Wimbledon

Well, it's the summer solstice - the longest day of the year - and what a brilliant time for WIMBLEDON to start. World cup football and world class tennis on TV all at the same time, heaven for me, but I'm sure my mum and sister are going to tear their eyes out pretty soon.

Wimbledon started with a list of all the games of the first day. A lady called Clijsters was mentioned as being one of only 3 mothers in the draw. This made me snort my drink and shout out to nobody inparticular: "That's cause they're all lesbians!"

However, I am aware that this is not a true fact, just a generalisation by me in hope that all women with nice arms like to munch de muff. I've decided to investigate to see who are actually out and who I wish were gay.

Martina Navratilova



When pressed on the subject, Navratilova out as bisexual in 1980. She 'paid the price' for doing so, as although she was one of the greatest players to play the game, she did not receive the sponsorships one would have expected her to recieve.
After a relationship with the best selling author Rita Mae Brown, Martina was with her partner Judy Nelson for eight years before the pair split.
In 2000, Navratilova won the National Equality Award from the Human Rights Campaign. In her speech she encouraged others to come out so that "they could contribute to the positive change and fight for the equality of the community."

Billie Jean King



Billie Jean King married her college sweetheart, Larry King, but had numerous affairs with women behind his back. In 1981 an ex-lover outed King, who, afraid of losing her tennis endorsements and her career called the affair a "mistake". Even with that admission, King lost almost all her commercial sponsors.
Billie eventually came out in 1998 and coached the US Olympic Team in 2000, becoming the first out lesbian coach at an Olympics.

Amelie Mauresmo



Mauresmo came out at the Australian Open, aged 19. After a very successful tournament, and after beating top-ranked Lindsay Davenport, Mauresmo lept into the arms of her then girlfriend and announced to the world that her success had to do with finding love and coming to terms with her sexuality.
Unlike Navratilova and King, Mauresmo did not lose any of her sponsorships from Nike, Dunlop, Babolat and Gaz de France by coming out. She went on to win Wimbledon in 2006 and announced in 2009 that she was retiring from the sport, aged 30.

There are a few more but they are less famous. Lets hope Martina Navratilova's words encourage more to come out!

Now, for two pro Tennis players I would really like to be lady lovers ;)

Ana Ivanovic



Not hard on the eye is she?!

Dinara Safina



In the middle, obviously. Who doesn't want a Russian hunk of muscle?

And this one is just for LOLS. Fittest fictional (and out) Tennis player = Dana Fairbanks



Awww, don't worry Dana, you're still alive and hilarious in MY world.

Happy summer solstice folks!

Lerato Marumolwa

I was reading The Guardian today, seeing as it was just lying around and I like the "You are the ref" bit at the back, when I saw an article header that literally made my eyes bulge. It shocked and disgusted me, so I thought I'd share.

"In townships we get raped, we get beaten" - A lesbian footballer has found sanctuary from violent discrimination.

The article is about Lerato Marumolwa, a squad member of South Africa's only out lesbian football team. The team are named 'The Chosen Few' as they were founded in 2004 by the Forum for the Empowerment of Women.



Lerato is 21, and says that there is only one place in her neighborhood where they are allowed to train, because everywhere else has "people who beat, rape or swear at us". It's a shocking fact that could be underdramatised by readers until a team mate of Lerato's, named Tumi Mkhuma, confesses that she was kidnapped by a man who was "offended" by her sexuality. He beat her unconcious, and she only found out that she'd been raped by him because she fell pregnant. It's a scary thought that the man who did that to her still has not been caught.

It's not just the individuals that are brave enough to express their sexuality who are discriminated against in South Africa; The Chosen Few as a team find it hard to be accepted, an example of this is having to wait three months for US authorities to allow the group of 'unmarried and largely unemployed women' to fly to Chicago for the Gay Games, where they had enourmous success: winning bronze.

Lerato and her Few team mates are an inspiration. The bravery and courage these women must have to be openly gay in such a horrific environment speaks volumes about them as individuals and makes us think twice about our own situations. Obviously coming out is a big deal to anyone, and anyone who has been through it knows this, but coming out to a nation who don't accept it, rather than just family members and friends, where you're likely to be beaten and raped for being honest about who you are, it begs the question if any of us would be brave enough to come out in that situation.

The Guardian article then goes on to report that over 30 lesbians have been murdered in South Africa during the past decade, one of whom was an international footballer called Eudy Simelane who was raped and killed in 2008. This is just yet more incentive to hide your sexuality you'd have thought, yet I admire that these 25 women are willing to take the disgusting abuse to be happy with who they are, and to show the world that they are not ashamed.

Lerato continues by saying that the Chosen Few have been banned from formal competition for being open about their sexuality. She says she knows "there are other teams where there are lesbians but the coaches don't allow them to be who they want to be" and adds, "They know who they are and who they want to be, and we are free."

This leads me to wonder about more famous footballing nations, such as England, Brazil and the States, and various other European countries like Italy, France and Germany. For the majority, homosexuality is much more widely accepted and recognised, so why aren't there any out players? Speaking from experience as a footballer, the lower leagues of English womens football are over run with out lesbians, so why, on the worlds stage, are there none in the international teams? I would bet all my belongings that there are lesbians in the national womens squads, but they are all safely wrapped up in Narnia.



