchell, but England and Wales have had this legislation since 2003.
There’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. They tend to take less action against it too
“I’m glad some of these deficiencies are now being addressed,” he said. “The additional penalties send a clear signal that Scotland stands for a safe environment for all its people including those who are lesbian and gay.”
Tatchell said last month’s reform which means gay couples in Scotland can now adopt was also a big advance. But again, this is two years behind England and Wales, and Tatchell is angry that the Scottish Government appeared to be willing to consider an exemption for the Catholic Church. Earlier this year the Sunday Herald reported how Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, told the Church she was comfortable with plans by a Catholic adoption agency in Glasgow to refuse same-sex couples. No-one from the Catholic Church was available yesterday to comment.
“I am disturbed by the way in which the SNP government appears to be willing to appease homophobia within the Catholic hierarchy,” said Tatchell. “Intolerance can never be justified by faith. Allowing same-sex couples to foster and adopt children is a big advance for children and for gay people. This legislation has faced down and defeated the bigotry and intolerance of the Catholic Church.”
Tatchell said Catholic and other faith schools were also a concern. According to a recent report for Stonewall, the gay rights group, secondary school teachers in Britain say homophobic bullying is the second most common form after bullying on weight.
“Faith schools, of which there are plenty in Scotland, are still a major problem,” said Tatchell. “They don’t teach understanding and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the same extent as state schools and there’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. Faith schools tend to take less action against it, too.”
Tatchell does believe that the trend of public opinion is towards greater acceptance, but reaction to the sh[OUT] exhibition shows there are still sensitivities. The show explores the sexuality and lives of LGBT people and concludes today. It attracted controversy over the inclusion of images by Robert Mapplethorpe and organisers were also accused of censorship when they decided not to show video works by Spanish artist Dani Marti.
Sitting among the paintings and sculptures, Tatchell says the critical issue for improving the lives of gay people is tackling that rise in homophobic violence. There have been four homophobic murders in London this year and recently a gang attacked an off-duty policeman outside a gay bar in Liverpool. As well as the rise in Strathclyde, in Grampian there has been an increase from 23 homophobic incidents in 2008 to 31 so far in 2009. Lothian and Borders could not provide figures yesterday.
A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police said the rise could be down to people’s growing confidence in the police and also the mechanisms available for reporting such crimes. The spokesperson
said: “Strathclyde Police encourages reporting of hate crimes and people can do this safe in the knowledge that reports will be investigated thoroughly.”
Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, said gay hate crime was a massive problem in Scotland. “These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, as many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people still do not feel able to report crimes against them.
“In many ways Scotland may be a less prejudiced place than it was 10 years ago but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.”
That assessment is close to Tatchell’s. He believes homophobic attacks are the last gasp of hardline homophobes. In many ways, he says, such as on the abolition of Section 28, Scotland led the way. He just wants us to carry on doing it.
By Mark Smith
0 commentsPublished on 1 Nov 2009
In the Gallery of Modern Art in Glasgow there’s a little black book that shows just how far Scotland has come on gay rights – and how far it still has to go.
For page after page, there are comments like “love is love” and “being different isn’t wrong”. Then suddenly the tone gets darker. Someone has written in thick black ink: “Your all going to the bad fire.” Just underneath that, someone else has had the last laugh: “And you ought to go back to grammatical basics.”
This mix of good, bad and funny (but overwhelmingly good) comments in the visitor’s book for the gallery’s sh[OUT] exhibition reflects the mixed progress Scotland has made on equality for gay and lesbian people. This week Peter Tatchell, the legendary gay rights campaigner, visited the exhibition to deliver a speech on human rights and said that while there are good signs of change in Scotland – such as the new law on gay adoption – there are bad signs too, such as a rise in homophobic attacks.
New figures seem to support him. Strathclyde Police told the Sunday Herald this week that there were 254 homophobic incidents in their area in 2008-09, steeply up from 189 in 2007-08. In 2003-04, there were only 50. Tatchell says this rise may be down to gay people becoming more visible: “As more and more have the confidence to express their affection in public, this makes them vulnerable to the hardcore homophobic minority who still harbour violent responses to homosexuality.”
