"The 9". News Curated Weekly. Two million for LGBT+ in France, and more

As usual… 5.5 minutes to read. A weekly digest of the most important queer news in your backyard! Exclusively for paid subscribers every Monday, “The 9” is curated weekly by Taylor Abbot + the GenZ editorial team.

Your guide to the queer media circus.

This week, €2 million in France, and then:

UK. FILM. 2023 LONDON FILM FESTIVAL QUEER SCREENINGS.

The 2023 London Film Festival is set to be another year of big-screen cinematic hitters and a showcase of indie gems. The programme between 4-15 October is stacked full of titles ranging from political documentaries to intense dramas to musical rom-coms. Though the much-anticipated LGBT+ films, like Saltburn, are ones that we can’t wait to see, let’s not forget the plethora of lesser-known titles that are worthy of attention. We are looking to see Marija Kavtaradze’s drama Slow, Zeno Graton’s queer coming-of-age drama The Lost Boys (Sundance awarded) and, of course, the new movie by Weekend director Andrew Haigh’s All of Us Strangers.

NIGERIA. POLITICS. COURT GRANTS BAIL TO 69 GAY SUSPECTS.

Sixty-nine gay suspects arrested on August 27 in Ekpan, Nigeria, during a gay wedding ceremony have been released on bail. GAY45 wrote before about the case and demanded their release. The suspects were granted bail at a cost of N500,000 and two sureties each. The sureties must reside within the Effurun jurisdiction. The suspects were paraded before newspeople at the Ekpan Police Station in a shameful wanna-be gesture. Terrible actions of a corrupt Government with future terrible consequences and no respect for decency. Human rights are words unknown in Nigeria. We expect more problems in sub-Saharan Africa with seven military coups in over two years. What can those people feel being there for nothing but being themselves?

USA. FILM. MATTHEW SCOTT MONTGOMERY WAS FORCED TO CONVERSION THERAPY AND ELECTROSHOCKS.

Matthew Scott Montgomery has revealed that he used to go to conversion therapy in secret on his days off from filming. The actor, who appeared on hit Disney shows like Shake It Up, Sonny With A Chance, and So Random endured the barbaric anti-LGBTQ+ treatment after coming out as gay to his “very, very conservative parents” who believed that “gay people are the most evil thing that could possibly exist.” Although Montgomery was over 18 at the time and technically could have left conversion therapy at his own free will, the actor explained: “In the environment, I grew up in, you are taught that you deserve to be punished all the time.” What started out as general talking therapy eventually escalated to electro-shock therapy. Eventually, Montgomery found forever friends in some of his Disney Channel co-stars and suddenly “just kind of woke up.” Montgomery had been speaking to fellow Disney Channel alum Christy Carlson Romano on her podcast Vulnerable. It is unbelievable in the era of artificial intelligence there are countries that did not ban “conversion therapy”, yet.

USA. BUSINESS. BAD DECISSIONS MAKING AT BUD LIGHT.

A fresh new investigation by The Guardian shows that the Bud Light and trans influencer Dylan Mulvaney case was more complicated than it seems. This year Bud Light faced one of the biggest boycotts in US history following a backlash from the right wing. The consequences were dramatic for the company, Anheuser-Busch, the parent company, suffered a $395m loss in North American revenue in 2023’s second quarter and announced it would lay off 2% of its US workforce. We really liked The Guardian investigation.

WORLDWIDE. POLITICS. BISEXUAL AWARENESS WEEK.

The annual celebration of all things bi+ ended. More visible than any other year #BiWeek is an annual celebration held from September 16–23, 2023. It is an extension of Celebrate Bisexuality Day, held annually on September 23.[2] The celebration promotes cultural acceptance of the bisexual community and attempts to create a platform for advocating bisexual rights. And connected to the topic, a very interesting movie in cinema these days and soon on Mubi, Passages.

FRANCE. POLITICS. A NEW LGBT+ RIGHTS FUND

Speaking at the UN General Assembly, French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna said that a fund of €2 million was being made available “for our embassies to support those who are defending LGBTQ rights on a daily basis around the world, according to France24 The French government has been vocal about its support for LGBTQ rights since appointing Jean-Marc Berthon as ‘Ambassador for the rights of LGBT+ people’ last year. However, this year French LGBTQ+ organisations have raised the alarm about a high rate of homophobic and transphobic attacks in the country. Do not get it wrong. It is a very, very small amount of money.

WORLDWIDE. GAMES. STARFIELD IS INCLUSIVE.

Starfield, the new space adventure from the creators of Skyrim and Fallout 4, is one of the year’s biggest games. Like many modern blockbuster games, it lets players choose their pronouns during character creation – a choice which upset one ‘anti-woke’ gamer. In a hilariously botched attempt to mod out pronoun choice from the game, they ended up making the player character default to they/them. So proud of owning it! 👑🌈#RepresentationMatters

TURKEY VIA NEW YORK. POLITICS. TURKEY’S PRESIDENT UNHAPPY.

Turkey’s president unhappy with ‘LGBT colours’ at UN, according to The Hill. Recep Tayyip Erdoğan complained about the bright-coloured decorations at the United Nations General Assembly this week in New York City, saying the “LGBT colours” upset him. The multi-coloured lights were installed to promote the U.N.’s sustainable development goals, which the session was intended to feature. Erdoğan told Turkish media that he wants to bring up the issue with U.N. Secretary-General Antonio Guterres, as Reuters reported. The Turkish leader’s Islamist government has recently toughened its stance on LGBTQ rights. He was never a happy man, but now he is even unhappier. Which we like in a very cynical way. He was never a happy man, but now he is even unhappier. Which we like in a very cynical way.

USA. POLITICS. SAN FRANCISCO TRIES TO REMAIN THE GAY CAPITAL OF THE WORLD.

A kind of unique project, the San Francisco LGBT+ Asylum Project helps asylum seekers fleeing persecution, reports Bay Area Reporter. San Francisco has become a beacon for many LGBTQ asylum seekers — and the LGBT Asylum Project is meeting the need, having provided legal representation for nearly a decade. America’s immigration system is complex, time-consuming and costly. Most people who are fleeing violence or abuse based on their sexuality and/or gender identity are not able to take on the legal fees needed to seek approval for their asylum applications. The Castro-based LGBT Asylum Project provides legal services to LGBTQ people seeking protection at low costs or free and has reported last days an approval rate of 98%. In a very weird USA these days, sounds good.

Recommendations from our favourite newspapers. This week NYT.

Roast fish with cherry tomatoes in one pan.

Reduce your drinking. These books can help.

Discover Albania’s timeless Vjosa River.

Read the latest book by the 91-year-old journalism legend Gay Talese.

Play the Spelling Bee. And here are today’s Mini Crossword and Wordle. You can find all our puzzles here.

Curated every Wednesday by Taylor Abbot & GAY45 editorial staff. Exclusive for subscribers on Monday through Substack.

Taylor Abbot is a 23 y.o. staff writer for GAY45 and MA student at the University of Oxford. Previously he studied at the Columbia University Graduate School of Journalism. He is passionate about journalism, contemporary literature, poetry, technology, socio-political involved art forms and queer implications in society. He wrote previously for several magazines as Bay Area Reporter or Männer. Nerdy curious, passionate about the weird parts of life and the good stories written by great journalists. Taylor decided to delete all his social media accounts two years ago. Lives and works between Berlin and London.

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