Helen Meriel Thomas

3 weeks ago | gaystarnews.co.uk | Helen Meriel Thomas |Jack Guinness |Daniel Harding |Conor Clark

Edward II is a play which considers the question: what would happen if the King of England was in love with a demon twunk? The RSC’s new adaptation of Christopher Marlowe’s classic historical play tells the tragic true story of King Edward II, whose love of “favourite” Piers Gaveston led to a political breakdown between himself and his magnates.

3 weeks ago | gaystarnews.co.uk | Conor Clark |Jack Guinness |Helen Meriel Thomas |Daniel Harding

Up to 10.8 million more people could be infected with HIV globally by 2030 as a result of aid cuts made by Donald Trump and Keir Starmer. Modelling published in the Lancet HIV medical journal on 26 March says that a decade of progress in the fight against HIV and AIDS could be lost, unless the funding can be found elsewhere.

4 weeks ago | gaystarnews.co.uk | Helen Meriel Thomas |Jack Guinness |Daniel Harding |Conor Clark

“Not to toot my own horn, but I actually did those pictures before Paris is Burning came out,” says the woman I’m speaking to over Zoom. She has thick-rimmed green glasses and straightened dark pink hair, framed by baby pink money pieces. It’s been 24 years since Catherine McGann left The Village Voice newspaper, but you can tell she’s still a punk-rock art school kid at heart.

1 month ago | gaystarnews.co.uk | Orlagh Doherty |Jack Guinness |Helen Meriel Thomas |Daniel Harding

A new daily pill for endometriosis has been approved in the UK. The pill combines multiple hormones and works quickly to target symptoms. Only 1,000 people will be able to access it each year but at least it’s a step in the right direction. I remember the first time I got my period. I grew up in a very … liberal household. Periods, tampons and the birds and the bees were explained to me from a young age, so I wasn’t overly surprised when I noticed the first signs of menstruation at the age of twelve.

1 month ago | gaystarnews.co.uk | Jack Guinness |Helen Meriel Thomas |Daniel Harding |Conor Clark

When I first moved to London in 2009, Time Out’s LGBTQ+ section was explicitly centered around nightlife. There was literally nothing else for us to do than to go out and fuel our relationships with alcohol and drugs. Our culture was boxed into a life of addiction. 16 years later, just this month in fact, a news segment aired on ITV about chemsex drugs, highlighting the heartbreaking death of 27-year-old ‘Tahir’ who was found dead after several days of heavy drug abuse.