The recent change in the law on aggravated crime in Scotland – which extends hate-crime legislation, with extra penalties, to cover attacks on gay and lesbians and comes into force next year – will help, says Tatchell, but England and Wales have had this legislation since 2003.
There’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. They tend to take less action against it too
“I’m glad some of these deficiencies are now being addressed,” he said. “The additional penalties send a clear signal that Scotland stands for a safe environment for all its people including those who are lesbian and gay.”
Tatchell said last month’s reform which means gay couples in Scotland can now adopt was also a big advance. But again, this is two years behind England and Wales, and Tatchell is angry that the Scottish Government appeared to be willing to consider an exemption for the Catholic Church. Earlier this year the Sunday Herald reported how Fiona Hyslop, the education secretary, told the Church she was comfortable with plans by a Catholic adoption agency in Glasgow to refuse same-sex couples. No-one from the Catholic Church was available yesterday to comment.
“I am disturbed by the way in which the SNP government appears to be willing to appease homophobia within the Catholic hierarchy,” said Tatchell. “Intolerance can never be justified by faith. Allowing same-sex couples to foster and adopt children is a big advance for children and for gay people. This legislation has faced down and defeated the bigotry and intolerance of the Catholic Church.”
Tatchell said Catholic and other faith schools were also a concern. According to a recent report for Stonewall, the gay rights group, secondary school teachers in Britain say homophobic bullying is the second most common form after bullying on weight.
“Faith schools, of which there are plenty in Scotland, are still a major problem,” said Tatchell. “They don’t teach understanding and acceptance of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people to the same extent as state schools and there’s a much higher incidence of homophobic bullying in faith schools. Faith schools tend to take less action against it, too.”
Tatchell does believe that the trend of public opinion is towards greater acceptance, but reaction to the sh[OUT] exhibition shows there are still sensitivities. The show explores the sexuality and lives of LGBT people and concludes today. It attracted controversy over the inclusion of images by Robert Mapplethorpe and organisers were also accused of censorship when they decided not to show video works by Spanish artist Dani Marti.
Sitting among the paintings and sculptures, Tatchell says the critical issue for improving the lives of gay people is tackling that rise in homophobic violence. There have been four homophobic murders in London this year and recently a gang attacked an off-duty policeman outside a gay bar in Liverpool. As well as the rise in Strathclyde, in Grampian there has been an increase from 23 homophobic incidents in 2008 to 31 so far in 2009. Lothian and Borders could not provide figures yesterday.
A spokesperson for Strathclyde Police said the rise could be down to people’s growing confidence in the police and also the mechanisms available for reporting such crimes. The spokesperson
said: “Strathclyde Police encourages reporting of hate crimes and people can do this safe in the knowledge that reports will be investigated thoroughly.”
Carl Watt, the director of Stonewall Scotland, said gay hate crime was a massive problem in Scotland. “These numbers are just the tip of the iceberg, as many lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people still do not feel able to report crimes against them.
“In many ways Scotland may be a less prejudiced place than it was 10 years ago but there is still an enormous amount of work to be done.”
That assessment is close to Tatchell’s. He believes homophobic attacks are the last gasp of hardline homophobes. In many ways, he says, such as on the abolition of Section 28, Scotland led the way. He just wants us to carry on doing it.
Sunday, 1 November 2009
Glasgow LGBT Centre
Glasgay! recognises the success of the Castro Group in their proposal to re-establish the LGBT Centre for Glasgow.
Whilst the process and outcome has been disappointing for the festival we remain committed to providing Scotland with a national focus for the positive celebration of our LGBT identity and a strong voice for the issues that face our community.
We look foward to a new, vibrant and wholly inclusive centre for our entire community.
We welcome Glasgow City Council's recommendations to assist us in finding larger premises to more fully match our aspirations for an holistic centre for our arts, social and community enterprise plans.
Whilst the process and outcome has been disappointing for the festival we remain committed to providing Scotland with a national focus for the positive celebration of our LGBT identity and a strong voice for the issues that face our community.
We look foward to a new, vibrant and wholly inclusive centre for our entire community.
We welcome Glasgow City Council's recommendations to assist us in finding larger premises to more fully match our aspirations for an holistic centre for our arts, social and community enterprise plans.
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