Lonnie

Yes, I agree... Lets Milk Him Now!

If a trans woman rapes a cis woman with her still intact penis is that rape or same sex sexual assault? High Court emphatically rejects legal bid to force trans women into men’s prisons in landmark ruling The Royal Courts of Justice, which houses the High Court in the UK (Andrew Aitchison/Getty) The High Court has rejected claims that housing trans women who’ve committed sexual or violent offences against women in female prison facilities is discriminatory to cis women. A judicial review against the government was launched last year to determine whether the Ministry of Justice’s policy on the care and management of trans prisoners discriminates against cis women. The High Court returned its judgement on Friday (2 July), stating that the policies “do not involve an unjustified or disproportionate intrusion with the [Human Rights Act] Convention rights of women prisoners”. The landmark case was brought by an unnamed cis female inmate at HMP Downview, who said she was sexually assaulted by a trans woman inmate with a conviction for rape. She argued that her human rights were violated by having to be in the same prison as trans women prisoners who have convictions for sexual or violent offences against women, and that such policies should be declared unlawful. The case was significant as the claimant was arguing for trans women to be treated less favourably than cis women in the context of prison policy, which if successful could’ve set a concerning precedent. The argument tested the bounds of the Equality Act, which prohibits discrimination but allows for exemptions in certain circumstances when a measure is deemed to be “a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim”. Her lawyers said that the Ministry of Justice should be compelled to exercise these exemptions, making it lawful to discriminate against trans women in this particular case, even if their gender has been legally recognised under the Gender Recognition Act. High Court case attracted ‘gender-critical’ supporters The milestone case was supported by several so-called “gender-critical” groups, including Fair Play for Women and a new anti-trans campaign group called Keep Prisons Single Sex. The latter explicitly takes aim at trans people on its website under a section titled: “Can a man really become a woman?” “The clear answer to this is no, he cannot,” it answers. “No matter how he presents himself, what he wears, what he believes about himself, or what changes he makes to his body through surgery or medical treatment, a man remains a man. A man cannot become a woman. (Nor can a woman become a man).” This prompted the grassroots LGBT+ group Bent Bars collective to intervene in the case. Permission was granted by the court in January 2021. A member of the Bent Bars collective, Dr S Lamble, highlighted the “harmful stereotypes” employed in the claimant’s argument as well as their “misuse of statistics” about trans inmates. “We intervened because we were concerned that some of the arguments put forth in the case were reliant on faulty evidence and unsound statistical claims about trans prisoners,” the group said. “We also intervened because we were concerned that these incorrect claims would perpetuate harmful and damaging stereotypes about trans prisoners specifically and trans people more generally.” The court recognised these concerns, with the judge specifically referring to the claimant’s “misuse of the statistics, which in any event are so low in number, and so lacking in detail, that they are an unsafe basis for general conclusions.” High Court rules trans women should be housed in women’s prisons The claimant’s arguments were ultimately rejected, with the court finding that the current polices are indeed “lawful” and do not violate the rights of cis women prisoners. The court also clarified that the Equality Act exemptions are discretionary and do not have to be used. As the judge said: “The minister was under no obligation to apply them, either generally or in any particular case.” The judge added that “the subjective concerns of [cis] women prisoners are not the only concerns which the Defendant had to consider in developing the policies: he also had to take into account the rights of transgender women in the prison system”. While he said he understood the claimant’s concerns, he concluded that the trans-inclusive policies are “capable of being operated lawfully, and in a manner which does not involve unjustified or disproportionate interference with the Convention rights of women prisoners”. “Individual decisions may be susceptible to challenge, but that does not render the policies unlawful,” the judgement added. The High Court ruling was welcomed by the Bent Bars Collective, whose member Elio said: “Group-based stereotypes and stigmatisation will not help to reduce violence in our communities. We need to address the underlying causes of violence, which are often related to inequality and discrimination. “We see this case as an opportunity to have much needed public conversation about the current conditions and issues that prisoners face, and the pressing need to make greater efforts to prevent and reduce harm both inside and outside prison.” Trans women in prison: What do we know? There are 130 trans women in the UK prison system and 119 of them are housed in men’s prisons, according to a 2019 Ministry of Justice report. Eleven are held in women’s prisons.

