THE LGBTQ+ YOUTUBERS YOU NEED TO WATCH

Joel Rochester
Image credit: Goodreads

Channel: FictionalFates

Bio: Joel identifies as a “bisexual Black British boy”. He is currently in his third year at university, studying English Literature and Creative Writing. He began his bookstagram and blog back in 2015 and this encouraged him to start his booktube account last year, which is already at 50.2k subscribers. Joel was particularly encouraged to start his channel because of BLM, as he felt “more empowered to use… [his] voice in spreading diverse reading and representation and showing that black lives matter”. Indeed, he also amplified his voice through the format of literature, as, in 2020 Joel wrote a short story, ‘The Boy & The Dragon, and is in the process of writing his first novel.

“Reading was probably my escape from reality, like a comfortable and safe space from a harsher world that didn’t like a queer British boy, a queer Black boy”

– Joel Rochester

Video Recommendation: ‘how I organise myself as a reader + student’ / ‘let’s talk about black books, baby

Rose Ellen Dix & Rosie Spaughton
Image credit: divamag

Channel: Rose and Rosie

Bio: Rose and Rosie are a married comedy duo; they have been married for 5 years and you can watch their beautiful wedding video their channel. They both had individual YouTube channels in 2011, before making their first combined channel, “Let’s Play Games”, which was a gaming channel. They then made their channel Rose & Rosie where they do comedy skits and along with more personal videos, including Rose’s experience of having OCD and Rosie’s experience of being a bisexual woman in their “BISEXY SERIES” (Rose and Rosie Vlogs). They have recently started their podcast “Rose and Rosie: Parental Guidance” which discusses their experience of trying for a baby through IUI.

Video recommendation: ‘Rating Gay Ships on Netflix/Discussing My Trauma | EMDR therapy | PTSD and OCD (uncut)

Melanie Murphy
Image Credit: YouTube

Channel: Melanie Murphy

Bio: Melanie is an Irish YouTuber, author, a mother. Her content centres around empowering others by representing her true self.  Melanie shares her bodily insecurities and mental health struggles. Along with this, she discusses and tackles “taboo” subjects such as: abortion rights, sex, sobriety and biphobia. Notably, her “PMS PARTIES” series portrays the often-overlooked subject of PMS, visually representing the struggles that people with periods face. Melanie also creates shorts, including FEMME, a spoken word film about her sexuality, and CHOICE, a film to tackle abortion rights in Ireland. She uses her creative format to speak-up for the LGBTQ+ community and actively tries to educate her viewers, including LGBTQ+ sex and relationships education which is very limited in the UK curriculums.

“I can’t silence all the voices swimming in my brain that question the validity and extent of my bisexuality”

Melanie Murphy

Video recommendation: ‘Why We Still Need Pride/FEMME

Header image credit: Metro Weekly

The B-52’s: Pioneers of LGBTQI+ activism in the New Wave scene

The punk and new wave scene of the late 70’s and 80’s is often seen as dominated by the angry voices of straight white men. The bands from that era usually picked out by the mainstream music press would certainly reflect that theory. In 1976, however, a band formed in Athens, Georgia, over a fishbowl cocktail, that would go on to become, not just one of the greatest bands to come out of that scene, but one of the greatest LGBTQ bands in history. The B-52’s, over the course of their history, have created some of the most brilliantly original songs of the 20th Century. Borrowing from a plethora of genres such as doo-wop, surf, psychedelia and everything in-between, The B-52’s are a true original – which is pretty rare to find. 

The B-52’s are far too often viewed as a mere novelty band; judging the B-52’s solely on ‘Rock Lobster’ or ‘Love Shack’ (their most commercially successful singles) is like judging The Cure based only off ‘Boys Don’t Cry’, or writing off the entire Devo discography after listening to ‘Whip It’. Their first two albums, in particular, consist of some of the strongest tunes to come out of that era of New Wave music. From the high energy of ’52 Girls’, to the experimental fever dream of ‘Quiche Lorraine’, to the 50’s surf inspired ‘Give Me Back My Man’. Do yourself a favour: listen to a B-52’s album in its entirety – you will come out of that experience a better person.

