Andrew Whiteside

LGBTQI News Roundup – 6th May 2022

Bridgerton star reveals lesbian director once told her to stay in the closet  

‘Bridgerton’ star Golda Rosheuvel, best known for playing Queen Charlotte on the Netflix series, recently revealed that a lesbian director once advised her to stay in the closet.


“We were talking about being out and proud and representation and whether I should say I was gay in interviews,” Rosheuvel told Marc Melkin on his Just for Variety podcast.  “And it was an absolute no: ‘You absolutely shouldn’t do that. It could or it would ruin your career as an actor.’


The out actor further reflected on that advice Saturday, during a backstage interview at the Human Rights Campaign’s New York City gala, where she was presented with the LGBTQ rights organization’s annual Equality Award. 


“It’s not an unusual story, especially in the acting industry,” she said. “People are still told that it will damage their career. It’s a real thing. But for me, it was just so interesting that (the director) was out. I didn’t really understand the ask or the definitive ‘no’ that she was talking about, because there seemed to be this difference. There’s a private life and there’s a public life and never shall the two meet.”
 


Australian man admits to pushing American off cliff in 1988 gay hate crime 

An Australian man was sentenced to 12 years and seven months in prison this week for the 1988 murder of an American who fell off a Sydney cliff that was known as a gay meeting place.
 

The death of mathematician Scott Johnson (pictured), was initially called a suicide, but his family pressed for further investigation. A coroner in 2017 found a number of assaults, some fatal, where the victims had been targeted because they were thought to be gay.
 

Scott White, 51, pleaded guilty in January and could have been sentenced to up to life in prison.
 

Justice Helen Wilson said she did not find beyond reasonable doubt that the murder was a gay hate crime, an aggravating factor that would have led to a longer sentence. She also said she applied more lenient sentencing patterns in place in New South Wales state in the late 1980s.
 

He must serve at least eight years and three months in prison before he can be considered for parole.
 

White was 18 and homeless when he met 27-year-old Los Angeles-born Johnson at a bar in suburban Manly in December 1988 and went with him to a nearby cliff top at North Head.
 

White’s former wife Helen White told police in 2019 that her then-husband had bragged about beating gay men and had said the only good gay man was a dead gay man.
 


UK barrister sues law firm and LGBTQ right group 


A barrister was unlawfully discriminated against by her chambers, which, encouraged by Stonewall, wrongly treated her gender-critical views as transphobic and bigoted, an employment tribunal has been told.
 

Allison Bailey is suing Garden Court chambers and British LGBTQ rights organisation Stonewall after she was asked by her chambers to delete two tweets criticising the LGBTQ+ charity’s position on trans rights and which Stonewall had complained about. 

Bailey, a lesbian and founder of the gender-critical group LGB Alliance, refused to delete the tweets and alleges unlawful discrimination and victimisation, claiming she suffered detriment at the hands of the chambers, including a reduction in work offered to her by clerks. 

People who are gender-critical disagree with the view that gender identity should be prioritised over biological sex. The hearing is expected to last four weeks. 

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