Brazilian presidential hopeful Eduardo Leite comes out as gay But governor who hopes to challenge Jair Bolsonaro next year backed the far-right leader in 2018 Eduardo Leite at a vaccination clinic in Porto Alegre in January. He told TV Globo on Thursday night: ‘I’m a governor who is gay rather than a gay governor.’ Photograph: Matheus Pe/Zuma Wire/Rex/Shutterstock Tom Phillips in Rio de Janeiro Fri 2 Jul 2021 15.38 BST Last modified on Fri 2 Jul 2021 16.35 BST One of Brazil’s leading politicians, the presidential hopeful Eduardo Leite, has announced he is gay – a rare move celebrated by many as a triumph over prejudice in a country whose president has declared himself a proud homophobe. Leite, the 36-year-old governor of the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, made the announcement on Thursday night during an interview with the country’s top broadcaster, TV Globo. “I’m gay – and I’m a governor who is gay rather than a gay governor. Just as Obama in the United States wasn’t a black president, but a president who was black. And I’m proud of this,” said Leite, from the centre-right Brazilian Social Democratic party (PSDB). The politician, who hopes to challenge the far-right leader, Jair Bolsonaro, in next year’s presidential election, said he had nothing to hide, but wished sexual orientation was “a non-issue” in Brazil. Leite’s revelation sparked an outpouring of support from activists and fellow politicians. “I know the pain the prison of the closet represents, particularly in a conservative environment like politics,” tweeted Fabiano Contarato, who became Brazil’s first openly gay senator in 2018. “You’ve made history,” the veteran LGBT campaigner Toni Reis wrote on Facebook. Leite thanked people for their support, tweeting: “The countless messages of affection and support that I’m receiving leave me absolutely convinced: love will defeat hatred!” Not everyone celebrated Leite’s revelation, with many activists remembering how Leite had supported Bolsonaro in the 2018 election despite the populist’s notorious history of homophobia. In a 2013 interview with Stephen Fry – which the British actor later called “one of the most chilling confrontations I’ve ever had with a human being” – Bolsonaro proclaimed: “Brazilian society doesn’t like homosexuals.” Jean Wyllys, who was the first openly gay member of Brazil’s congress to fight for LGBT rights, said Leite had never repented for backing Bolsonaro, who had spent decades “perpetrating the most vile and sordid kind of homophobia”. Wyllys said: “This chap had many opportunities to defend the LGBT community and he didn’t. On the contrary … he was a Bolsonarista until yesterday – and he’s probably still one today, because at no point has he retracted his support for Bolsonaro. “So I don’t celebrate this. I’m not part of this team of people who are commemorating this chap coming out of the closet as if it was some great accomplishment for Brazil’s LGBT community.” Wyllys went on to call Leite’s announcement a strategic move designed to boost his presidential hopes. Renan Quinalha, a lawyer and LGBT activist, said he welcomed Leite’s announcement on a personal level. “It’s really cool that a guy can discover himself and accept who he is – and find the strength and courage to do so – because it isn’t an easy process. As a gay man, I know what it was like for me … so it’s important to applaud this. I also think it is objectively really positive that Brazil’s new generations see a governor … coming out as gay. Visibility helps.” But Quinalha was troubled by Leite’s decision to describe himself as “a governor who is gay” and not a “gay governor”. “It’s not just a play on words … he’s clearly sketching a dividing line between certain gay existences that are legitimate, and others that are not,” Quinalha said, questioning why Leite had not simply said: “I’m gay. Full stop.” Leite declared he would vote for Bolsonaro on the eve of the 2018 election despite claiming he was not “100% comfortable” with his ideas. He called the decision “a democratic gesture”, but insisted he represented “the politics of love, not hate”. Last month, Leite found himself on the receiving end of Bolsonaro’s homophobia – which activists blame for a rise in anti-LGBT violence – when Brazil’s president suggested to supporters the governor might have concealed federal resources in his anus. Leite told TV Globo he was considering whether to file a criminal complaint.

