BRITAIN: Stephen Fry Gets Married

IRELAND: Activist Panti Bliss Honored With Person Of The Year Award

Via Pink News:

Irish drag queen activist Panti Bliss has picked up a Person of the Year award. Drag artist Panti Bliss, played by Rory O’Neill, caused controversy in January this year when she labelled Catholic lobbying group the Iona Institute ‘homophobes’ on an Irish talk show, prompting state broadcaster RTE to award a payout of over €85,000 (£70,000) to the group and associated journalists. After the controversy, a heartwarming speech that Panti gave about the oppression that gay people face went viral online, and was even sampled as part of a Pet Shop Boys track.

About the awards:

Now in its 40th year, the People of the Year Awards are not just the primary awards event in Ireland, they are also among the longest-running. They are widely recognised as one of the highest accolades a person can receive in this country. Based on nominations received from members of the public, the People of the Year Awards give public recognition of the achievement of those who, in their own way, have made such a positive impact on Irish society. The Awards recognise a unique range of people - from unsung heroes who have quietly made a difference and enhanced the lives of others in communities, to the household names who have made a real difference to people’s lives on a national and international level.

If you haven't seen Panti's now legendary speech, watch it here. (Tipped by JMG reader Gerard)

Stephen Fry On Annoying Putin

Via ANIMAL New York:

In December, Mother London, the parent company of ANIMAL’s parent company, produced some limited edition Russian nesting dolls of British gay icons and sent them to the Kremlin. They were a big hit. When the actor, writer and activist Stephen Fry was asked to sign the charity dolls, we asked if we could tag along and use the opportunity to talk about LGBT rights in Russia. “There is something sick and wrong with people who are obsessed with trying to suppress the rights, freedom and happiness of LGBT people,” Stephen Fry told ANIMAL, backstage at the Belasco Theater in Manhattan before he took the stage for Twelfth Night – Richard III.

Fry: "Don't always think about what's the right to do, think about what's the thing that will most annoy Putin?" More about the dolls is here.

Stephen Fry Vs MP Vitaly Milonov, Author Of Russia's "Homosexual Propaganda" Bill

You will love this. 

Stephen Fry Meets "Ex-Gay" Therapist

Joseph Nicolosi is the co-founder of NARTH.

(Tipped by JMG reader Daniel)

Tweet Of The Day - Stephen Fry

The Sochi Salute

Some on Twitter suggest that the "Sochi Salute" would simply be a wave that describes the arc of a rainbow. Like a car's windshield-wipers.

At Yesterday's Protest In London

Tweet Of The Day - Nick Griffin

European Parliament member and far-right extremist Nick Griffin thinks Stephen Fry should "get over" his issues with Russia's crackdown on LGBT people. Griffin, a Holocaust denier, is the head of the British National Party and has been convicted of inciting racial hatred.

RELATED: Last October, Griffin said gay people are "creepy" and that "children will die" because of civil partnerships. That same month he tweeted out the home address of a gay couple and warned them that a "justice team" of his followers would soon be at their door.

HomoQuotable - Stephen Fry

"I am gay. I am a Jew. My mother lost over a dozen of her family to Hitler's anti-Semitism. Every time in Russia (and it is constantly) a gay teenager is forced into suicide, a lesbian 'correctively' raped, gay men and women beaten to death by neo-Nazi thugs while the Russian police stand idly by, the world is diminished and I for one, weep anew at seeing history repeat itself. 'All that is needed for evil to triumph is for good men to do nothing,' so wrote Edmund Burke. Are you, the men and women of the IOC going to be those 'good' who allow evil to triumph? The Summer Olympics of 2012 were one of the most glorious moments of my life and the life of my country. For there to be a Russian Winter Olympics would stain the movement forever and wipe away any of that glory. The Five Rings would finally be forever smeared, besmirched and ruined in the eyes of the civilised world." - Stephen Fry, in an open letter to the IOC and British Prime Minister David Cameron.

You really should read the full essay.

Stephen Fry Reveals Suicide Attempt

"I am the victim of my own moods, more than most people are perhaps, in as much as I have a condition which requires me to take medication so that I don’t get either too hyper or too depressed to the point of suicide. I’d go as far as to tell you I attempted it last year. I took a huge number of pills with a huge amount of vodka and the mixture of them made my body convulse so much that I broke four ribs. But I was still unconscious. Fortunately, the producer I was filming with at the time came into the hotel room and I was found in an unconscious state and taken back to England and looked after." - Openly gay actor and filmmaker Stephen Fry, who for years has publicly discussed his battle with mental illness.

Yesterday Fry tweeted in response to news coverage about his latest attempt.

Stephen Fry On The Catholic Church

At an Intelligence Squared debate in London, openly gay British author, actor, and director Stephen Fry delivered a brutal twenty minute evisceration of the Catholic Church that should be played on American television once a day for the next year. Fry touches on the Church's appalling wealth, its direct responsibility for uncountable AIDS deaths, and Pope Ratzinger's repulsive child molestation cover-ups. This clip is long. Make time for it sometime today.

(Tipped by JMG reader Armistead Maupin)