Throughout their entire history (1976-present) the B-52’s have been fearlessly themselves, going against the grain of the punk scene which acted as the catalyst for their creation. The art school kids from Athens swapped mohawks for beehives, bondage trousers for vintage dresses, and it was all the more defiant. Their kitsch and campy sensibilities endeared themselves to LGBTQ audiences in a way which was not really seen by many other New Wave bands – at least, not the same extent. By the time they released their first album in 1979, ‘punk’ had become a conformist fashion trend, much of the new music being released had congealed into the same boring sound concerned with cliched macho adolescent anger. The B-52’s, however, never bought into those ideals to begin with – they were always unapologetically non-conformist. 

Four of the five original band members identified as being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, the band certainly embraced their sexuality, but they were never defined by it. In fact, vocalist, lyricist and player of the organ (mainly) Kate Pierson said they never considered themselves to be a “queer” band, “We just thought of ourselves as just plain queer — as in eccentric,” which might explain why the B-52’s are so criminally overlooked when exploring the history of LGBTQ within music. 

After losing founding member Ricky Wilson to health complications related to HIV/AIDS in 1985, the band took it upon themselves to spread awareness about the crisis, producing a public service announcement for AMFAR (The Foundation for AIDS Research) called ‘Art Against AIDS’ featuring a plethora of other notable artists of the time. The AIDS crisis was peaking during this time and the criminal treatment of the disease from Margaret Thatcher in the UK and Ronald Reagan in the US meant that very little was being done to curve the crisis. Even basic information on AIDS was still fairly scarce in 1987, homosexuality in general was often still seen as perverted or just generally wrong – you need only look at the headlines of The Sun newspaper around this time to distinguish just how bad thing were. The B-52’s, therefore, by standing up, speaking out against AIDS, and providing information to a countless number of people were doing an incredibly important service. 

The impact of the B-52’s on the LGBTQ community, and pop culture in general, is profound and long-lasting. More recently, fearlessly flamboyant frontman Fred Schneider appeared on two separate albums by Jinkx Monsoon, winner of RuPaul’s Drag Race Season 5. Iconic drag queen Juno Birch also recently shared a lip sync video of ‘Give Me Back My Man’ which is well worth your time. The history of the LGBTQ community and the history of the B-52’s are woven into each other, they definitely deserve more credit than being seen only as the creators of ‘Love Shack’. 

The B-52’s have always been, and should be remembered as, an indescribably incredible band who embraced, but were never defined by, their sexuality and have constantly supported the LGBTQ community and all those who identify with it. Pierson, speaking to Lesbian/Bisexual women’s publication AfterEllen, puts it best in the quote: “One of the things the B-52s wanted to accomplish was for people to embrace their difference and encourage people to be who they are and accept themselves.”. 

Lead LUU: What will the students’ union elections look like this year?

This year, the Leeds University Union (LUU) elections, for which campaigning began on Monday, will take place during a national lockdown in which much of the university is closed and the students’ union itself has been repurposed into an asymptomatic Covid-19 testing site. 

The LeadLUU 2021 elections will decide who will lead the next LUU Student Executive. The board, which is made up of six full-time sabbatical officers, represent Leeds students and are elected for a one-year term. The election will also decide the next editor of The Gryphon.

The candidates, who in the week before an election would typically be seen on campus handing out flyers and talking to students, are now having to work out how to engage a student population that is geographically dispersed and isolated.

The rules for the election state that candidates should not campaign in-person if it is not legal or safe to do so. 

Michael Hewitson, the LUU Democratic Engagement Manager, told The Gryphon that the students’ union has reminded the candidates of the current government guidelines and is supporting them to campaign digitally. This means that for most candidates the campaign will take place entirely online.