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What's extra frustrating is that I've posed this or quite similar questions on sites that supposedly specialize in trans issues and have never received an adequate answer. I thought since many very bright guys post here I'd ask the question on this site...maybe I'll have to rely on the South Park episode you mentioned.

The more I read and try to understand trans men and trans women the more confusing it becomes. They remain a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma. I had mistakenly thought trans men had this surgery to further their goal to achieve being the man they felt they were: Surgery Before having female-to-male gender-affirming surgery, a person will receive testosterone replacement therapy. They may then undergo one or more of the following types of procedure. Chest restructuring A person undergoing surgery to transition from female to male typically has a subcutaneous mastectomy to remove breast tissue. The surgeon will also make alterations to the appearance and position of the nipples. Meanwhile, testosterone therapy will stimulate the growth of chest hair. Removal of the uterus, ovaries, and fallopian tubes A person may wish to undergo this type of surgery if they are uncomfortable having a uterus, ovaries, or fallopian tubes, or if hormone therapy does not stop menstruation. In a partial hysterectomy, a surgeon will remove only the uterus. In a total hysterectomy, they will also remove the cervix. A bilateral salpingo-oophorectomy, or BSO, involves the removal of the right and left fallopian tubes and ovaries. Metoidioplasty A metoidioplasty is a method of constructing a new penis, or neopenis. It involves changing the clitoris into a penis. A person will receive hormone therapy before the surgery to enlarge the clitoris for this purpose. During the procedure, the surgeon also removes the vagina, in a vaginectomy. In addition, they lengthen the urethra and position it through the neopenis. To achieve the lengthening, the surgeon uses tissues from the cheek, labia minora, or other parts of the vagina. The aim of this is to allow the person to urinate while standing. Another option is a Centurion procedure, which involves repositioning round ligaments under the clitoris to increase the girth of the penis. A metoidioplasty typically takes 2–5 hours. After the initial surgery, additional procedures may be necessary. A Centurion procedure takes approximately 2.5 hours, and removing the female reproductive organs will add to this time. An advantage of a metoidioplasty is that the neopenis may become erect, due to the erectile abilities of clitoral tissue. However, a neopenis resulting from a metoidioplasty is often too small for penetrative sex. Phalloplasty A phalloplasty uses grafted skin — usually from the arm, thigh, back, or abdomen — to form a neopenis. Doctors consider taking skin from the forearm to be the best optionTrusted Source in penile construction. Compared with a metoidioplasty, a phalloplasty results in a larger penis. However, this neopenis cannot become erect on its own. After a period of recovery, a person can have a penile implant. This can allow them to get and maintain erections and have penetrative sex. During a phalloplasty, the surgeon performs a vaginectomy and lengthens the urethra to allow for urination through the penis. Disadvantages of a phalloplasty include the number of surgical visits and revisions that may be necessary, as well as the cost, which is typically higher than that of a metoidioplasty. Scrotoplasty A person may decide to have a scrotoplasty — the creation of a scrotum — alongside a metoidioplasty or phalloplasty. In a scrotoplasty, a surgeon hollows out and repositions the labia majora to form a scrotum and inserts silicone testicular implants. With other FTM surgeries...but it seems many trans men are keeping their uteruses. Statistics are near impossible to find as to numbers. The trans man in this case had his eggs frozen before undergoing hormone treatment though they say many time eggs remain healthy even after hormone treatment pregnancy can occur naturally when fertilized. What is unclear did the wife remain intact with penis and testicles in order to impregnate her husband? If the man has a uterus and the woman has a penis... doesn't that make their claims of being a man and women more difficult? I assure you I'm not a transphobe in any way.. I just want to understand better and it seems some subjects are too delicate to discuss rationally. Can anyone explain the facts and nuances to me? I fully respect trans people and always use the wished for pronouns and give them proper respect they deserve as I do anyone else.