If it's a question of role models, and worry that if the lesbians make themselves known then young girls wont want to get into football, then I can only stress that I doubt it would make much difference. From younger and younger ages, girls in football are becoming aware of sexuality and it's bothering fewer and fewer of them. For those few girls in young teams who begin to question their sexuality, don't you think it would be good for them to have a role model that was gay too, instead of the squeaky clean heterosexual squad of 25 where not a single one is gay? Obviously there are alot of straight women who play football but to be honest, it would be refreshing and warming to see a woman who is recognised as one of the best footballers in England to come out and say "Some people are gay. Get over it."

For the full article on Lerato go to www.guardian.co.uk/football/2010/jun/20/world-cup-south-africa-lesbian

Subtext... don't you mean maintext?!

Yo. So I'm planning on doing a blog about the Skins movie which has been confirmed, as it will feature Emily and Naomi - TV's most loved lesbian couple right now! But I need more info and lovely photos of the pair before I do that, so before! Here's a little bit about MY favourite TV couple. And yes, they ARE a couple. Unless you can't see it. In which case I suggest Specsavers.

Xena & Gabrielle from Xena: Warrior Princess. If you're a fan of the show, read on.

If you're into fanfiction or even just original work, head to www.academyofbards.com and navigate yourself around it. Some pretty darn good writing on that, you could even have a crack yourself =]

If you're into all things LOL then check this out - it's absolutely hilarious - www.lolxena.blogspot.com ... here are a few corking examples of why you should check it out!








Right, I'm going to plunge my head back into the world of Skins. Enjoy!

Big Brothers' Token

However much I love Big Brother, I have to say that waiting for the new housemates wasn't that exciting for me, because there's always the token gay. It's usually the campest man in the world (David BB10, anyone?!) and I just get annoyed every year that they don't put in an attractive lesbian (Lisa does not count!!!).

THEN BIG BROTHER GAVE ME SHABBY.



And, although her overdramatic entrance was Pete Bennett-esc and a little annoying, I could sit there for the first time and think: I'm going to watch this just for her. Finally BB had a lesbian worth watching. Yeah her dress sense is a little off-norm, but who wants a plain Jane? Yeah she over dramatises arguements and fits like a petulant child, but who wants a passive housemate? Yeah she's a posh squatter who changed her name from Keeley to Shabby, but who wants someone with a boring background? You know what, I'm not even going to lie about it, she's fit and that's really all there is to it.

However, I do find myself willing her to calm down and behave when she goes into a rant, because she's representing an entire nation of lesbians. She's got the looks covered (did I mention she's hot?!) but the tantrums, divaness and crushing on the straight bestfriend (Caiomhe) really arent doing her many favours. Of course I would love it if they got it on (and so would half the population I assume!), but then it just throws her head first into Lesbian Stereotype 101.

Regarding some other housemates; I think Corin is quite possibly the best ever. She's absolutely hilarious. Reminds me of an older version of Sophie Webster from Corrie but with huge amounts of sun damaged skin. I also love that she's a REAL bisexual, and genuinely likes both sexes. She isn't just saying it to get into the house under the pretence she'd kiss a few girls for the cameras. If Shabby leaves, I would love her to win.
Josie is another favourite, though her obvious crush on John James is a waste of her brilliance because he's a douche bag. I thought he was alright at first, and I agreed with his opinions of Rachael looking down on people and thinking she was Gods' gift to men, but he took it too far and now I can't relate to him.
I can tell you now that I absolutely despise Dave. His rants about getting drunk off the holy spirit make me want to vom all over his monk robe and slap him silly. I don't think even HE believes what comes out of his mouth sometimes and when explaining to Josie why he didn't agree with same sex marriage, he contradicted himself about five times in one sentence. An embarresment to his sister, who he said is gay. What must she think?! Also a very boring housemate with the most irritating laugh in the world.

What do you think of Shabby, and indeed the rest of the housemates of the last ever Big Brother?

For more updates and info from the house follow @OfficialBB @officialbblive and @ThisIsDavina on Twitter.

You can also follow me on @SorchaDean

First post!

Hi there!

So my first post is going to start off with me explaining a few things about all this whatsit and whatnot.

Firstly, I've named this 'Luminous Mushrooms' because I'm not very good at thinking up cool names for things - not because I like mushrooms. Although luminous ones sound pretty awesome. Anyway, Foxfire is what I'm going as (another attempt at a cool name) because I was watching the film Foxfire when I made this! Luminous Mushrooms also tie into this because a quick Google search showed me that Foxfire is not only a film where Angelina Jolie gets her kit off, it's also a type of... you guessed it! Luminous mushroom. So there it is.

Secondly, this blog is random, and wont be daily (I don't think!) because I'm obviously a busy busy person *cough* however, I am going to update it as much as possible because I like to vent my opinions! And there's alot going on seeing as it's Pride season...

Lastly, I know there's gonna be some people who read this and don't like my opinions. That's cool, you're allowed your own. Just don't continue reading if you don't like it - I'm sure you could do without the stress. To those people: loosen up and open thy minds!

So there we go... I'm gonna jump right in and hope this goes well!

Sorch