Hewitson says that in-person campaigning has not been banned, however, as “lots of students, including our candidates, are either based in halls bubbles, or accessing campus” and as it is permissible to leave home for exercise, candidates can, for example, film a campaign video on campus whilst on their daily walk. LUU has also offered to put posters up in its building on behalf of candidates.

This week will see all the candidates being interviewed by Leeds Student Television. The interviews, which were pre-recorded and include questions submitted by students, will be posted throughout the week on Facebook and Youtube

LUU will also host a ‘speed meet’ event on February 24 on the video platform Glimpse. The event will give voters the opportunity to speak to candidates one-on-one for four minutes to ask questions.

Hewitson told The Gryphon that despite the challenges he remains confident that the election will be fair and accessible. He pointed out that whilst a lot of things have had to abruptly switch online in the last year, LUU has used online voting for its elections for a number of years.

Hewitson also said that the students’ union has made a concerted effort this year to encourage more students to put their name forward. “We have already made changes to how we as a Union have recruited, trained and supported candidates for this election – trying things we’ve not done before and working to ensure our training, briefings, mentoring are as accessible as can be.”

“The make-up of our candidates this year suggests that more kinds of members than normal have felt empowered and able to run – we have candidates running from outside of Leeds and outside of the UK as well which wouldn’t typically be the case with everyone on campus.”

The election, which will use a ranked preferential voting system, will take place online. All current students at the University of Leeds are eligible to vote. The polls will open at 7am on March 1 and will close at 7pm on March 4. The winners will be announced in a live results show on March 5.

Image Credit: Leeds University Union

Free Leonard Peltier!

45 years ago, on the 6th February 1976 an indigenous activist, and member of the Turtle Mountain Chippewa Indians, by the name of Leonard Peltier was arrested in Canada in connection to the shooting of two FBI agents on Pine Ridge Reservation in South Dakota, USA, in 1975. Peltier was convicted of aiding and abetting the murder and has been imprisoned since 1977 serving two life sentences. The trial was strewn with inaccuracies, mistrials of justice and downright discrimination, yet Peltier remains behind bars to this day. 

Before we get into the case it is important to give some background on the anti-indigenous atmosphere that has presided in the US since the first colonisers landed in 1607. Indigenous people have suffered a complete erasure of their culture and way of life through government policies designed to have that very effect. From the early days of ‘Manifest Destiny’ indigenous people have been slaughtered and their land has been stolen. Buffalo, an incredibly important animal which formed a lot of the basis for the indigenous people and their nomadic lifestyle, were massacred in huge numbers (three million were culled in 1872 alone). First Nations, who did not believe in the ownership of land, were pushed onto underfunded reservations which were then gradually stolen from them by white settlers. Indigenous customs and traditions have been made illegal and the US Government has forced policies intent on ‘Americanising’ and integrating First Nations into the ‘civilised’ capitalist society created by, and for, rich Caucasian men. Today, indigenous people make up only 2.4% of the US population, with over a quarter living in poverty. Issues of unemployment, alcoholism and drug abuse also disproportionately affect indigenous people.

In 1968, taking inspiration from the African American Civil Rights movement reaching its peak in the early 1960’s and the rise of the Black Panther Party during this time, the American Indian Movement (AIM) was set up to address systematic issues of poverty and police brutality against indigenous tribes. Leonard Peltier was an active member of this campaign group when two men (who, at the time, did not identify themselves as FBI Agents) invaded Pine Ridge Reservation in 1975. 