Taking my life in my own hands and exposing my deep ignorance I have a basic question... Why would a woman want to become a man and then proceed have a baby?

Midwifery magazine shares gorgeous cover celebrating trans men who give birth The Practising Midwife's May issue celebrated trans fathers. (The Practising Midwife/Lauren Rebbeck) A British midwifery magazine has shared an incredible cover that shows that, yes, trans men can give birth – and you bet it ticked off transphobes. In a cover designed by illustrator Lauren Rebbeck for its 24th volume in May, The Practising Midwife emphatically said that trans men who give birth are “amazing”. Part of the magazine’s Normal Birth series, the cover features a trans Black man after giving birth to a baby as his partner looks on in pride. His fist raised in the air, showing a rainbow tattoo with the words “right on” underneath. Of course, because their hobby is hate, the cover quickly became the target of transphobic Twitter trolls and anti-trans pressure groups. After The Practising Midwife shared a roundup of some of its recent covers in June, it abruptly entered the radar of a cavalcade of anti-trans Twitter accounts who decided to focus their collective efforts on attacking a… midwifery magazine. This being from the same group who have previously assailed a mental health charity for, er, proudly standing up for trans rights. But the magazine refused to be buffeted by the pile-on and issued a statement on Twitter on Monday (28 June), proudly coming out swinging for trans rights. “We are committed to representation at all levels and also to ensuring that our publications provide a safe space for all birthing people and maternity care workers to learn, care and share with one another,” it read. We are committed to representation at all levels and also to ensuring that our publications provide a safe space for all birthing people and maternity care workers to learn, care and share with one another. We do not welcome or invite any commentary that compromises these values. — ThePractisingMidwife (@TPM_Journal) June 28, 2021 “We do not welcome or invite any commentary that compromises these values.” And readers and fans alike agreed. Countless trans folk, allies, community leaders and activist groups praised the cover as “beautiful” and for its unbridled ability to rankle transphobes. https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/07/01/practising-midwife-trans-men-birth/

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It's a good movie...also on Amazon Prime. https://www.amazon.com/Goodbye-Mother-Hong-Dao/dp/B08G7J9F3M

Busby Berkley would be proud!

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You can't post here?

No one likes Take On Me?

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I predict not only will he get away with it but will be back in school by fall. Crime Former College Football Player Accused of Killing Man He Met on Tinder From left: Ismemen David Etute and Jerry Paul Smith Jerry Paul Smith of Blacksburg, Va., was beaten to death May 31. A man he met on Tinder is charged with second-degree murder. A suspended Virginia Tech football player accused of killing a gay man has said he became enraged after discovering the person he had met for a sexual encounter was male. Jerry Paul Smith was killed May 31 at his home in Blacksburg, Va. A medical examiner ruled he died of blunt force trauma to the head; an autopsy further revealed that every bone in his face was broken and that he had skull fractures, the Roanoke Times reports. His teeth had also been knocked out. His body was discovered the following day, and Ismemen David Etute, 18, of Virginia Beach was arrested June 2. Etute is charged with second-degree murder. Etute appeared in Montgomery County General District Court in Christiansburg Wednesday. Prosecutor Jason Morgan, in arguing against Etute’s release on bond, testified that the defendant had met Smith for oral sex April 10, after the two had connected on Tinder. Etute believed that the person he had hooked up with was a woman named Angie. He returned to Smith’s apartment May 31, realized Smith was a man, and flew into a rage. It isn’t clear from media reports why Etute thought Smith was a woman during the initial encounter. No one has identified Smith as transgender; his family has said he was a gay man. But Etute became so agitated that he began punching Smith, according to information presented by Morgan and by defense attorney Jimmy Turk. “Etute told the police he punched Smith five times in the face and continued punching the victim when they hit the ground and ‘stomped’ on them,” the Times reports. “Etute heard ‘bubbling and gurgling’ as he left the apartment but didn’t call the police.” Turk responded by telling the court, “I’m not saying what happened was acceptable, but this was more than someone just showing up to an apartment and punching someone.” Turk had argued for his client to be released on bond, and a judge initially granted it, but Morgan appealed. The attorneys then reached a compromise under which Etute was released on a secured $75,000 bond and will be under house arrest and electronic monitoring, according to the Times. His mother had testified that someone is always at their home and that the family includes three siblings, among them a younger sister with Down syndrome. Etute had entered Virginia Tech at midterm and participated in training with the football team. He is now suspended from both the team and the university.

