Contents:
- STEPHEN K AMOS: 'I DON'T WANT TO BE LABELLED "THE BLACK GAY IC"'
- ‘THERE WERE VERY, VERY FEW OPENLY QUEER KIDS MY YEAR GROUP’: JOE LYCETT, COLM TóIBíN AND MORE ON HOW GAY LIFE HAS CHANGED
- GAY EDIAN STEPHEN K AMOS WAS PREPARED TO CHALLENGE POPE OVER HOMOSEXUALY
STEPHEN K AMOS: 'I DON'T WANT TO BE LABELLED "THE BLACK GAY IC"'
Pope Francis says gay men should not jo the clergyStephen K Amos was one of eight celebri – cludg L Dennis, Lley Joseph and Greg Rutherford – who trekked a 1, 000km sectn of the pilgrim’s walk om Canterbury to Rome for a BBC documentary on TV personali pleted the Via Francigena walk jt 15 days last September, as part of Pilgrimage: The Road To Rome. ”‘As a gay man, I don’t feel accepted’Viewers will watch as Amos rais the issue of LGBT people feelg ostracised the relign, and explas: “As a gay man, I don’t feel accepted”. ”The Catholic Church’s stance on LGBT peoplePrevly, Pope Francis reportedly suggted parents should take children who they believe were gay to a told Italian publitn La Stampa: “I would say first of all to pray— then, to not nmn, to talk, to unrstand, to make space for the son or dghter.
”L Dennis meets Pope Francis (Photo: BBC)The Roman Catholic Church ems homosexualy a s, wh the Pope admtg there was “no room” for such acts the liv of prits and nuns. I know lots of ics who've left the untry and are tryg their hand Ameri bee they feel they're htg a glass ceilg 2006, your edy style changed when you did an Edburgh show which you spoke publicly for the first time about beg gay.
And then I heard on the telly they'd found a body on Clapham Common, someone who'd been killed a homophobic attack, and saw the picture and was a iend of me. This lad me up to me after one show, a whe kid, about 19, very street savvy, and said: "I've been stgglg wh the issu but I'm gog to tell my mum that I'm gay today.
‘THERE WERE VERY, VERY FEW OPENLY QUEER KIDS MY YEAR GROUP’: JOE LYCETT, COLM TóIBíN AND MORE ON HOW GAY LIFE HAS CHANGED
I've been asked to go on all sorts of programm to discs those issu and I've jt picked a few, bee I don't want to be labelled as "the black gay ic". I didn't set out to be this role mol, but if 's all moratn and if you n spire and enurage younger people, then that's a great ma a documentary, Batty Man, for Channel 4 about homophobia the black muny.
Joe Lycett, edianI spent most of my school years unr sectn 28 [a clse banng schools om “promotg homosexualy”] – somethg I only realised this year. So ’s no wonr homophobia was rife and there were very, very few openly queer kids my year group. As my 20s unfold, I felt thgs were unstoppably changg for the better, wh gay marriage and public attus alterg rapidly.
‘I’ve felt a profound loss of sual gay spac’Jake Shears, micianWe have gaed a lot of space culturally, but have lost so much of our physil space the real world. My move to London last year has been thrillg, but I’ve also felt a profound loss of sual gay spac. Most bars I loved have gone, or bee gay-themed, equented by a straight majory.
GAY EDIAN STEPHEN K AMOS WAS PREPARED TO CHALLENGE POPE OVER HOMOSEXUALY
On a random Thursday night, I’m at a loss as to where to go to meet other gay guys.
Acceptable discrimatn was g at me wh “gay abandon” based on my sexualy, my race and my culture, buoyed up by a hostile prs, legimised by a ernment unr Mrs Thatcher and ma worse by the HIV epimic and the outright hysteria surroundg Aids.