Peltier’s trial took a little over two weeks and the all-white jury took 11 hours to deliver a guilty verdict. It was later revealed, though, that throughout the trial the FBI had coerced and intimidated key witnesses and Peltier’s constitutional right to a fair trial had been violated. The case mainly relied on Myrtle Poor Bear as a key witness as she was Peltier’s girlfriend and witnessed the shooting – except it was later revealed she was not present at the time of the shooting, moreover she had never known Leonard personally. Several key witnesses have since recanted their stories, claiming they were made under intimidation tactics carried out by the FBI. During his trial the FBI spread fearmongering rumours of possible ’terrorist’ attacks to be carried out by AIM, thus building tension in an already anti-indigenous atmosphere. In terms of physical evidence: FBI ballistic expert, Evan Hodge, stated he was unable to perform a test on the supposed murder weapon. It was later found out that a firing pin test was indeed carried out on the supposed murder weapon, and the results were negative. The bullets which killed the agents did not come from Peltier’s gun. The jury, of course, were never made aware of this evidence during the trial. There was no forensic evidence to support the prosecution. There was no reliable witness testimony that either: placed Peltier at the scene previous to the shooting or identified him as the person who shot the two FBI agents. There is no reasonable evidence that Leonard Peltier was responsible for the murder of FBI Agents Williams and Coler. 

Despite the massive amount of evidence of FBI misconduct, blatant disregard for Peltier’s constitutional rights, and obvious grounds for a mistrial; Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned for the past 45 years. At the time of his imprisonment, in 1977, the average sentence served for homicide before being released on parole was 8 years – Peltier has, to this date, served over five times that amount. The US Government even extended his term, in direct violation of the 1984 Sentencing Reform Act. Furthermore, he has been denied clemency by, everybody’s favourite war criminals, George W. Bush and Barack Obama in 2009 and 2017 respectively. The next scheduled parole hearing is in 2024, by which time Peltier will be 79. 

Unless action is taken soon, it is highly likely that Leonard Peltier will die in prison, for a crime he was wrongfully convicted of. His only crime was belonging to a race of people which the US Government has sought to rid themselves of by any means necessary. The treatment of First Nations in the US has been the longest continual massacre in its history, yet it receives very little attention. When I studied ‘Native American Civil Rights’ for A-Level History, Peltier was never even mentioned by name – it simply stated that two FBI Agents had been shot on a reservation, before swiftly moving on. The fact that Peltier is still imprisoned shows clearly that the situation in the US is not improving. Racism, injustice, discrimination and persecution against non-whites is still incredibly prevalent and indigenous tribes are yet to face any real reparations for the complete destruction and systematic dismantling of their entire way of life. Leonard Peltier has been imprisoned for 45 years for daring to campaign against systematic poverty and the persecution of his people, that does not give the impression of the free and fair society the US likes to present itself as. Free Leonard Peltier.

To find out more on the case, and find out how you can help, please visit: www.whoisleonardpeltier.info

‘News of the World’ review: Woody gets a live-action treatment

News of the World tells the story of Captain Kidd (Tom Hanks) in middle America, post-civil war, who plods between small towns delivering the news and stories of the country. His equilibrium is thrown off balance when he meets Johanna  (Helena Zengel), a young girl who had been captured by the Kiowa tribe. The film follows his endeavours to take her back to her family.  

Director, Paul Greengrass, who previously collaborated with Hanks on Captain Phillips, dominates with an impressive set and costume design, making audiences feel like they’re witnessing an American Gothic painting brought to life and stretched over two hours. By night, we are presented with some fantastic stills of midnight ghost towns, moon-lit shudders, amber windows and oil lamps, sparking a dark and brooding atmosphere. By day, we are immersed into the verisimilitude of a comical Wild Wild West town; the perpetually muddy main strips, bustling saloons, neighing stables, bells chiming, people whistling, the clatter of villagers starting their day – a buzzing hive smothered by the epic American landscape.  

Dariusz Wolski’s cinematography and his use of wide-angle frames is accentuated by some gorgeous images of the twilight hours and its rising purple tones casting shadows over the hills, creating a beautifully placid fragrance in the air.  

Hanks and Zengel wear their roles well, particularly Hanks, who is renowned for his  humbleness and good nature, makes for a perfect fit as a paternal character. The film’s first old-school, fun cowboy shootout with some rugged bandits and a creatively horrific  alternative to gunpowder pushes our familiarity with Mr Beloved Worldwide as a heroic  gunslinger but does not disappoint.

