| 'Paper Dolls' cuts below the surface
Like a lot of drag queens, the ones in Tomer Heymann's highly affecting documentary, ``Paper Dolls," don't lead a glamorous life. They've come to a suburb of Tel Aviv from the Philippines and work, mostly, as caregivers to the elderly, some of whom are Orthodox Jews. They do so in their street clothes, as men, and when their weekend shifts end, they change into their costumes (tubby Jan Jan slips into his evening gown in the stairwell of his client's building) and head to a drag show where they perform as an entertainment collective called the Paper Dolls. Heymann's approach to the Dolls -- who, unfortunately, are referred to only by their drag names -- is curious and friendly. He appears in the film, following them to work (the day jobs and the shows) and to a gay pride parade.
Millionaire to help firefighters
A MILLIONAIRE Christian businessman is to champion the cause of nine firefighters disciplined by their force for refusing to attend a gay pride parade. George Hargreaves, a pop impresario who discovered a string of 1980s acts including Yazz and Five Star as well as penning hits for the disco diva Sinitta, has threatened to take the Strathclyde Fire and Rescue (SFR) service to court. .
150 people expected to take part in Gay Pride
The organisers of this weekend's Gay Pride Festival have vowed to go ahead with the festival this weekend even after receiving a homophobic email from a disgruntled member of the public. Matthew Monaghan, Chairperson of Galway Pride told the Galway Independent the event would go ahead. "It was basically trying to put us off having the parade. It was trying to stop people from coming out over the weekend but it won't work. The email isn't going to make us change any of our plans for the weekend and why should it".This is the 27th instalment of the Galway Gay Pride Festival, which is the oldest festival of its kind in the country. The festival kicks off on Thursday evening, 17 August, at Club Arus na nGael at 7.30pm. The main event of the weekend will occur on Saturday afternoon at 2.30pm when the Brod Ireland Pride Parade makes its way through the streets of Galway, starting off on Prospect Hill and finishing up in Fr Griffin Park.
Cleric wades into gay pride row
The Catholic Archbishop of Glagow has controversially defended the nine firemen who have been disciplined for refusing to distribute fire safety leaflets at a gay pride event. One officer was demoted, eight others were given warnings, and all were required to attend diversity training after they disobeyed orders to attend the Pride Scotia event in Glasgow. But Mario Conti, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Glasgow, issued a statement today saying that the disciplinary action was 'dismaying'. Archbishop Conti said that 'the duty to obey one's conscience is a higher duty than that of obeying orders.' While some of the firemen had said that they were refusing to give fire prevention advice at the event in June because they had religious objections, other refused to do so simply because they said it would be embarrassing.
| 
