*head-desk*

I just saw - on the feminist SF blog Aqueduct Amble - the awards list for The Gaylactic Award - who the devil came up with that name? - for SFF positively portraying queer themes or characters.

The Other Works category has two Whoniverse related nominees, namely Torchwood S1, and The Empty Child/ The Doctor Dances.

To which I had two reactions, one sensible, the other decidedly stupid.

(i) "Torchwood S1 = awardwinning = ++ Out of Cheese Error Divide by Cucumber and Reboot ++". Or, as Ten would say, "What. What. WHAT?!"

(ii) "Why did they nominate 'The Empty Child', I wouldn't call the unpleasant householder having sex with the butcher for off the ration meat as positive... Oh. Yes. Jack. And Algy. But mostly Jack."

*headdesk*

Followed closely by the question, how on earth can you rate Torchwood above 'The Empty Child', which is one of the best pieces of telly I've seen in years. OK, it's not about queerness, but neither is Torchwood as such (arguably what Torchwood is about is innuendo, but so is pantomime, which is hardly a great progressive force) - though on the other hand, one of the themes is the deadly effect of denying the truth about yourself, and the liberating force of admitting it, even when it's something you've felt shamed and marginalised by. Without hitting people over the head with the moral, either.

Some good news from the C of E, finally!

Wow. Miracles do happen. An evangelical bishop has said that he's changed his mind about homosexuality based on close reading of David and Jonathon and the description of Christ's relationship to the Beloved Disciple†, and has compared the exclusion of homosexuals to the controversy in the early church about whether circumcision was necessary - which, of course, was won by the inclusive faction.

What's more, this isn't any old evangelical bishop, but James Jones (Liverpool), who is one of the group who behaved so disgracefully when Jeffrey John was appointed in Reading - despite the fact that John, though gay and unaplogetically liberal, is celibate (so much for the 'it's not the urge, it's the action' argument). Jones has also apologised for the way he behaved over that.

I'm extremely surprised and extremely pleased.

† Who would have thought that the Bishop of Liverpool was a slasher?