Credit: Universal Pictures

Greengrass plays it very safe in News of the World, which makes it hard to flesh out any  valid flaws. However, some complacencies present themselves, such as within its  dialogue. When a shady, menacing crew try to take Johanna off Captain Kidd’s hands for  a price, which results in an altercation, one of the members threatens him saying “I’ll be  seeing you Captain…I’m coming for you as soon as I’m done with these blues”. Not only  is this on-the-nose, but it also frustratingly spoils the possible element of surprise later on  in the narrative with his return, as we already know from this confrontation that he  presents himself as a potential antagonistic conflict, resulting in what is some pretty  complacent writing.  

Captain Kidd’s quest in bringing the news of the country to these isolated, bubbled village  communities resembles a lighthouse beacon illuminating the scary unknown abyss of the  expansive lands of America for its disconnected sleepy towns in an age of tremendous  darkness before a world of technology, science (labelling the misunderstood as ‘cursed’),  mass-communication (other than ‘word is’) and humanitarian justice. This metaphorical  plague is manifested in and personified by our two protagonists, who are both isolated  and wrestling with an existential ambiguity over where they belong and where they ought  to go.  

News of the World doesn’t conquer any new grounds or put itself up to any real risk but instead communicates a very necessary sentiment. The timeless power of stories is what triumphs here. His stories are the only light that echoes through a country muffled by darkness, a country riddled by desperate turbulence, confusion and anger, in need of severe enlightenment and escapism, whilst on the brink of a new era. For these reasons,  News of the World couldn’t have come out at a better time. 

Header image credit: The New York Times

A Glimpse into the Guardian’s Online Book Club

Many of us have discovered or rediscovered a love for reading over the multiple lockdowns. We’ve escaped to the fantasy worlds of Brit Bennett, Maggie O’Farrell and Sarah J. Maas. We’ve been intrigued by the life of Barack Obama and we’ve learnt new skills from the dusty cookbooks that were long forgotten. But although reading can be wonderful it can be a very isolating experience unless you have someone to share it with…enter book clubs. Many online book clubs have emerged over the past year, so it was unsurprising that The Guardian would join the trend

The Guardian’s online book club is run by their chief books writer, Lisa Allardice. During the book club events, Lisa talks with leading writers, discussing the writing process, current affairs, isolation and, of course, the chosen novel. Book club attendees also have the opportunity to send in questions prior to, and during, the event. The book clubs are run on Thursdays 7-8pm BST, are broadcasted globally, and the cost of a ticket is £5 plus a small booking fee, or you can purchase the book with the ticket for around £14. Though the price may be slightly discouraging for an online event, it is significantly cheaper in comparison to what you might pay to hear an author talk at an in-person event. I certainly enjoyed hearing Margaret Atwood talk whilst sat at home with a risotto and a glass of wine, instead of queueing for hours outside a bookshop in the snow.

Credit: Waterstones

The book club I attended was centred around Margaret Atwood’s 2003 novel Oryx and Crake. Though the novel could be considered science fiction, Atwood labels it as ‘speculative fiction’ as the novel does speculate the potential of human evolution, and it does not deal with things that are beyond human capabilities. Although The Handmaid’s Tale is often deemed Atwood’s most prophetic book, Oryx and Crake foretold the biggest disaster of the 21st century, the global pandemic. As Atwood discussed in the book club, plagues are a “very old human story”, and they are even more “definitive in human history […] than war”. Atwood informs her readers to pay attention to Oryx and Crake because it shows “the big picture”, detailing to the reader just how far into chaos the pandemic, and our current habits, could lead us. Certainly, the novel forces the reader to take a long look at the human race.