Boy, that's almost an understatement...think the 495 during rush hour...but I believe you are retiring so you shouldn't be joining the 9 to 5 crowd.

Prigs to the end...a disgrace.

I agree 100%! GCHQ apologises for 'horrifying' treatment of Alan Turing and discrimination against other LGBT people 'Their suffering was our loss, and it was the nation's loss too' After being chemically castrated, Mr Turing killed himself by eating an apple laced with cyanide (Susannah Ireland) GCHQ chief has apologised for the espionage service's "horrifiying" treatment of Alan Turing and historic prejudice against LGBT people. The pioneering mathematician, whose code-breaking skills are said to have shortened World War Two by two to four years, lost his job with the secret service following a conviction for indecency and was forced to undergo chemical castration. Robert Hannigan is the director of Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ), the successor to the Government Code and Cypher School which first employed and then summarily fired Mr Turing. LGBT individuals were banned from joining the espionage organisation until the 1990s, because of what Mr Hannigan referred to as "completely archaic rules on sexuality". Speaking at a conference hosted by gay rights charity Stonewall, he said he had been asked to apologise and added: "I am happy to that today and to say how sorry I am that he and so many others were treated in this way, right up until the 1990s when the policy was rightly changed. "The fact that it was common practice for decades reflected the intolerance of the times and the pressures of the Cold War, but it does not make it any less wrong and we should apologise for it. "Their suffering was our loss, and it was the nation's loss too, because we cannot know what [those] who were dismissed would have gone on to do and achieve. We did not learn our lesson from Turing." Mr Turing received an OBE in 1945 for his work during World War Two, when he and his colleagues in Bletchley Park's Hut 8 constructed code-breaking devices that cracked German ciphers. Imitation Game Featurette Cracks the Code of Benedict Cumberbatch By decoding messages from the Nazi Enigma Machine, Mr Turing helped Britain to reverse its fortunes in the Battle of the Atlantic, locating German U-Boats anHowever, in 1952 he pled guilty to a charge of public indecency, admitting he was in a homosexual relationship with Arnold Murray. Offered the choice between prison and libido-reducing injections, he opted for the later.

