Admiral Duncan
Pub in London's Soho where on friday april 30, 1999, 6.35 p.m. a bom exploded. Three people were killed: Nick Moore (31), John Light (32) and Andrea Dykes (27) and 80 people were injured. Engineer David Copeland was arrested and later convicted for this brutal attack. The Admiral Duncan is open again and can be visited at 54 Old Compton Street.

Adoption
Gay and lesbian couples in Sweden who live together and have a so-called partner registration are allowed to adopt children, also from abroad. Here in the Netherlands homosexual couples can only adopt children from our own country, but that's about to change.

All in the family
Famous parents with homosexual children: singer/actrice/director Barbra Streisand and her ex actor Elliot Gould have a gay son: actor and director Jason Gould. Singer/ actrice Cher and her ex, the late singer/mayor Sonny Bono had a lesbian daughter: Chastity Bono. Rockgroup Status Quo's singer/guitarist Francis Rossi eldest son Simon is gay. Dick Cheney, the American vice president has a lesbian daughter, Mary. American horror actor Vincent Price had a lesbian daughter, Victoria Price, who wrote his biography. Late actor Michael Landon of Bonanza and Little House on the Prairie fame, had a gay son, Christopher, who is a screenwiter and producer. Betty White (Rose from the comedy 'Golden Girls') has a lesbian stepdaughter. Ironically American Psychiatrist Charles Socarides (1992-2005), who claimed he could cure homosexuality, had a gay son, Richard Socarides, who became advisor to President Clinton. Singer Marie Osmond oldest daughter Jessica is lesbian.
And otherwise related: Country singer Garth Brooks' sister, guitarist and singer Betsy Smittle is lesbian. American singer Cyndi Lauper's eldest sister Ellen is lesbian. Actor Robert de Niro's father, Robert de Niro snr - who died in 1993 -, was gay. Madonna's brother, Christopher Ciccone, is gay.

Amsterdam Pride
Event in Amsterdam, with parties, sports, parades, open air concerts and the famous Canal Parade.
Website: www.amsterdampride.nl

Bisexuality
You're bisexual when you feel sexually attracted to both men and women.

Bookshops
My favorite gay and lesbian bookshop in London is: Gay's the word. In Amsterdam there's Vrolijk.

Coming out
Coming out is telling other people you're gay, lesbian or bisexual. Because most people you'll come across in your life will presume you're straight (so: heterosexual), you'll often have to explain you're not a hetero. Some people refer to a coming-out to the first time you a single person you talk with about your homosexual feelings. I think you have to do a lot of 'coming-outs', like to your parents, to your friends, to your fellow students, to your colleagues. Ofcourse you can chose yourself if you want to come out or not and when. You can also be outed by another person, see 'outing'.

Diversity
There are gays, lesbians and bisexuals in all sorts and shapes. Hetero's as well as homosexuals themselves can have a wrong idea about this. There is, for instance, the misunderstanding that all gay men are feminine and all lesbians are masculine. That's true for some individuals, but the mayority of the gay population doesn't come up to this expectations (bye the way, what is masculinity or femininety? That's subjective). Most gays, lesbians and bisexuals are not recognisable as such and the gay community consists of a diversity of people with different looks, different attitudes, different ways of living, different interests, age, etcetera, etcetera. Just like in the heterosexual community.
For people with homosexual feelings the way they think about the homosexual world can give problems with the acception of themselves.

Eurogames
Sportive and cultural activities for European gays, lesbians and bisexuals, but hetero's are also welcome to take part of the games. The first Eurogames took place in The Hague, the Netherlands, in 1992. After that there were games in Frankfurt, Berlin (both Germany) and Paris, France. From june 16 to 19, 2005, the tenth Eurogames will take place in Utrecht, the Netherlands. Their website is on 2005.eurogames.info/

Gay Games Cultural and sportive activities for gays, lesbians and bisexuals from all over the world. Heterosexuals are (ofcourse) also welcome to take part. In 1998 the Gay Games were held in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. The next games will be from july 15-22, 2006 in Chicago. Website for the 2006 games: www.gaygameschicago.org/. In 2010 it's Cologne's in Germany turn to organize.