On the more positive side, Oryx and Crake sees advancement in sustainability. As, in the book the ‘humans’ have evolved to no longer need clothing, meaning that “they do not need cloth”, and they are “not only vegan, [but] they can eat leaves and grass”, thus we no longer need to grow masses of crops or “raise herds of animals”. Indeed, the ‘humans’ have evolved to no longer be “sexually competitive”, lowering aggression and as Atwood notes there would be “no more wife murders”, essentially eradicating domestic violence. Furthermore, one of the most spectacular human advancements is the ability to purr! As Atwood explains, purring is an incredible ability to have as “cats purr to self-heal”. This is scientifically factual as a cat’s purr “has a frequency of between 25 and 150 hertz, which happens to be the frequency at which muscles and bones best grow and repair themselves”.

It is safe to say that Atwood is a hive of knowledge, and although I have not read Oryx and Crake, I still learnt so much from hearing her speak. The Guardian’s online book club is a great way for book lovers to hear from their favourite writers and have the opportunity to ask them questions. The upcoming book club is in conversation with Maggie O’Farrell (22nd April), the author of the Women’s prize-winning novel HamnetHamnet is set in plague-ridden Jacobean England, once again projecting a vision of our current world, and is said to be a heart-wrenching read. Why not give it a read and join me and many others for the next Guardian book club?

Header Image Credit: The Guardian Patrons

Leeds art-rock gurus Mush take on the current dystopia on new album Lines Redacted

Leeds-based art-rock indie guitar gurus Mush released their second full-length LP this month to much critical acclaim. The album was released on Memphis Industries, home of their Leeds contemporaries Menace Beach, which acts as a good indicator for the sheer quality of this release. Mush burst onto the radar of the music press in the run up to the release of their debut album 3D Routine in early 2020 and, despite the coronavirus pandemic, the band seem to be going from strength to strength and gathering momentum all the while. Lines Redacted follows on from October’s Yellow Sticker Hour EP and is the band’s first release since the tragic loss of guitarist Steven Tyson in December 2020. 

3D Routine was, in my mind, one of the greatest albums of 2020 thereby it would be tough for Lines Redacted to top it, but I dare say that the new album is the band’s finest work thus far. Mush have retained their trademark sound in terms of jangly guitars and lyrics critical of the current political landscape, yet their sound has clearly matured a great deal since the last album. The angry, and at times comedic, takes on the current state of affairs are backed up by one of the tightest bands around at the moment. One of my very few criticisms of their debut was a feeling of overproduction, if you listen to the 7” release of Gig Economy vs the album mix, for instance, the 7” version feels a lot rawer and more energetic – a feeling which was lacking on the album in my opinion. On Lines Redacted, however, I have no such criticisms, Lee Smith does a fantastic job of mixing these tracks. Smith had previously worked with Pulled Apart By Horses and The Cribs which obviously suggests Lines Redacted is purposely going for a more raw, loud and distorted style in comparison to the clean-cut sound of 3D Routine.

The tracks on Lines Redacted fluctuate between moods, there is certainly more variation in this album in comparison to the band’s previous works – from the upbeat Mush we all know and love on tracks like ‘Blunt Instruments’ and ‘Seven Trumpets’, to a much more mellow, melancholic atmosphere on the final track ‘Lines Discontinued’. The album, on the whole, feels much more mellifluous as opposed to the high-energy of previous songs such as ‘Revising My Fee’ for example. ‘Lines Discontinued’ is definitely the standout track on the album, a seven-and-a-half-minute masterpiece which encapsulates everything that is brilliant about Mush. The sudden changes in mood, the tongue-and-cheek lyrics and the absolute excellence of the guitar riffs – it is all present within this track. ‘Lines Discontinued’ only serves as a representation for just how incredible and versatile this band are. 

I was lucky enough to see Mush perform at the album launch of 3D Routine (before the world fell apart) and it simply blows you away to witness such a display of musical brilliance right in front of you – particularly on Lines Redacted, I think Mush have been able to replicate this perfectly within a studio setting. There are no other bands that spring to mind that are comparable to Mush currently, nobody else is doing what Mush are – at least not to the same scale or quality – they are beautifully original, innovative and they are sure to go down as one of the greatest independent bands produced by the city of Leeds.