Alan Turing: The codebreaker who saved 'millions of lives' Alan Turing - the Bletchley Park codebreaker - would have been 100 years old on 23 June had he lived to the present day. To mark the occasion the BBC commissioned a week-long series of articles to explore his many achievements. This second essay examines the impact the British mathematician had on the outcome of World War II. image captionTuring's Treatise on Enigma helped break Germany's encrypted messages Germany's Army, Air Force and Navy transmitted many thousands of coded messages each day during World War II. These ranged from top-level signals, such as detailed situation reports prepared by generals at the battle fronts, and orders signed by Hitler himself, down to the important minutiae of war like weather reports and inventories of the contents of supply ships. Thanks to Turing and his fellow codebreakers, much of this information ended up in allied hands - sometimes within an hour or two of it being transmitted. The faster the messages could be broken, the fresher the intelligence that they contained, and on at least one occasion an intercepted Enigma message's English translation was being read at the British Admiralty less than 15 minutes after the Germans had transmitted it. image captionTuring helped adapt a device originally developed by Poland to create the bombe On the first day of war, at the beginning of September 1939, Turing took up residence at Bletchley Park, the ugly Victorian Buckinghamshire mansion that served as the wartime HQ of Britain's top codebreakers. There he was a key player in the battle to decrypt the coded messages generated by Enigma, the German military's typewriter-like cipher machine. Bletchley's bombes Turing pitted machine against machine. The prototype model of his anti-Enigma "bombe", named simply Victory, was installed in the spring of 1940. His bombes turned Bletchley Park into a codebreaking factory. As early as 1943 Turing's machines were cracking a staggering total of 84,000 Enigma messages each month - two messages every minute. Turing personally broke the form of Enigma that was used by the U-boats preying on the North Atlantic merchant convoys. It was a crucial contribution. The convoys set out from North America loaded with vast cargoes of essential supplies for Britain, but the U-boats' torpedoes were sinking so many of the ships that Churchill's analysts said Britain would soon be starving. "The only thing that ever really frightened me during the war was the U-boat peril," Churchill said later. Just in time, Turing and his group succeeded in cracking the U-boats' communications to their controllers in Europe. With the U-boats revealing their positions, the convoys could dodge them in the vast Atlantic waste. image captionThe bombe's operators read decrypted German messages by marking the position of its drums The Turingery Turing also searched for a way to break into the torrent of messages suddenly emanating from a new, and much more sophisticated, German cipher machine. The British codenamed the new machine Tunny. The Tunny teleprinter communications network, a harbinger of today's mobile phone networks, spanned Europe and North Africa, connecting Hitler and the Army High Command in Berlin to the front-line generals. Turing's breakthrough in 1942 yielded the first systematic method for cracking Tunny messages. His method was known at Bletchley Park simply as Turingery, and the broken Tunny messages gave detailed knowledge of German strategy - information that changed the course of the war. "Turingery was our one and only weapon against Tunny during 1942-3", explains ninety-one year old Captain Jerry Roberts, once section leader in the main Tunny-breaking unit known as the Testery. "We were using Turingery to read what Hitler and his generals were saying to each other over breakfast, so to speak." Turingery was the seed for the sophisticated Tunny-cracking algorithms that were incorporated in Tommy Flowers' Colossus, the first large-scale electronic computer. With the installation of the Colossi - there were ten by the end of the war - Bletchley Park became the world's first electronic computing facility. Turing's work on Tunny was the third of the three strokes of genius that he contributed to the attack on Germany's codes, along with designing the bombe and unravelling U-boat Enigma. Ending the war image captionTuring and Bletchley Park's other cryptologists helped counter the threat posed by Germany's U-boats Turing stands alongside Churchill, Eisenhower, and a short glory-list of other wartime principals as a leading figure in the Allied victory over Hitler. There should be a statue of him in London among Britain's other leading war heroes. Some historians estimate that Bletchley Park's massive codebreaking operation, especially the breaking of U-boat Enigma, shortened the war in Europe by as many as two to four years. If Turing and his group had not weakened the U-boats' hold on the North Atlantic, the 1944 Allied invasion of Europe - the D-Day landings - could have been delayed, perhaps by about a year or even longer, since the North Atlantic was the route that ammunition, fuel, food and troops had to travel in order to reach Britain from America. Harry Hinsley, a member of the small, tight-knit team that battled against Naval Enigma, and who later became the official historian of British intelligence, underlined the significance of the U-boat defeat. Any delay in the timing of the invasion, even a delay of less than a year, would have put Hitler in a stronger position to withstand the Allied assault, Hinsley points out. image captionThe UK government did not disclose details of the efforts to crack the Enigma machine until 1974 The fortification of the French coastline would have been even more formidable, huge Panzer Armies would have been moved into place ready to push the invaders back into the sea - or, if that failed, then to prevent them from crossing the Rhine into Germany - and large numbers of rocket-propelled V2 missiles would have been raining down on southern England, wreaking havoc at the ports and airfields tasked to support the invading troops. Saved lives In the actual course of events, it took the Allied armies a year to fight their way from the French coast to Berlin; but in a scenario in which the invasion was delayed, giving Hitler more time to prepare his defences, the struggle to reach Berlin might have taken twice as long. At a conservative estimate, each year of the fighting in Europe brought on average about seven million deaths, so the significance of Turing's contribution can be roughly quantified in terms of the number of additional lives that might have been lost if he had not achieved what he did. If U-boat Enigma had not been broken, and the war had continued for another two to three years, a further 14 to 21 million people might have been killed. Of course, even in a counterfactual scenario in which Turing was not able to break U-boat Enigma, the war might still have ended in 1945 because of some other occurrence, also contrary-to-fact, such as the dropping of a nuclear weapon on Berlin. Nevertheless, these colossal numbers of lives do convey a sense of the magnitude of Turing's contribution.