How many ......
...people are gay? The numbers mentioned differ between 1 on every 10 to 1 on every 20 people, so let's keep it on 1 on every 15 people! Just think about how many people that is considering the amount of inhabitants in your country! You're certainly not the only one!

How to meet other gays, lesbians or bisexuals
How do you meet other gays, lesbians or bisexuals? First of all you can see a lot of them in the streets, but most of them are not recognisable as being gay (see also: diversity) and most of the times it's too difficult to approach someone on the street. You need to do a little more than your best to meet someone. Here are some suggestions I have thought of:
* advertisements. Put an advertisement in a newspaper or magazine or react to one. Check the several newspapers or magazines if they have the sort of ads which appeal to you.
* gay community. Visit special gay bars, gay disco's, gay restaurants. You're bound to meet other gays, lesbians or bisexuals, but....remember: not everyone who goes to a gay bar is gay! Some people just like to go out there, because of the friendly atmosphere. You can find adresses in gay magazines and on the internet or call your local Gay & Lesbian Switchboard. Also remember that there are different sorts of bars and disco's, like special bars for youngers gays, lesbian bars, leather bars etc.
* discussion groups. In most countries and cities discussion groups for gay, lesbians and/or bisexuals are being organised. Here people can talk about what it is like being homosexual. Check magazines or the internet for more information.
* meeting places. Are you just looking for a brief sexual encounter, then there are special meeting places. Sometimes it is a bath house, a sauna or a park. As far as I know these places are only for men. Call the Switchboard or look on the internet for adresses. Remember that places like a park also attract people who are meaning to hurt gay men, so places like this are marked AYOR (at your own risk) in guides.
* events. Visit special gay events like the Pride Days in your town or country. Go to the Gay Games or the Eurogames.
* furthermore there are - for example - special gay choirs or gay sports clubs.
* and ofcourse you can use the internet, for example by chatting.

Magazines
There are a lot of gay or lesbian magazines and I mention the serious ones by country. By serious I mean mags with not just sex. If you have any tips please contact me.
Lebanon
* Barra (Quarterly Arabic Magazine)
The Netherlands
* Expreszo (for young gay and lesbians)
* Gay & night (montly)
* De Gaykrant (every two weeks)
* Squeeze (glossy montly)
* Zij aan zij (lesbian magazine)
Russia
* Kvir
UK
* Attitude
* Diva (lesbian magazine)
* Gay Times
USA
* The advocate
* Out

Marriage
The Netherlands was the first country in 2001 to allow gay and lesbian couples to marry. Belgium followed in 2003. In the first two years 2422 gay or lesbian couples were married in Belgium. In 2005 Canada and Spain also gave gays and lesbians the possibility to marry.

Outing
Outing is bringing the news, without the accorporation and permission of the person him- or herself, that he or she is gay, lesbian or bisexual. This happened a lot in the eighties. A recent example is the (almost) outing of Boyzone's Stephen Gateley, who, just in time, outed himself.

Outrage!
British action group which campaigns against all forms of homophobia and works for the emancipation of all queers.
Website:http://www.outrage.org.uk/

Pink triangle
Symbol of homosexuality. In nazi-Germany gays were forced to wear a pink triangle on their clothes, like the jews had to do with their yellow star. German historian Jellonek presumed that the nazi's had chosen the color pink for gays to indicate that gay men are feminine.

September 11, 2001
After the terrorist attacks in the United States on september 11, 2001, when a.o. the World Trade Centre in New York was attacked, American TV-minister Jerry Falwell reacted in the TV-programm '700 Club' by claiming the attacks were a deserved punishment for the fact that America had turned away from God and by pointing at heathens, people who commit abortions, feminists and gay and lesbians: they - according to him - were one of the causes. President Bush's spokesman told the President taught these judgements were inaproperiate.

Stonewall Inn
Bar in New York, where on june 27, 1969 riots occured as a reaction to constant raids by the police in gay bars.
The Stonewall Inn