MAURICE (1987) Two years after the first British film to depict two men kissing in a positive light, My Beautiful Laundrette, came out to critical acclaim, business and romantic partners Ismael Merchant and James Ivory released an adaptation of E.M. Forster’s posthumously published gay romance, Maurice. The story, set in early twentieth-century England, follows Maurice Hall (James Wilby) from his days at Cambridge University through his young adulthood and charts his different romances, first with the upper-class Clive Durham (Hugh Grant) and then the lower-class Alec Scudder (Rupert Graves). Throughout the 1980s Merchant and Ivory made a slew of period films adapted from Forster novels, usually to great acclaim, upon its release, Maurice did not fare as well as previous Merchant Ivory films. Despite that, it has gone on to be considered a classic film. The Cambridge Years The first third of the film is devoted to Maurice’s time as a student at Cambridge University. One night while going to visit another student, Risley (Mark Tandy), he runs into the charming Clive Durham. The two develop a tight friendship almost immediately. Soon Clive recognizes a sort of kinship in Maurice and professes his love to him. Initially, Maurice rejects Clive’s advances but soon realizes that he is in fact in love with him. One night, as Clive turns about in bed, Maurice climbs in through Clive’s window and professes his love as well. Thus begins the first love story of Maurice’s life, a love that will span years, but will remain unconsummated. source: Cohen Media Group In early twentieth-century England, homosexuality was still criminalized; in fact, it wasn’t decriminalized until 1967. So Maurice and Clive have to continuously work to hide the true nature of their relationship. While Maurice is more willing to take risks and longs for physical contact with Clive, Clive insists that they must remain chaste with each other, or else they would sully the purity of their relationship. Clive’s own internalized homophobia and extreme repression only grow throughout the film. This is not Grant’s only time playing a self-loathing gay man, he also played real-life politician Jeremy Thorpe, who tried to have his lover murdered rather than be outed in the Amazon miniseries A Very English Scandal, which was directed by Stephen Frears (who also directed My Beautiful Laundrette). Post-University After Maurice leaves Cambridge early to become a stockbroker, he and Clive continue their relationship through writing and frequent visits to each other’s homes. As they continue to age, Maurice wants more from Clive, but Clive continues to pull away. Finally, when it is reported that their friend Risley, now a Lord, has been arrested for homosexuality, Clive can no longer handle their relationship. He breaks it off with Maurice and marries Anne Wood (Phoebe Nicholls), a woman he met while traveling in Greece. source: Cohen Media Group Although the romantic nature of Maurice and Clive’s relationship has ended, the two remain, friends, albeit not as close as before, but Maurice still goes to visit Clive’s home frequently. It is during those visits that he meets the Durham’s under-gamekeeper, Alec Scudder. Scudder is a couple of years Maurice’s junior, and though uneducated due to his class status, he is not unintelligent. He is also a complete contrast to the repressed Clive. Where Clive was unwilling to take their relationship to a physical level due to his own fears, Scudder is unashamed to sleep with Maurice. And, one night while Maurice is staying over at Clive’s, in a scene that parallels how Maurice professed his love for Clive earlier in the film, Scudder climbs in through Maurice’s window, and the two spend the night together. The Open Bisexual One of the most fascinating things about Maurice is that Scudder is bisexual. This fact is made explicit in the novel (to which the movie sticks almost completely), however, scenes that made his bisexuality more explicit in the film were cut for time, and instead, it is only referenced once. In one scene in the book, Scudder tells Maurice that his brother has gotten him a job in Buenos Aires so he will be leaving England, maybe in Buenos Aires, he’ll get married. Maurice asks him how he can bear the charade of pretending to be straight, and Scudder responds it wouldn’t be a charade, he’s been in love with both women and men. This only serves to place Scudder as even more of a contrast to Clive. Where Clive’s marriage to Anne is a sham designed to hide his true sexuality at the cost of his own happiness, Scudder actually has the ability to fall in love with a woman and yet, at the end of the movie chooses to risk it all to spend the rest of his life with Maurice. Where Clive is a coward, Scudder is willing to risk it all to be with whom he loves, even though he knows choosing to be with Maurice means life will be even more difficult, he believes that risk is worth it because Maurice is the person with whom he wants to spend his life. source: Cohen Media Group It is also worth pointing out that Rupert Graves, who plays Scudder, has taken on roles in many LGBTQ+ themed films. While other actors, both LGBTQ+ and not, have shied away from doing more than one queer-themed film, Graves has embraced them. Not only has he embraced queer films, and theater, but he has also been incredibly open about his own sexuality in interviews. Many other actors have toed the line of pandering to the LGBTQ+ community, while also keeping quiet about their own possible queerness, but Graves has in multiple interviews discussed his past relationships with men, and while he veers more straight, he has been attracted to and in relationships with men in the past. The Real Maurice and Scudder As I previously mentioned, the film is almost a scene-for-scene adaptation of the Forster novel. Aside from changing a couple of minor details, and cutting a couple of scenes for time, the film is an incredibly faithful version of the story. No discussion of Maurice would be complete without also touching on the real-life couple who inspired Forster to write it. Forster, who was gay and open about his sexuality to his friends – but not the general public – wanted to write a gay love story that didn’t end in tragedy. The characters of Maurice Hall and Alec Scudder were inspired by his friends, the upper-class poet Edward Carpenter and his partner, the working-class George Merrill. Despite their vastly different class and education statuses, Carpenter and Merrill met one day while traveling in 1891, fell in love, and spent the rest of their lives together. Despite English attitudes and laws towards homosexuality at that time, Carpenter and Merrill lived openly as a couple. In Conclusion: Maurice The Merchant-Ivory film Maurice is an epic romance that spans years. It is also a period piece about a gay man that ends not in tragedy, but with a romantic happily ever after. With a stellar cast and the beautiful cinematography, a benchmark of the Merchant Ivory productions, on full display, Maurice is well worth the watch, and also, be sure to read the book.

Congrats Tom, You'll love Ft. Lauderdale and if Miami becomes important for any reason you're only a few minutes away.

Well Gentlemen I have to agree...the acting was superb. What a horrid person Mare turned out to be... her own son commits suicide because she remained ignorant of the fact depression and suicide run in families even after her own father's suicide. She could have gotten him treatment....would have been no guarantee but might have helped with the guilt trip she that the lack of action imposed on her daughter who is obviously also suicidal and looking for a mother in her choice of girlfriends. She then plants drugs on the kid's mother without considering what that might do to him in the long run out a selfish desire to keep him from her. If there were justice she should have gotten 5 to 10 years in Allentown. I could go on and on about getting her partner killed, betraying friends etc, etc... and all we get for justice is Zabel's mom giving her a good slapping. but sadly given given the quality of current television drama...this was top notch.